“Yogi Bear” is a Jellystone epoch in two acts. The first is largely expositional. Viewers quickly meet the core of live action characters, including the dedicated yet socially awkward Head Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh of TV’s “Royal Pains”), his love interest Rachel (Anna Faris, “Take Me Home Tonight”) and his nemesis, Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly, “Life as We Know It”). Also introduced are the titular computer-generated Yogi (voiced by Dan Aykroyd, “War, Inc.”) and his diminutive sidekick Boo Boo (Justin Timberlake, “The Social Network”).
Nothing of consequence happens in the first half of the film beyond establishing dynamics between the characters. Yogi steals picnic baskets, which frustrates Ranger Smith. Mayor Brown decides he wants to sell off Jellystone park to loggers and farmers, which frustrates Ranger Smith. Rachel is attractive and interesting, which frustrates Ranger Smith. Suffice it to say, by the time Smith’s bumbling assistant secretly joins forces with Mayor Brown, it barely registers with the beleaguered ranger.
Luckily, the second act offers a healthy dose of relief from that tedium in the form of a classic quest to save Jellystone. After a misguided attempt at fundraising through a fireworks show ends with Yogi waterskiing into the display, Ranger Smith and Yogi realize they need to work on the same team, combining Yogi’s inventive whims and indefatigable optimism with the ranger’s common sense and knowledge of the park. Once they’re imbued with a goal – exposing the existence of an extremely endangered turtle only found in Jellystone – the story moves along nicely, which puts a fair deal less pressure on the hit-and-miss humor writing.
The journey to find, recover, save, re-recover and ultimately expose the frog-mouthed turtle fits into the mold of object-based quests in that it has several layers of significance. Obviously, saving the turtle is important in and of itself, but the search for the turtle represents a larger desire to save the entire park. Plus, the search allows for character growth by both Yogi and Ranger Smith – the former learns to think of something other than his stomach and the latter learns to stop being such an uptight prick. In other words, the turtle might be the Holy Grail but, as in all Grail quests, the souls of the searchers must be pure – purer than the average knight, or bear, as the case may be – in order to succeed.
Where the quest at the heart of “Yogi Bear” is decidedly physical and geographic, not all journeys appear in that form. Some, like one in the the latest film by director Darren Aronofsky, require a mental and emotional transition. Unlike “Yogi Bear,” “Black Swan” wastes almost no time setting up the trip that its main character will take.
“Black Swan” tells the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman, “No Strings Attached”), a ballerina in New York City who lives an immensely sheltered life. After being chosen to dance the principal role in a minimalist production of “Swan Lake,” Nina is challenged by the company’s director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel, “Our Day Will Come”) to find a new dimension in her personality. The lead role requires dancing as two characters – the innocent, delicate White Swan and her sister, the seductive, manipulative Black Swan. Leroy knows Nina can perform the former role to perfection, but has his doubts about the latter, especially when Nina is held in comparison with company newcomer and free-spirit Lily (Mila Kunis, “Date Night”).
Stress is at the center of Nina’s very existence, and as such she’s never fully in control of her transformation. The razor-thin tolerance of her company’s director and the influence of her overbearing mother (with whom she shares an apartment) combine to create a toxic environment in which Nina strives for perfection. Perfection being impossible, of course, her obsession manifests in compulsive habits that border on self mutilation; Nina practices pirouettes until the lights shut off in the studio, picks at her nails and scratches her skin until it’s raw.
But when the influences of Leroy and Lily become too much to resist, Nina starts down the path toward a darker self. The journey becomes a psychological one, as her innocent, sheltered, perfection-obsessed past is pitted against her newly formed need to fulfill a role as a jaded seductress. The parallels with the plot of “Swan Lake” are obvious and fully intended, but rather than two people competing for a prince, viewers see two sides of a personality fighting it out for dominance within a single character.
The stark black and white set designs chosen by Aronofsky make it obvious only one side will prevail; there’s no chance for gray areas of reconciliation. Consequently, if you know the ending of “Swan Lake,” the ending of Nina’s journey in “Black Swan” is not difficult to predict.
The courses run by the characters in “Yogi Bear” and “Black Swan” are decidedly different, but both are well-fitted to the nature of their respective films. The silly puns and general animated-bear-iness of “Yogi Bear” would have strained the credibility of a “Black Swan” type temperamental or emotional transformation had the writers tried to include one. But on the other hand, a couple of talking animals manning a homemade flying contraption and living in a park called Jellystone are the perfect team to go on a quest for an endangered turtle with a ten-foot tongue.
“Yogi Bear”: 3 stars; “Black Swan”: 5 stars out of 5.
Lin Weeks is a junior majoring in economics. Upset with his omission of the DVD you were most excited about renting this week? Vent at [email protected]
