The photography deserves superlatives that haven't been bastardized, cheapened and ground down into nothing, but I don't know any. So, simply, the imagery is just stunning. John C. Reilly as narrator was a weak choice and his narration is definitely geared to entertain young folk, but it is good-natured enough to be excused, although the movie would have worked just fine without any narration at all. As it is, he provides all of the anthropomorphic fantasy you expect in a Disney flick. "Chimpanzee" still stands out for me as the pinnacle of Disney Nature (anthropomorphic fantasy) films.

I admit I was not familiar with the Disneynature brand, until one day I purchased a Disney blu-ray disk on which there was a trailer for "Bears". The trailer impressed me so much, that when I saw the "Bears" blu-ray disk, it was no brainer to buy it.We just watched it last night, the whole family. The movie it a total triumph of technology in every way, so if you are an audio- and videophile, this disk is simply a must-have. First we begin with breath- taking views of nature in high-definition. Everything we saw was a pure honey for the eye - things we could not imagine to see on a screen when I was a kid. The movie uses a combination of different filming techniques for showing different sceneries, starting with aerial breath- taking landscapes of the Alaskan mountains, amazingly shot close-ups of different animals and wonderful slow-motions of swimming salmons.Unfortunately I cannot say very much for the audio, as my two-years-old kid was making too much noise while we watched and also sometimes there was a narrator voice, however there was a pleasurable sound, especially I liked very much how the water and the footsteps in the shallow waters were recorded. Kudos also for the stone-falling and the claw-scratched mussels sounds.As for the movie itself, kudos for Disney for few things. First, as this is a family movie, they managed very well to get rid of the violent scenes - animal fights were gently censored and only few delicate scenes were shown. Second, the bloody scenes were censored - there were almost no blood shown in the entire movie, with only very few exceptions - I noticed just one scene where a bear caught a salmon, but this scene was not really bloody. In general it is still appropriate movie for the whole family. Then we come to the story, which of course in a 100% Disney style was told very well, with both tension, some drama, action, humour and finally a nice happy ending, even with a moral of the story. The main keywords however, are "cute" and "heroes".I cannot miss to mention, that this must be a well budgeted movie, as they seem to had plenty of good resources to use, both technical and human talents. The result is that we have the chance to see a movie about the brown bears, showing their life in a way only few other movies succeeded (like "The Bear" 1988). So for what I paid for this disk, it worth every cent, as I had a wonderful experience watching it.I recommend this movie to every one, regardless the age. I will definitely look for the old Disneynature movies and I cannot wait for the "Monkey Kingdom" blu-ray disk to come out!

Beautiful-looking documentary from Disney. It's harmless fluff. There's no footage of bears killing other animals (besides fish) and the few bear fights they show result in no bloodshed. I'm not sure why it was even made as you can find such nature documentaries on television all the time. Still, it is pleasant to watch. There is a somewhat annoying narration from John C. Reilly. I get that Disney wanted this to appeal to kids so having a comedian with a silly voice is understandable from a marketing standpoint. But the documentary does have serious moments and Reilly pretty much ruins all of those. It's worth watching if you love animals and nature footage. But be prepared for it to be slow-moving and a little too cutesy at times. If you have kids, they will likely enjoy it more than you do.

Here's a family friendly movie that will be enjoyed by all ages. Outstanding cinematography takes you very up close and personal with a mother bear and her two cubs in their first year.John C. Reilly narrates, sometimes as if for the blind. He is saying what is on the screen. The narration is a little too much when he speaks for the male cub. An excellent music track adds to the enjoyment.You can't help but wonder how did they capture that action? Over the end credits there are behind the camera shots that show how some of the movie was made.It is short, and there is nothing too scary for smaller children. The Bears make it through their first year, the salmon well that's a different story.