Customer Reviews

King of the Grizzlies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The King of the Grizzlies" combines a wonderful animal tale with spectacular outdoor scenery to make for a wonderful movie that will be enjoyed by the entire family. In this movie, viewers learn a lot about bears live in the wilderness and the role of man vs. animal in the untamed West of 1899. Viewers also learn a little about Native Americans and their culture, especially their bond with nature and wildlife, as seen through the devotion of Moki (the Indian boy who helps the Colonel with his catttle drive) and Wahb (the bear who is the main star of the movie). Animals and outdoor scenery dominate much of this film. Constantly changing events in Wahb's life and travels hold the viewer's attention, along with the beautiful forested mountains and rushing blue waters. A great film for the entire family. Fast paced, lots of natural action and drama. A must see.

David Shipp

In the tradition of walt disneys true life adventures. King of the grizzlies joins the library of disney style animal adventures. Like "Nikki wild dog", "Lobo", and various others, it is an animal adventure story with loads of true life adventure polish and overtones to it; complete with narration by Winston Hibler, a veteran of almost all disneys true life adventures. The scenery is breathtaking. For those who grew up with the sunday night disney show in the 60's and 70's it will bring back a lot of fond memories. They really dont make them like this any more; devoid of the cynicism which tarnishes modern family films, though a little dated in some respects, its a piece of disney nostalgia that children should see. If only Disney would release Perri, the most hidden animal adventure of all.

Taking place at the tail end of the Old West era, King of the Grizzlies documents the story of Moh-Sum-See Wahb, a grizzly bear with an odd track-mark. He lives an idyllic life with his mother and his twin sister. He hunts, plays, meets a marmot and a badger, and even does some snow sledding on a vessel made of bark. As the events unfold, a narrator (Winston Hibler) tells us what we're seeing and what Wahb is presumably thinking and feeling. Eventually man comes into the picture, bringing with him a whole lot of trouble. The movie is slowly-paced and might bore the tykes, but the scenery and wildlife is breathtaking. Based upon The Biography of a Grizzly by Ernest Thompson Seton.

Staci Layne Wilson

When grizzly cub Wahb's mother and sister are killed by the Colonel, a local rancher, the Colonel's Cree Indian foreman, Moki, tries to help his "brother bear" by taking him far out into the wilderness and away from the humans invading his land. Little Wahb still struggles, of course, growing up without his family; no one to teach him how to survive, hibernate, or anything else. He manages, however, and grows into a true king of grizzlies. That makes no difference to the Colonel though, when Wahb returns years later to unintentionally wreak havoc and frighten his men and animals. Wahb's only chance at survival again lies in the decisions made by Moki in his struggle to balance emotions and responsibilities to his heritage and to his career.

In the tradition of Disney True-Life Adventures and animal stories, 1970's "King of the Grizzlies" is a true Disney treasure featuring legendary Disney animal-film narrator Winston Hibler (for the other Disney animal-film narration legend, Rex Allen, try "Charlie the Lonesome Cougar"). If you grew up with these sorts of films, either in theaters or on the Disney Channel or Disney anthology series, you already know what a wholesome and relaxing delight they are, great for the whole family to watch together and full of fun, humor, education, and the majestic beauty of nature. "King of the Grizzlies" fits right in with the other Disney animal classics with its story of life as a grizzly and the good and bad that can come from man's interaction with the animal kingdom.

Warning: King of the Grizzlies does depict animal death by shooting. Early on, the Colonel shoots at Wahb and his family from a distance, leaving him alone in the world, as I mentioned, and in the middle of the story, three wolves are shot and killed off camera (I did take issue with Moki's complete lack of feeling when killing wolves, my own favorite animal, in contrast to his stress over the killing of bears; then again, his kinship with bears is nicely explained through a Cree creation myth). I mention this because I know personally some folks who just can't watch anything involving animals being hurt/killed, though keep in mind that there is no gore and it is all to reflect the realism of ranching life of the time and necessary to the story too. "King of Grizzlies" is still a wonderful, beautiful film about the man vs. animal territory struggle and learning to live together with mutual respect.

Though I still recommend it, the DVD from Disney is, unfortunately, totally bare bones. It has a fullscreen presentation, but I do not know for sure what the proper aspect ratio is, and some Disney films are correctly presented in fullscreen. There IS a bonus to be had if you buy this DVD from the right source while Disney's "Earth" is still in theaters. Currently, some retailers carrying "King of the Grizzlies" offer it with a special sticker on the cover that holds a code for free movie cash (up to 8 dollars for use on a child's ticket; some more expensive Disney DVDs hold the up-to-12 dollars adult ticket movie cash code). However, if I was buying this with the movie cash in mind, I'd buy it in person to make sure the sticker was there. It all depends on where you get it, but this offer won't be good for much longer anyway. I recommend picking up "King of the Grizzlies" on its own merits, because it's just a great film.

Thanku sooo much 4 the prompt delivery of the dvd "king of the grizzlies" hubby was searching for this movie for many many years, n finally found it @ amazon. he read the book as a small child and is thrilled 2 now c the movie. he will now pass it on 2 the grand children

This movie is absolutely wonderful. I got it for my husband as a gift because it is one of his favorite movies and with good reason. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes movies about animals.

But it did not keep the kids entertained as much as I thought it would. I had them from 4-8 years old, and not one was totally enthralled with it. It was just OK, the best thing about it was that it is actually a G rated one, they are getting hard to find!