Nordic Children's Animation - English version - 75 minutes
Esben Toft Jacobsen's The Great Bear is a tale about sibling rivarly, trust, responsibility, and ultimately our connection with all things - nature, animals and each other.
In acts of pure innocence, six-year Sophie constantly outwits her older brother Jonathan in their games of hide and seek. In frustration he decides to visit his Grandfather that lives on the edge of an ancient 'forbidden' forest. Sophie wangles her way into tagging along much to Johnathan's dismay. He decides to scare the wits out of her by telling her what he thinks are exagerated myths about the forest and it seems to work. Sophie's terrified, tightly clutching her best friend that happens to be a stuffed bear.
The Grandfather backs up Johnathan's story, forbidding them to enter a tiny door, reminiscent of Alice's rabbit hole, that leads into the dense, strange forest. Though as Sophie and Johnathan's games get out of hand once again, Sophie finds herself locked out of the safety of her grandfather's garden and into the surreal world of the forest. Johnathan panics, scared by his own words of the danger, he knows he must save Sophie.
The forest world has a certain magic, however, that Sophie instantly connects to. She befriends the bigger-than-a-highrise brown bear whose love for butterflies and its need for camouflage from a crazy hunter, by cultivating a small growth forest on its back, consume it's days.
Finally catching up to Sophie, Johnathan, with much help from tiny moose and intelligent birds, realises his true mission is the save the Great Bear from instinction.
A really lovely story with some wonderful animation techniques. It seemed for me to capture all the wonderful things of childhood.
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