Disneyland: The Movie - THE COUNTRY BEARS

In recognition of Walt Disney Pictures' new film, TOMORROWLAND, more or less "based" on the futuristic themed land in Disney theme parks, I'm taking a look back at the films based on or inspired by Disneyland attractions.

THE COUNTRY BEARS
Genre: Musical, Family, Comedy
Released 26 July 2002
Directed by Peter Hastings
Starring: Haley Joel Osment (voice), Diedrich Baker, Christopher Walken, Candy Ford (voice), James Gammon (voice), Brad Garrett (voice), Toby Huss (voice), Kevin Michael Richardson (voice), Stephen Root (voice), Stephen Toblowsky, Daryl "Chill" Mitchell
Rated G
88 minutes

The Country Bear Jamboree audio-animatronic stage show originally opened at Walt Disney World in 1971 before it opened in Disneyland five months later in 1972, but while Walt Disney World's Country Bear Jamboree continues operating today, it closed at Disneyland in 2001.
Conceptually similar to Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, guests at the Country Bear Jamboree were treated to a musical stage show by the Country Bear Band and other musical groups of audio-animatronic bears who sing a series of short country songs.  An entire new themed area was created around the attraction when it opened in 1972, replacing the "Indian Village" with "Bear Country", renamed "Critter Country" when a new major attraction, Splash Mountain, was opened nearby.  The attraction has been often referenced and parodied in pop culture, including in 1995, when Disney's animated feature film A GOOFY MOVIE (not produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios that makes the studio's main theatrically-released animated films, but by DisneyToon Studios, a division that primarily focuses on lower-budgeted direct-to-video fare) parodied the Country Bear Jamboree with a defunct audio-animatronic show called "Lester's Possum Park".

I've never been to the attraction myself, not terribly interested during my childhood before it closed at Disneyland in 2001.  Before then, back in 1986, the Country Bear Jamboree had become the Country Bear Playhouse, featuring the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown, but after closing in 2001, it was replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a simple, small children-friendly dark ride based on Disney Animation's classic Winnie the Pooh animated shorts from the 1960s and '70s (later assembled into a feature film, THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH, released in 1977).  In tribute to the Country Bear Jamboree, three memorable side characters from the show; Max, a mounted deer head, Buff, a mounted bison head, and Melvin, a mounted moose head; make a cameo in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, hidden above the doorway behind riders as they enter the "Hunny Heaven" scene.  Other elements of the Country Bear legacy are still interwoven throughout today's Critter Country, including the popular Hungry Bear Restaurant and the overall rustic theme of the area.

Image via Yesterland.com

Ironically, even while the attraction closed against the fervent protests of many fans, Disney was already in production on a film based on the attraction, coincidentally in which the Bears and their fans fight to keep the Country Bear Hall from being closed forever.  Beary Barrington (a Jim Henson Creature Shop creation as with the other bears of the film; voiced by Haley Joel Osment) is a young bear with a human family, but he's beginning to wonder if he may be adopted.  Positively obsessed with The Country Bears, an all-bear country music band that broke up ten years ago after years of popularity, Beary runs away and heads for Country Bear Hall, only to discover the long empty music hall is set for demolition by a bear-hating banker (Christopher Walken) unless the hall's caretaker Big Al (voiced by Jame Gammon) and the band's old manager, Henry (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson), can pay off their debts.  So Beary persuades Henry to join him in getting the band back together for a show to save Country Bear Hall, and they head out on a road trip to find the far flung band members including harmonica-player Fred Bedderhead (voiced by Brad Garrett), now working as a security guard, fiddler Zeb Zoober (voiced by Stephen Root), now a burnt-out honey addict, guitarist Tennessee O'Neal (voiced by Toby Huss), now a heartbroken marriage counselor, Tennessee's ex-girlfriend, singer Trixie St. Claire (voiced by Candy Ford), and Fred's brother Ted Bedderhead (voiced by Diedrich Baker, sounding very much like his character "Rex Kwan Do" from NAPOLEON DYNAMITE), now an uppity wedding singer who wants nothing more to do with the Country Bears.
In short, THE COUNTRY BEARS is a very bad movie, and the very fact that such a movie was even made is downright bewildering.  It's not 100% without merit, as the screenplay by Mark Perez has the occasional good laugh, most of them involving Beary's family, including Beary's dad played by the always wonderful Stephen Tobolowsky, and there is at least a little self-awareness to the kooky concept.  But what were studio executives thinking when they greenlit a $35 million movie based on a past-its-prime theme park musical attraction with a cast of animatronic bears?  It's just not good sense.

At times, it becomes the sort of movie that is so bewilderingly dumb, weird and altogether bad that you want to share it with others for the amusement of their reactions.  The bear characters are "Five Nights at Freddy's" creepy and ages 3-4 television annoying, while most of the film is comprised of uncomfortably weird music video-style segments with an abundance of musician cameos. 
As any reasonable person might have expected, THE COUNTRY BEARS crashed and burned at the box office, only grossing $18 million worldwide against its fairly modest $35 million.  The failure of THE COUNTRY BEARS caused Disney to grow apprehensive about their upcoming big budget production, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, typical of Hollywood's tendency to take the wrong message from a failure, associating THE COUNTRY BEARS' failure with its theme park source material rather than its hopeless inanity and inherent stupidity.  Put frankly, there's not a lot to recommend about THE COUNTRY BEARS, so I'm not going to try.