Underneath the jokes, lies the message of acceptance
We Bare Bears is one of the most underrated shows of Cartoon Network. On the surface level, We Bare Bears might look as an ordinary fun cartoon, but it is more than that and the movie is a great example of that. If you haven't already seen the movie, you have been warned because there are some serious spoilers ahead. That being said, let's start our review of this interesting movie.
Recap
Before we start with the movie, let's first recap the series in short. Three bears; Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear meet each other in their childhood and decided to stick together as brothers, putting their difference in species aside and promises to be brothers for life. Then their search for a perfect home begins. After years of search, they find a suitable house for themselves. They adapted it as their own. It maybe wasn't perfect but it was the best to them.
The series throughout its run embraced the characters being outsiders. Griz, Panda and Ice Bear are outsiders in their own unique ways. Even side characters like: Chloe, Ranger Tabes, Charlie are all in some way an outcasts. Despite all that, the series embraced it and the bears never really got into real trouble for just being bears and for the first time, they get into the trouble in the movie.
The Movie
The movie starts with the bears trying to be more popular and loved among others which soon back fires and the electricity of the entire city goes out. The bears are held accountable at the court. Police Officer, Murphy takes the responsibility to solve it until another authority figure gets in named Trout. Instead of punishing the bears for their crime, Trout takes them as a group of bears instead of individuals and decides to capture and captivate them just for being bears. The bears escape with the help of Charlie and decides to go to Canada leaving behind all their friends and their not-so-perfect but best house behind. The bears dream of Canada as their perfect place to live circling back to their perfect house desire when they were babies.
On the way, there are some chase scenes with some great jokes. There is a great scene in the animal party cave. The dialogue is that scene is really good as the animals in that cave express their sadness for being judged based on their look. At the end, the bears reach Canada but they fail to enter for not having a passport. Trout gets them and puts Grizz into case with hundreds of other bears. Trout plans to sent Panda and Ice Bear to China and the Artic respectively. After a beautiful scene with Grizz talking to the baby bears in his mind, Grizz escapes with the other bears and saves his brothers. Suddenly the place starts to burn down. Murphy comes to save them and with the leadership of our three bears all the bears stack for one last time in the movie and save themselves unitedly. Trout gets arrested. The bears return to their home along with the other bears as the society starts looking past the differences and live together.
The Verdict
We Bare Bears, the movie is a blast with it's enriched theme and characters. It's not perfect by any means. We wished we got to see more of Chloe and other side characters. Charlie did get to do more than the other side characters. We really loved the fact that many other characters in the series made their cameo into this wholesome movie. The dynamic between the three brothers is at the forefront. The arc of Panda and Grizz was very good but Ice Bear steals the show with his unspoken charm and coolness. The two authority figures, Trout and Murphy were also well developed. Many people complained about Trout being one dimensional but we think it was done intentionally. Trout was meant to be closed minded whereas Murphy was meant to be more open minded. We see Murphy change his views throughout the incidences of the film again spreading the message that the authority figures are different persons and each are different individuals.
In a word, the movie is far from perfect but it excels with it's beautiful themes and interesting characters and wraps up the main series in a satisfiable way.
