Raymond Briggs' The Bear/The Animal Train

Starring:Raymond Briggs
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The Bear
Raymond Briggs's popular children's book The Bear is neither as famous nor as cherished as his popular tale The Snowman. Both wintertime stories allow a child to go on a fantasy journey, and more importantly, both videos embrace a lost art: the wordless narrative. Tilly spies a new polar bear at a London zoo. That night she dreams the bear visits her house. Besides being a good snuggler, the bear presents many problems to Tilly--from leaving droppings around the house to being a challenge to bathe. Soon Tilly and the bear ride through the crisp Christmastime night, encountering another magical bear--Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper. Briggs's elegant message of friendship is beautifully brought to life in this 25-minute production featuring music by Howard Blake.

Amazon.com

The Bear
Raymond Briggs's popular children's book The Bear is neither as famous nor as cherished as his popular tale The Snowman. Both wintertime stories allow a child to go on a fantasy journey, and more importantly, both videos embrace a lost art: the wordless narrative. Tilly spies a new polar bear at a London zoo. That night she dreams the bear visits her house. Besides being a good snuggler, the bear presents many problems to Tilly--from leaving droppings around the house to being a challenge to bathe. Soon Tilly and the bear ride through the crisp Christmastime night, encountering another magical bear--Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper. Briggs's elegant message of friendship is beautifully brought to life in this 25-minute production featuring music by Howard Blake.

The Animal Train
Little Ben receives a gentle lesson about conservation in this 1999 BBC-Miramax co-production based on John Burlingham's book Oi! Get Off Our Train. After staying up a bit too late watching a TV show about endangered animals with his folks, Ben dreams of a magical place where he, and his trusty stuffed dog Jim Jam, are in charge of a train that winds though the earth's habitats. Young viewers Pre-K to elementary school age are introduced to clear-cutting, poachers, and other issues that are endangering animals around the world. Burlingham's wonderful color palette makes the 29-minute short wonderful to look at, while the talking animals have enough personality to insure that kids will demand repeated viewings. --Doug Thomas

Description

RAYMOND BRIGGS' THE BEAR: Here's the delightful animated film based on the popular children's book about a young girl named Tilly who visits the zoo and accidentally drops her teddy bear into the bear exhibit. That night, Tilly cries herself to sleep, only to wake ad find a huge polar bear standing before her ... as he gently presents her with her beloved teddy bear. So begins a magical friendship with humorous complications ... This heartwarming, beautifully rendered tale from the creators of THE SNOWMAN -- and featuring the voice of Academy Award(R) winner Judi Dench (Best Supporting Actress, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, 1998) -- brings home the message of love, friendship, and giving. THE ANIMAL TRAIN: It's Ben's bedtime, but staying up with his parents to watch a TV show about endangered animals seems a lot more fun. Later that night, Ben awakens to discover that his stuffed dog, Jim Jam, has come to life, and so has his toy train! Bursting with excitement, they climb aboard for a magical tip around the world to save endangered animals. Based on the Parents' Choice Award-winning book, "Oi! Get Off Our Train," THE ANIMAL TRAIN delivers fun, laughter, and important reminders about our environment.

Customer Reviews:

The Bear.......2006-01-16

We enjoy this story a break from the Disney/Villen movies.

Raymond Briggs' The Bear/ The Animal Train on DVD.......2003-12-26

This Raymond Briggs' The Bear is one of the most wonderful Christmas cartoon classics of all time like The Snowman with out narration. However with the narration this totally distroys the full effect the cartoon was to have on its viewers. Who ever decided to add the narration made a grave mistake and ether does not have the imagintation of understanding story telling through music and motion like the nutcracker play, or just over looked the full artistic creativity from this enchanting short movie. Please, please someone redo this before it becomes a great loss. If this is the only copy to be made I guess it might be a little worth getting, but I do want to thank Amazon.com for trying to make what they can get a hold of possible. If the narration is removed and put back to Dvd then I will give The Bear five and a half stars.

Bad mistake of adding narrator to "Bear".......2003-12-21

.... I and my 2 1/2-old boy have enjoyed watching "Bear" so much in the past so I was excited to get the DVD version. However, to my disappointment, it has added narration - the VHS version did not have narration. What the narrator does is to completely take away imaginabiltiy and mind-creativity of kids who watch it over and over with different interpretation of the story each time. I would have given it only one star, but "Animal Train" was very good so I am giving the DVD three star rating. (By the way, there is nothing against the narrator, Judy Dench who happens to be one of my and my wife's favorite actors)

Disney changed it for the worse........2003-12-17

The Bear originally did (as stated in the Amazon editorial review information) "embrace a lost art: the wordless narrative." That is what you get when purchasing the VHS version of this wonderful short film. However, when Buena Vista Home Video (Disney) got a hold of it for the DVD they added narration and sound effects. The film suffers for these changes. I own the VHS version and have enjoyed it as an adult and with my children. I was excited to learn of a DVD version and ordered it as soon as it was available. However, I am disappointed in these changes and encourage you to purchase the VHS over the DVD.

As for The Animal Train it is pleasant enough and my 3 year old, who loves trains, has watched it repeatedly. But, it is not in the same class as The Bear (the original VHS version).

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