Top Cat The Movie Review

I hope I’m not going to negate any of my assiduously collated street credibility, but when I was little I used to really like Top Cat. Looking back, I believe I’m correct in saying that it was a reasonably witty and funny programme and it’s not simply nostalgia that’s influencing these fond memories. I remember my sister and I used to watch a Top Cat VHS that we won in a competition run by Little Chef pretty much on loop some days. So when I was invited to attend the preview screening of TC’s big screen debut, I was cautiously excited about it. Obviously, the film is aimed very much at youngsters, but surely there’d be plenty for older viewers to enjoy too.

Top Cat: The Movie is a Mexican production, the programme still being popular enough in that country to justify the creation of a feature film. It’s animated in what first appears to be a quite interesting style – characters are 2D whilst the environments they inhabit are rather crude CGI creations. Add in the poorly implemented forced 3D perspective and what initially seemed like visually interesting style quickly becomes distracting and annoying. The 3D is particularly bad; at times characters appear to be interacting with bits of scenery three feet behind them.

Unfortunately the naffness of the film’s technical aspects extends to its narrative qualities too. The plot revolves around Top Cat’s battle of wits with a new police chief whose love of ‘technology’ sees him implementing CCTV cameras throughout New York, introducing a draconian rule of law and replacing the police with robots. The inclusion of hi-tech twenty-first century reference clashes with the original programme’s old school appeal making it difficult to really enjoy. The plot is also stupidly convoluted and whilst I am sure the kids in the audience could follow it, I’d surprised if they weren’t bored for some stretches. Crucially however, there were very few laughs from the audience. Kids can be pretty easily pleased, especially when given free sweets and a carton of Um Bongo and whilst they were at least quiet and fairly attentive, if I were Vertigo Films I would have been hoping to hear considerably more giggles from the young audience.

Top Cat: The Movie feels like a missed opportunity. TC remains popular enough in this country as well as Mexico – it’s still regularly aired on Cartoon Network – so why more effort wasn’t made to produce a decent film is unknown. As it is, I can’t seeTop Cat doing particularly well and it frankly doesn’t deserve to. Still, at least it’s not as bad as last year’s Yogi Bear, but as those who saw that film will know, that’s about the faintest praise one can damn with.

Yogi Bear Review

Before heading into the cinema to see the new Yogi Bearfilm, I am granted the privilege of meeting and greeting the various celebrities in attendance at this gala premiere. I am happy to report that Eamonn Holmes enjoyedMorning Glory and feels (in jest I assume) thatUnstoppable was overlooked by the Oscars, Chico would be most upset if Yogi Bear were to steal some chocolate from a hypothetical picnic basket and that Jackiey Budden, mother of Jade Goody, has her autobiography due out next month.

More importantly however, was the film. Yogi Bear, who made his first appearance in 1958 has been a perennial favourite in the Hanna-Barbera canon ever since. Starring in his first non-TV movie since 1964, Yogi is now voiced by Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd and his companion Boo-Boo is voiced by pop star and Social Network player, Justin Timberlake. Anna Faris co-stars, with Tom Cavanagh as the long-suffering Ranger Smith, who finds Jellystone Park threatened with closure, with Yogi’s antics poised either to save the day or ruin it.

The film was preluded by a brief and reasonably amusing Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote skit before we are treated to the live action, computer animated, 3D, Yogi Bear extravaganza. Despite my feelings of nostalgia for Yogi and Boo-Boo, I was initially slow to warm to the film, which lacks much of the charm of the original cartoons, much like the similar live action Scooby Doo films. After a while, however, the pitter patter of the banter between the characters begins to amuse and Andrew Daly’s smarmy mayor in particular raises several smiles. Aykroyd and Timberlake both seem reasonably well suited to their roles and Faris is also rather pleasant as a natural history documentary maker. The colour scheme of the film is also pleasingly cheerful and Jellystone Park looks good.

Beyond the inoffensive cast and occasional flashes of wit, however, the film suffers from a dull ‘save the forest’ eco plot and painfully average execution – you may argue that it is decent enough fare for children, but when such quality films as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Toy Story and last month’s Tangled are all competing for children’s attention, Yogi Bear doesn’t really hold a candle. And despite a healthy predisposition towards keeping the action old-school, there are several cringy moments wherein Yogi dances to Baby Got Back and the seemingly ubiquitous Don’t Stop Believin’, which feel uncomfortably modern for a bear that had his heyday in the 1960s.

So despite not being totally rubbish, Yogi Bear just isn’t quite good enough to stand out from the pack of quality kid’s cinema these days. Still, it’ll keep sprogs happy for eighty minutes and may even charm a few grownups who hold fond memories of this smarter-than-average bear.