*******WARNING SPOLIER******
Grizzly Falls review 3/15/04
Picture a 1000-pound wild grizzly bear approaching you, and lovingly licking your face. How believable is this notion? Well, in the film Grizzly Falls, this notion is very real. This pseudo-realistic `kid flick' features the story of Tyrone (Bryan Brown), a game hunter who is the father of Harry Bankster (Daniel Clark). Because Tyrone travels all over the world, he barely sees his son and is somewhat of a quasi father figure. When Harry's mother passes away, Tyrone decides to take Harry with him on his next hunting expedition. The purpose of this expedition is to track down and tranquilize a full-grown grizzly bear and then take it in for research. However the tranquilizer dart fails (surprise, surprise!). Instead, the Tyrone and his hunting party capture the bear's cubs. Can you guess what momma bear's gonna do? She retaliates. Unable to free her own cubs, the female grizzly strikes back by kidnapping Tyrone's son Harry (are bears really that smart?). Harry, eventually, warms up to the bear and nick names her Mizzy. After a long journey, Harry and Mizzy reunite with their family members. The theme of the story is also revealed at this time: the importance of a good parent and child relationship. The movie was pretty mediocre and acting was no more than average. About the only thing that is worth commending is the great performance by the bear, known in real life as `Ali Oop' and trained by Ruth Labarge. The bear may have been the best actor in the movie! I especially loved the `come here' hand gestures demonstrated by the bear. The movie has a PG rating because of some frightening scenes with a very large and angry bear. Perhaps if I was ten years younger I might have enjoyed the film, and since I've seen a lot of good movies, that's a major 'if'. However, if you're a parent of young children (7-10), this mild action-adventure will entertain them for 1 hour and 34 minutes. This film is definitely not the best of director Stewart Ratliff, then again, he doesn't have that many bests.
Grizzly Falls review 3/15/04
Picture a 1000-pound wild grizzly bear approaching you, and lovingly licking your face. How believable is this notion? Well, in the film Grizzly Falls, this notion is very real. This pseudo-realistic `kid flick' features the story of Tyrone (Bryan Brown), a game hunter who is the father of Harry Bankster (Daniel Clark). Because Tyrone travels all over the world, he barely sees his son and is somewhat of a quasi father figure. When Harry's mother passes away, Tyrone decides to take Harry with him on his next hunting expedition. The purpose of this expedition is to track down and tranquilize a full-grown grizzly bear and then take it in for research. However the tranquilizer dart fails (surprise, surprise!). Instead, the Tyrone and his hunting party capture the bear's cubs. Can you guess what momma bear's gonna do? She retaliates. Unable to free her own cubs, the female grizzly strikes back by kidnapping Tyrone's son Harry (are bears really that smart?). Harry, eventually, warms up to the bear and nick names her Mizzy. After a long journey, Harry and Mizzy reunite with their family members. The theme of the story is also revealed at this time: the importance of a good parent and child relationship. The movie was pretty mediocre and acting was no more than average. About the only thing that is worth commending is the great performance by the bear, known in real life as `Ali Oop' and trained by Ruth Labarge. The bear may have been the best actor in the movie! I especially loved the `come here' hand gestures demonstrated by the bear. The movie has a PG rating because of some frightening scenes with a very large and angry bear. Perhaps if I was ten years younger I might have enjoyed the film, and since I've seen a lot of good movies, that's a major 'if'. However, if you're a parent of young children (7-10), this mild action-adventure will entertain them for 1 hour and 34 minutes. This film is definitely not the best of director Stewart Ratliff, then again, he doesn't have that many bests.