The Bears’ Famous Invasion (2019 | France, Italy | 82 | Lorenzo Mattotti)
In a fantastical animated world where bears speak, are rarely interested in attacking humans and live for their fellows’ happiness is where we find ourselves in The Bears’ Famous Invasion. A story within a story, it unfolds with Sicily coming under invasion by a mass of bears because their leader has lost his son and believes him to be taken into the city unwillingly by humans. It comes to pass that this very leader comes to rule the city creating a time of peace like they’ve never known until the desires of bear and man clash and things begin to fall apart.
With no expectations going in, I found myself loving the whimsical yet droll style of story-telling this film offers. A highly allegorical tale that warns us against lure of power and money and the importance of family and friends. I’m not surprised to see this film has been a part of several festivals over the last year or two and when it is finally snapped up for distribution it’s well worth the time to enjoy it with the family. They rate it for 7+ and I’d say that’s just about accurate. There are a couple scary-ish scenes for really young ones but no gore or even slightly strong violence is included. A particularly silly, yet effective, scene shows the bears rolling giant snow-balls through a crowd of soldiers that end up flattened like pancakes rather than anything gruesome. The Bears’ Famous Invasion was charming from beginning to end.
The Bears’ Famous Invasion is currently showing at the Mill Valley Film Fest both in person and virtually, get tickets here.
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