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View Full Version : Why NOT cartoon bears?



merlinjones
07-13-2001, 07:05 AM
In today's update, Al writes that Imagineering is considering adding the Country Bears figures to Grizzly River Rapids due to guest disappointment in not finding the usual Disney storytelling setpeices on the ride (DUH... this was suggested before the park even opened!).

Great. But he notes that they want to strip the bears and make them realistic, not use the actual Country Bear characters. Why NOT?

Before someone posts that DCA is more "realistic" and not home to Disney characters, that is pure bull at this stage. With Mickey and gang, cartoon celebrities and "bug town" now coming our way, any original semblance of DCA being a literal park is out the window. Especially since guests are missing the Disney touch itself (so say the polls, as many of us did since day one).

So why not just use the very cool, very Disney and thoroughly delightful Marc Davis Bear characters already positively and inseparably associated with Disneyland on the ride itself?

It would be easier to come up with entertaining vignettes for these broad characters than it would be for generic realistic bears, and humor/cartoons will always wear better with time (see Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion etc. VS Nature's Wonderland). A dose of true Disney humor is very needed in this overly sober real estate.

Just because people are tired of the repetitive Bears sit-down show, doesn't mean they don't like the characters themselves. In fact, I would think that they must rate rather high or the movie would not be in production.

Disney execs will say they are old-fashioned, but such is the appeal of nearly ALL Disney characters, including the ever-popular Pooh. And this sort of reassuring familiarity is desperately needed in DCA, as they are not so good at creating it fresh (not being animators, storytellers and filmmakers like in the old WED days).

So I vote for the Country Bears (Al, Trixie, Teddy Berra, and the rest) to live on as they are - - in tribute to Marc Davis and Walt Disney - - at the GRR in the manner of Splash Mountain. Even the band itself can be a setpeice. In this way, the loss of the CBJ will have little negative impact, as the bears would be going to a better place.

But to waste such charming caricatured creations to create more bad literal replications of "reality" is not in the true Disney spirit... nor what the world at large needs or wants from Disney. Characters this appealing are very hard to create. Thsi acheivement should be respected and perpetuated (for the good of the bottom-line).

C'mon guys, get a sense of humor!!! People LIKE cartoons! People LIKE the Country BEars, they are just bored with the show.

The park is still a tribute to California if it has a sense of humor and caricature... then it can actually be DISNEY's version of California, not just a poor replication of a real tourist trap.