We Bare Bears: The Movie

We Bare Bears: The Movie is a made-for-television film based on We Bare Bears that was released exclusively on digital on June 30, 2020, and aired on Cartoon Network on September 7, 2020. It was first announced on May 30, 2019. This film serves as the series finale for We Bare Bears and the fifty-third Warner Animation Group film.

Plotedit | edit source
In San Francisco, Grizzly, Panda, and Ice Bear start their day by rushing through the city to be the first in line at a new poutine food truck. Along the way, they cause havoc for the people in the street who berate them for their carelessness. The friendly Officer Murphy reveals that he has collected folders of "Bear Complaints", but cannot find any reason to punish them. Realizing how much trouble they cause, and incensed over Nom Nom getting special treatment, the Bears decide to become viral stars (despite having failed in the past). They hook up an entire computer system to their house and force stream their antics to everyone in the city. Everyone finds their live feed amusing, mostly because they are repeating outdated memes, but everyone quickly turns on them again when they cause a massive blackout.

Murphy refuses to enforce severe punishment, until Agent Trout, a nature preservationist, arrives declaring that wild animals, in general, in public places is not natural and that the Bears need to be taken away and separated. The public agrees and the bears are stuffed in a police van. As Darrell, Tabes, Chloe, and Lucy complain to Trout about his treatment of the Bears, Charlie, Brenda and the rest of the forest animals hijack the van and drive into the forest. Inspired by the poutine truck, Grizz suggests that they flee to Canada because they love bears there. Panda initially rejects the idea but changes his mind when he realizes that he does not want to stay with Charlie. They disguise their van has a hippie van and make their way to Canada.

After outwitting Trout's agents at an inspection stop, the Bears get into an argument over which route to take and end up getting driven off the road by the Mystery Machine. They crash their van near a cornfield and discover a "stick-stadium" that is full of internet-famous animals who are having a rave. While the animals are inviting, they confront the Bears when they learn that they are not internet stars. The Bears explain their situation and the animals sympathize with them and allow them to stay. However, one of the attendees (Pizza Rat) alerts Trout to their location after having grown jealous of their inclusivity. The animals fight off the agents while Dramatic Cow and the Raccoons see the Bears off in their newly fixed van.

The Bears get chased by Trout and his men but manage to escape, though the van once again gets destroyed. They make it to the Canadian border. Unfortunately, to their dismay, their trip doesn't paid up well as they discover that they cannot enter due to them not having any passports.

Furious by what he and Ice Bear put them through, Panda scolds Grizz for this, which the latter responds it by yelling at him. Eventually, Panda harm his brothers’ feelings, by saying they are not brothers. Just as Trout and his men arrive to capture them. Trout announces his plan to have Panda and Ice Bear sent to China and the Arctic, respectively, while Grizz is encased in a bear enclosure with other non-speaking bears. After having a conversation with his younger self, Grizz remembers that he made a promise on the day he met Panda and Ice Bear; that they would be "bros for life". Grizz breaks out of the enclosure and frees the other bears where they proceed to free Panda and Ice Bear.

A fire breaks out due to an electrified fence and Murphy arrives in a helicopter to rescue them. The Bears decide to make the biggest bear stack they can as news reporters and onlookers watches, which makes the citizens of San Francisco realize the error of their ways. Trout uses the Bears to escape onto the helicopter, but Murphy arrests him and all the Bears manage to escape. Afterward, the Bears are viewed as heroes, Trout is taken into custody and Murphy announces his intent to have the Bears taken home. Grizz has Murphy allow all the other Bears to become naturalized in San Francisco as everyone begins to appreciate their presence and adopt them into their society as well as apologising to the bears for their mistreatment to them. During the credits, more bears arrive in San Francisco with many of them adopting human behavior similar to Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear while humans begin adopting many of the Bears' behavior such as the stack.

