The Bear (DVD)

...Bear' since it was in the sale. I wasn't disappointed!

'The Bear' is based on the book by Raymond Briggs and was released in 1999.

The cover of the dvd case has a blue background with the bear on the front of it and Tilly, the little girl in the film. At the top of the dvd case 'The Bear' is written in large white letters and 'based on the book by Raymond Briggs' underneath it. At the bottom of the case it says 'from ...
.../> The picture on the dvd disc is a picture of the polar bear of the star constellation 'Ursa Major', which is really beautiful, the at the side it has a picture of Tilly riding on the bear.

On the inside of the dvd case there are some really interesting 'Bear Facts' which give interesting facts about the film. There are 11 facts in total.

Howard Blake wrote the music to the film, just as he wrote the music to 'The ... more

Having seen 'The Snowman' on numerous occasions and absolutely loving it, I decided to buy 'The Bear' since it was in the sale. I wasn't disappointed!

'The Bear' is based on the book by Raymond Briggs and was released in 1999.

The cover of the dvd case has a blue background with the bear on the front of it and Tilly, the little girl in the film. At the top of the dvd case 'The Bear' is written in large white letters and 'based on the book by Raymond Briggs' underneath it. At the bottom of the case it says 'from the makers of the Snowman' in purple letters.

The picture on the dvd disc is a picture of the polar bear of the star constellation 'Ursa Major', which is really beautiful, the at the side it has a picture of Tilly riding on the bear.

On the inside of the dvd case there are some really interesting 'Bear Facts' which give interesting facts about the film. There are 11 facts in total.

Howard Blake wrote the music to the film, just as he wrote the music to 'The Snowman'. There is orchestral music playing to accompany the film.

The film opens up with a young polar bear standing with his family. The polar bear wanders off and falls into the ocean and is then picked up by some sailors. The little polar bear is then put in a zoo and we are introduced to the little girl 'Tilly' who drops her teddy bear into the enclosure.

Tilly is very upset by this and cries herself to sleep, yet she wakes up to find her teddy bear returned to her and the polar bear from the enclosure in the zoo in her room.
Can the bear live with Tilly in her house and will she manage to keep him hidden from her parents? Will their relationship work out? Will the bear ever get to return to his home and back to his family..? You'll have to watch it to find out!

I really liked the part in the film when Tilly is sitting with her parents in the sitting room on the sofa, and the bear is hiding behind them and they are watching 'The Snowman' on tv, I thought it was really clever incorporating 'The Snowman' into this film too.

'The Bear' is animated very much like 'The Snowman'. I absolutely love the animation. I find it so different and more interesting than other computer animation. With 'The Bear' you can see the actual pencil strokes in the pictures, which I really liked and thought was quite magical and gave a raw kind of innocence and purity to it.

The film has no speech in it at all, unlike the book which has words in it. The film simply has music to accompany it. I don't find it a problem not having speech in the film at all, the story line is very easy to follow, and not only do the pictures tell a story but the music also does.

The film has a 'U' certificate which means that it is suitable for all. I agree with this certificate since I find that it is a film that is suitable for the whole family.

The total running time of the film is only 26 minutes! But I think it tells a complete story, I don't think that it needs to be any longer than it is and I didn't enjoy it any less because it was that short.

There is not an option for a scene selection on the dvd, which is normally a feature on dvds, but with such a short film time it is not really required.

There are two special features on the dvd. I found both of them really interesting. The first one of these is called 'The Bear's Tale (The making of The Bear)' which is about 25 minutes long. This shows the people who worked on the film talking about how they drew the picture boards, where they came up with their ideas and also their search for the girl to sing the theme song played at the end of the film. This shows footage of them actually auditioning girls in their stage school.
It also has Howard Blake talking about his inspiration for the musical score and them recording the music for the film.

The second special feature is called 'Story Boards'. This is about 5 minutes long and shows the still pictures that were drawn in the story boards, basically the outlines without colours, alongside the animated pictures in the film once it was finished.

The music in it is absolutely wonderful. You can tell the emotions that are shown in the film through the music. When the little girl is angry the music changes, when she is happy it plays with a different feel. I loved this. It really fitted perfectly with the animation and made it all that more enjoyable.

There is one main song that is sung in 'The Bear' (just like in 'The Snowman') and it is sung by Charlotte Church. Though instead of being sung during the film it plays at the end credits.

The film has a 'U' certificate which means that it is suitable for all. I agree with this certificate since I find that it is a film that is suitable for the whole family (and not just children!)

This is a film for the whole family. The music and the animation is just amazing. The dvd is available from amazon for £4.97. I have seen this film so many times and I haven't got bored of it at all. You'll want to watch it again and again. I highly recommend it. 

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