My 27 month old granddaughter does not sit quietly for many movies but this is one she sits and watches the whole movie without moving. She loves it. Every time she asks to play a movie, she wants the Great Bear. She does not find it scary. She views this through Jonathans and Sophies eyes, very innocent and trusting. The parts where the bear got shot did not upset her because Jonathan and Sophie were there to help. There was a positive outcome in the movie. It also I believe portrayed the hunter as not so much mean but not fully understanding because all he thought he was doing was protecting his home and Sophie understood that when she asked the bear to fix the hunters home. I do recommend this movie. Wish I could find another movie that held her attention like this one.

We found this wonderful movie on TV and were quite delighted by it. We found the characters appealing and the story enchanting. It wasn't overburdened with special effects and was more like a familiar children's book brought to film. We were left wanting to see more and were sad to see it end. We would recommend this film to any family that enjoys storytelling in the fantasy realm. I can't wait to go buy it so we can watch it again. Thanks to cable TV we got to experience it for the first time. We want to own it so we can watch it multiple times and share it with others. Our ages range from 4 years to 71 years. We watched it as a family and all found it appealing.

While on vacation, eleven-year-old Jonathan and his younger sister Sophie get lost in the deep woods. While Jonathan is looking for Sophie, she discovers a mountainous bear and befriends him. Jonathan thinks the bear kidnapped her and "hires" a hunter to take him down, but he soon realizes the bear is a friend and must stop the hunter. There's the environmentalist message for you.This movie was made in 2011, but the graphic appear older. Movements are choppy and unrealistic. Not a lot of detail went into things, making them look rather smooth.The animators seemed too lazy to properly move the characters' mouths. The mouths only jump around. Then the they simply threw the script in, so none of what they say matches the movements. Occasionally, their mouths wouldn't move at all.For a children's movie, there's a decent bit of gore. Jonathan sticks his whole arm into the bear's tongue to remove a bullet, and adding to the gunky blood from the wound, Jonathan's arms a covered in blacking blood, as well as splattered across his face.There was a rather unsettling scene where Sophie falls from the bear's head. It looked like a good five story drop, and she lands flat on her back. For the brief second we see her, she's not moving. I thought she was dead from the terrible thud, but when the hunter angrily grabs her, she's perfectly fine, unharmed. Oddly enough, she seemed to pull a muscle when the hunter lifted her arm up. Yet she wasn't hurt from the fall.There was some unnecessary violence, I think, for a kids' movie. In a slightly disturbing scene, the hunter squeezes a small bird in his hands out of anger. Then he launches it at a tree. The poor thing was squashed and its eyes stayed open while his bird friends mourned over him. It might startle some viewers.On top of all this, Jonathan cursed in the beginning of the movie. It's dotted with small things, like "darn" and "idiot." But an eleven-year-old is not supposed to drop the S-word.A lot of obvious goofs: When Jonathan first meets the hunter, the hunter makes a bandage out of leaves and puts it on Jonathan's arm. In the very next shot, it's gone and never returns. The wound is also gone. The animators didn't take the time. For some reason, the bear, who is hundred of feet tall and long, is afraid of two small dogs. That makes no sense; a regular bear could attack the dogs.Unexplainably, frogs create rain.The hunter dies from collapsing rocks, and without music, it's quite sudden and, as I said before, probably unnecessary.The whole movie has a dark, eerie feel. The sky is always cloudy, the forest is always covered by a foggy--literally and figuratively--veil. Not something cheerful. Did not enjoy it and don't recommend it.

This is a Greenpeace tale told by the Brothers Grimm ! Frightening, nearly gore sometimes, and yet targeting children. There is nearly no rest along, nearly no cheerful moments and a constant oppressive atmosphere. Computer graphics are disputable ; the bear is acceptable but humans are sub-standards. Environment is OK but dark as the rest and lacking details. Story is nothing to remember of ; it has been told again and again, following the Disney rules, linear and predictable. Music - but is there any music at all ? Any tune to remember ? Ugly, frightening, dark, sub-quality. Definitively not for children under 10, and, IMHO, probably of low interest to the rest of us.