Voice cast[edit]

 * Eric Edelstein as Grizzly or Grizz, the eldest of the Bear brothers. Highly sociable yet socially inept, he among the Bears had the most desire to be accepted and loved by the society and cares deeply for the well-being of his younger siblings.
 * Sam Lavagnino voices Baby Grizzly or Baby Grizz, a younger version of the character.
 * Bobby Moynihan as Panda, the middle brother. A hopeless romantic, he often changes his online personality to be perceived as a "cool guy".
 * Max Mitchell voices the younger version named Baby Panda.
 * Demetri Martin as Ice Bear, a polar bear and the youngest of the brothers. Stoic and monotonous, he always speaks in third person and one-liners, and has a variety of skills which prove to be useful in situations.
 * Mitchell performs the younger version of the character named Baby Ice Bear.
 * Marc Evan Jackson as Agent Trout, a Wildlife Control agent, intent on capturing the Bears and separate them from human society and themselves, who is later defeated and arrested by Officer Murphy.
 * Keith Ferguson as Officer Murphy, who is adamant in punishing the Bears in their antics. Ferguson also voices additional characters in the film.
 * Jason Lee as Charlie, a Bigfoot friend of the Bears, who is also a yoga instructor and helped freed the bears from Trout after some help from Brenda and his animal friends.
 * Patton Oswalt as Nom Nom, an internet sensation koala.
 * Charlyne Yi as Chloe Park, a collegiate child prodigy and a friend of the Bears.
 * Mel Rodriguez as Darrell Saragosa, a friend of the Bears who works at a computer mouse shop.
 * Cameron Esposito as Ranger Dana Tabes, a friend of the Bears who works as a park ranger near their home.
 * Ellie Kemper as Lucy, a friend of the Bears who sells and delivers fresh produce.
 * Travina Springer as Dramatic Cow, an internet famous animal.
 * Sarah Sobole as Angry Kitty, an internet famous cat.
 * Josh Cooley as Painting Elephant, an internet famous elephant.
 * Amber Liu as Jojo Raccoon, an internet famous racoon.
 * Jimmy O. Yang as Joey Raccoon, an internet famous racoon and Jojo's brother.
 * Fabrizio Guido as Pizza Rat, an internet famous rat desperate for followers.
 * James Trevena-Brown as Jacked Kangaroo, an internet famous kangaroo.
 * Brian Stevenson as Southern Owl, an internet famous owl.
 * Peter Jessop as the Canadian Border Guard
 * Erin Fitzgerald as the Canadian poutine truck seller
 * Additional Voices: Daniel Chong, Travina Springer, Josh Cooley, Ben Diskin, Ace Gibson, Grey Griffin, Manny Hernandez, Maggie Lowe, Edi Patterson, Kevin Michael Richardson, Stephanie Sheh, Rick Zieff

Production[edit]
According to We Bare Bears series creator Daniel Chong, he was approached by the Cartoon Network staff with idea for a feature film based on the series in 2018. Despite having no previous experience in film, Chong accepted the proposal, drawing from his feature animation practice and reasoning that the characters he created have an emotional depth in them and capabilities he knew that could sustained for a long period of time. Due to the then-continuing production of the series, Chong and his team had to prepare the film while finishing the episodes at the same time, which took over several months. The film's story was written by Mikey Heller and Kris Mukai, the main writers of the series. While writing it, they were inspired by the 2018 California wildfires and the Trump administration family separation policy that were occurring at the time, which lead to a family being separated from each other as a central theme to a forest fire being written in the story's climax. Chong remarked that sensitive topic such as those wouldn't appear to be ideal in the main children's television series. He also wanted the main themes within the series to be displayed in the film, such as diversity and the reason for anthropomorphic characters.

Chong remarked that the original treatment of the film was centered around the three Bears. But to balance the heavy themes, the film's core was shifted to be centralized around Grizz. The original meeting sequence was first written with the three bears reminiscing it, but was rewritten to be focused on Grizz, who, as Chong felt, as the eldest of the brothers, was faced with the heaviest burdens and was most concerned with everyone's well-being. Chong also remarked that he was initially opposed to the addition of the other captive bears, as it could risk the main characters as uninteresting. The film was finalized as the Bears' final adventure and a conclusion to the original We Bare Bears series, though Chong had expressed intentions for it to continue to spin-offs, among other different ways. This was before he announced that he'll be departing Cartoon Network to work on another project. The animation on the film was produced by Rough Draft Studios, which had previously animated the television series.

