Watched the wbb movie
It was nice, and a lot better than i expected. They even had some self awareness about how bad and out of date the internet references are for about 5 minutes (before that went down the drain ans they went on to have grumpy cat appear but lets not talk about that). They didnt jump the shark like in some of the worst wbb episodes and even tho the plot was over the top, it was more grounded than i was worried they would do. It had good heart, charm and i liked the focus on grizz' perspective as he's always been the most interesting of the three to view the family unit through, being the oldest.
Despite them being implied to be about the same age and ice bear being the most capable, grizz prides himself on being the oldest and the one to look out for his brothers and i really felt for him. It wasnt pixar movies tear-out-your-heartstrings feels but it hit close to home just enough that it got me rlly invested. I know what its like to have that urge to look out for your younger sibling/s but not knowing how best to do that and its rough watching how much pressure he puts on himself
The character writing was good on the others too. Panda wasnt infuriating for once and was actually close to cute and precocious like he's meant to be (once you get past the first half hour) and ice bear was great as usual. You usually forget he's the youngest but then scenes like the grizz and panda's argument happen and he's just stood there looking distressed like his parents are fighting downstairs and then it happens again later and he just Breaks Down and silently flops down on the ground and tries to bury his head in the dirt. Like its silent and obviously not a standard nt response to distress but the way its framed and the way grizz and panda stop arguing for a moment you feel the weight of it because ice bear has never broken like that before. And the way panda goes 'look what you did' implies this is just as rare in-universe and it takes a lot to push him to that and its just like 'yeah, even though he doesnt whine like panda and we dont get to see inside his mind like griz, he's been going through it this whole time too' its really harsh. Charlie was fun too btw, even tho he's only in the film for like 5 minutes, though- even tho i get why it helps focus the film more- it was weird that he was the bears ONLY friend to get more than a cameo. Like really? Tabes couldnt help?
Now to talk about the villain because i fucking love this guy. He's so deliciously evil and as much as you hate him you also love having him on screen. I love his voice acting, i love his design, i love his dynamic with the incompetent #GoodCop, i love that he gets punched in the face at the end, its all great. Its been a while since i really enjoyed a villain in something
Also this is just a small worldbuilding thing and i know this doesnt sound like me but i like it. As implied on many occasions, theres nothing about the bears thats magic that makes them talk or owt and its revealed so casually and subtly that the only reason they speak english and other animals dont is because they grew up around humans and learnt it instead of bear language. Like its so casual and mundane and i love the audacity of it. We bare bears never explaining its world and just being so casual about it was always part of its charm to me and even tho it sounds hypocritical i love this confirmation for smashing any stupid elaborate hc's that might have emerged
