‘Yogi Bear’ without humour or charm

Director: Eric Brevig

Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Anna Faris, Tom Cavanagh

The much-loved “better than the average” bear who made his TV debut in l958 makes a big-screen appearance … one wonders why.

With all the new animation technology floating around Hollywood and with 3D thrown in the one, vital, element missing from this dull and disappointing film is a decent screenplay that offers us a strong enough storyline to grab our interest.

Aykroyd and Timberlake do their best as the voices of the picnic-basket stealing Yogi and his more careful sidekick Boo Boo but they have so little to work on. Faris plays Rachel, a documentary maker who has come to Jellystone Park to make a film, and the charmless Cavanagh plays her love interest, Ranger Smith.

The film tries to get serious with a sub-plot about a crooked local politico trying to sell the park for development, a threat which the accident-prone Yogi must foil.

It’s a film aimed at the five-year-olds but it’s without humour or charm, even the 3D lends nothing to proceedings.

Very, very average.

Star Rating: 2/5