Release[edit]
Cartoon Network announced the film on May 30, 2019, after the conclusion of the series' fourth season finale and final episode, alongside an untitled spin-off series focusing on the Bears as cubs. In January 2020, a short preview of the film was shown during the 2020 SF Sketchfest. On May 21, 2020, the film's trailer was presented by the series' lead voice actors Eric Edelstein, Bobby Moynihan, and Demetri Martin through a Zoom conference. Originally scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on June 8, 2020, We Bare Bears: The Movie was released in select North American digital viewing platforms on June 30, 2020 (Amazon Prime Video had accidentally released the movie on the original date before pulling it until the intended date shortly after), and premiered on Cartoon Network on September 7, 2020. The DVD was released on September 8, 2020. Bonus features includes an audio commentary, animatics, deleted scenes and more. When the film released on Cartoon Network, it was watched by 458,000 viewers.

In Southeast Asia, the film was released on Cartoon Network on September 12, 2020 and it was simulcast on Boomerang, Oh!K, Warner TV, HBO, and HBO Family.

Critical response[edit]
Covering the film for SF Weekly, Grace Li summarized the film as "sweet and fun" and a perfect summation for four seasons of adventures. Though expressing regret over the series' unresolved story lines, she complimented its zany sense of humor and its ultimate message, which to her was that "you can always choose your family". Shamus Kelley of Den of Geek gave the film a five out-of five star rating and praised it as an excellent film; one that feels relevant without losing the fun that made the show a fan favorite. Commending the relationship of its main characters, whose fight against intolerance he said infuses every moment of the film with more power and relevance than any other story the show has done before. Rollin Bishop of ComicBook.com awarded the film a four out of five-star rating. Though describing it as poorly paced, he praised its decision to include the heavy themes, which were exacerbated by current events.

Triviaedit | edit source

 * This is the first We Bare Bears movie.
 * This movie reveals on how the Baby Bears finally meet to becoming brothers, Baby Grizzly doesn't have his bike but comes from Family Troubles, Baby Panda comes from Panda 2, and Baby Ice Bear comes from Yuri and the Bear, and continuation episode Band of Outsiders.
 * Baby Panda is voiced by Max Mitchell replacing Duncan Joiner.
 * This is the first time The Bears visit Canada, and the second time Canada is featured, Baby Grizzly is previously from Canada and is first featured in Family Troubles.
 * The bears that were trapped by Agent Trout included other grizzlies, Kodiak bears, American black bears, Kermode bears, Cinnamon bears, and Glacier bears.
 * This is the only time where Chloe Park, Ranger Tabes, Lucy, Charlie, and Darrell meet and are seen together.
 * It's revealed that there is a "Bear Complaint File" that has a record of all the bears' antics that they did in the past. There seem to be more complaint files as Officer Murphy had a "Bear Complaint File 2" after Grizz took the first one he was writing in.
 * In the complaint file, the bears made tote bags uncool.
 * It's also revealed Grizz once sat on someone's birthday cake.
 * When Grizz suggests making a viral video to get people to like them, Panda claims it never works and shows a video they made back in "Viral Video" on his phone before Ice Bear swipes it as he doesn't want to recall it.
 * When Agent Trout is showing a slideshow about nature invading civilization, one of them shows pigeons dealing in contraband, which references "Our Stuff", "Pigeons," and "Hot Sauce".
 * It also shows a cougar pouncing on a dog, possibly a reference to "The Kitty".
 * Brenda is revealed to escape custody.
 * This is the first episode Grizzly talks to his child clone Baby Grizzly, he technically appears as his own conscience along with Baby Panda and Baby Ice Bear.
 * Captain Craboo is the only character that doesn't appear in this movie.
 * Charlie wears the same clothes and hat he wore in Chicken and Waffles, only when The Bears returning home at the end of this movie.
 * Porkins and Gluten-cat from Viral Video, the Hamster from Nom Nom vs. Hamster, and Daredevil Dog from The Nom Nom Show appear at the animal celebrity party.
 * One of the news reporters breaks the fourth wall saying "He want to let them have rights to have a movie about their story."