Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears (1988)

 

A really fun made for TV movie.

As this film starts Ranger Smith is dreading Yogi waking up from hibernation and making his spring and summer miserable. Yogi naturally does just this and neither Ranger Smith nor any of the park rangers under him can seem to stop Yogi. However, the park rangers are not the only ones keeping a close eye on Yogi. A race of aliens ruled by an evil king are watching him as well. The aliens kidnap both Yogi and his little buddy Boo Boo and create many copies of both Yogi and Boo Boo to take over the Earth. Now that the evil king has these robotic clones, he shoots the real Yogi and Boo Boo into outer space. The real Yogi and Boo Boo must stop these aliens from taking over the world. 

What makes this movie work so well is despite having a larger scale storyline than the classic Yogi Bear shorts (though the classic Yogi Bear short, Space Bear (1960) has a somewhat similar (but still smaller scale) story), the focus of his film is similar to that of the classic shorts. That is to say that this film focuses on silly cartoon comedy. All the gags involving the Yogi and Boo Boo clones being loose in Jellystone are reminiscent of the classic Yogi cartoons in the best way possible. There is lots of great slapstick in these scenes. However, what makes this slapstick work so well is the reactions from Ranger Smith. He is the perfect straight man to all this cartoon comedy. As well as being true to the spirit of the classic cartoons, this movie also is more visually attractive than the average Yogi cartoon. The background artwork in the scenes during Cindy Bear's song number or when Cindy is climbing the mountain is simply fantastic. These scenes are lovely to look at while still being true to the spirit of Yogi bear. Of course, the main attraction to a Yogi Bear movie is seeing the characters we love. This film perfectly understands why we love these characters and they have rarely been more likable than they are here. Not only are the characters likable as individuals but their interactions with each other are also delightful. 

This movie does have its flaws though. One is that the songs are bland and mostly forgettable. There is little to make them stand out among the songs in other Hanna-Barbera movies. The Space Bear Shuffle song is almost embarrassingly bad. Also Boo Boo having a crush on a space bear feels like a wasted opportunity as it is incredibly rushed.

This movie was directed by Don Lusk and Ray Patterson. Don Lusk had previously been a Disney animator working on some of Disney's best animated features and shorts. His work with Hanna-Barbera began as early as the 1960's. Ray Patterson had worked with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera all the way back in their Tom and Jerry cartoons of the 1940's. The film was written by Neal Barbera, the son of Joseph Barbera, who also wrote another made for TV Yogi Bear movie, Yogi's Great Escape (1987) and the theatrical Hanna-Barbera feature film, Rock Odessey (1987). This film also marked the last film for voice actor Daws Butler (the voice of Yogi Bear). This film is also part of the Hanna-Barbera Superstars 10, a series of 10 made for TV movies starring famous Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters.