Despite bearing the “Walt
Disney Productions” brand, as well as such Disney signatures as a cutesy
musical score and a folksy narration track, King
of the Grizzlies was actually made by companies including Robert Lawrence
Productions, the entity that supervised principal photography in Western
Canada. Disney then acquired the material and applied the finishing touches. The
hodgepodge nature of the movie is evident throughout its running time, because
documentary-style footage of bears and other animals is intercut with narrative
scenes to create the illusion of a frontier myth come to life. Yet even though
some bad dubbing and a few meandering sequences create narrative hiccups, King of the Grizzlies is basically
passable, as far as Disney outdoor yarns go.
Based on a novel by Ernest T.
Seton, the picture tracks the life story of Mawb, a noble grizzly who overcomes
hardship to become master of his realm. Early in the movie, Indian-born
cattle-ranch foreman Moki (John Yesno) and his paleface employer, identified
only as “The Colonel” (Chris Wiggins), encounter young Mawb and his ursine sibling,
along with their mother, near the outer edges of the Colonel’s ranch. The
Colonel kills mama bear and Mawb’s sibling, but only wounds Mawb. Later, Moki
discovers the frightened young bear and delivers the animal to a safe place in
the mountains, miles away from the ranch. As the years pass, Mawb grows
stronger, surviving battles with mountain lions and wolverines, before
eventually drifting back to the place where he was orphaned. This puts him back
in the crosshairs of the Colonel.
Will our hairy hero survive? Can Moki
intercede on his behalf once more? If you don’t know the answers to these
questions, you’ve never seen a Disney movie.
Accepting that predictability is a
given, King of the Grizzlies has
plenty of redeeming values. The location photography is robust, with huge
vistas of forests and lakes and mountains conveying the wonder of the
wilderness. Furthermore, scenes of bears and other animals are wonderfully
photographed, and the basic themes of bonding, compassion, and respect for
nature are unassailable. Cornpone, sure, but unassailable nonetheless.
King of the Grizzlies: FUNKY
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