The 1980s was one of the great eras of entertainment when it comes to television and movies. It was during the 1980s that audiences got shows, such as Knight Rider, Golden Girls (yes, that show was and still is great), and the timeless PBS series Reading Rainbow. In theaters, audiences got just as much entertainment thanks to the likes of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Shining and The Princess Bride, all of which remain timeless in their own right, too. For all of the great content audiences got during the 1980s (including also the likes of Alf, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rain Man, etc.) there were also some lesser offerings, as with any era. One of those lesser movies came in the form of Hanna Barbera’s made-for-TV 1987 movie, Yogi Bear and The Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose. This past February, the roughly 90-minute movie was re-issued on Blu-ray, more than a dozen years after originally being re-issued on DVD, through Warner Brothers. The movie’s latest re-issue is not a total loss but does leave audiences wanting for more. The most important aspect of the movie worth examining is its story. It will be addressed shortly. The lack of any bonus material in this latest presentation of the movie detracts from the presentation. This will be addressed a little later. The packaging of the movie in its new presentation rounds out its most important elements and will also be examined later. Each item noted here is important in its own way to the whole of Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose. All things considered they make this family friendly flick worth watching every now and then at the most but is hardly the greatest classic Hanna Barbera presentation.
Warner Brothers’ recent Blu-ray re-issue of Hanna Barbera’s made-for-TV movie, Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose is neither the best nor worst of 2024’s new TV and movie re-issues. The movie’s story sits at the center of its concerns. The story in question follows Yogi and his Hanna Barbera buddies – Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Augie Doggie and his doggie daddy – as they make a trip to visit the legendary Spruce Goose airplane in its hangar in Long Island, California. While the group is there, it follows Yogi into a restricted part of the plane as the museum/hangar is closing so they can still check out the plane. This is where the problems begin. Yogi has always been known as being “smarter than the average bear” but in this case he clearly wasn’t, and for the rest of the group to just go along is concerning. Of course, if they hadn’t, the story would not have happened. The story that follows is that somehow while the group is inside the plane it magically turns on and leaves the museum, taking the gang around the world on a series of missions of good will so to speak. The writers try to explain away the lack of explanation behind the plane’s magical powers by having Yogi admit he doesn’t know how it did what it did. This is a bit of a stretch to say the least. The first stop is the South Pole where the plane again uses its magic to help free a bunch of animals who are landlocked in a manner of speaking due to ice blocking their paths to the ocean.
The group’s Antarctic adventure does not end here. After saving the animals, it is then up to the gang to save a group of penguins and their babies from a group of hungry sharks. The problem here is that there are no sharks in the Antarctic, nor have there been for millennia. So, this aspect just comes across as being rather contrived. As if that is not enough, that fellow accidental stowaway Bernice (Marilyn Sue Schreffler – who died in January 1988) is there with only Yogi and company as her guardians just does not seem too believable, either. She claims she got lost but normally, would parents not notice their child missing? She is discovered as the plane is en route to the South Pole. It makes her parents seem like not the best parents out there. Of course the sharks who threaten her, Yogi and the penguins are defeated and the Spruce Goose leaves for its next mission, which entails more animals.
The second mission finds the gang having to save a group of animals stranded at sea by poachers. The animals are stranded aboard a ship in the make believe Zelman sea, which again the Spruce Goose “magically” locates after Yogi uses some “fairy dust” from the plane to find the location. Boo Boo’s comment about the plane using fairy dust to make its magical flight (which leaves it not needing any fuel at all) leaves one wondering if that is indeed how it worked. If that is what happened, then could Disney not have sued Warner Brothers and Hanna Barbera for going that route? The initial attempt to save the animals fails as the group tries to use the plan to tow the boat on which the animals are awaiting rescue. This leaves Quickdraw to take on his alter ego, “El Kabong” but that only leads to even more problems as the animals’ collective wait makes the ship start sinking. So somehow (magically, again) the plane happens to have doors that open at its nose, allowing the animals to come on board the plane.
As the animals are returned to their island home (hmmm, elephants living on an island habitat?), they happen across another couple of well-known Hanna Barbera character, none other than the Dread Baron and his canine sidekick Mumbly. The pair is on the island because the Baron crashed his plane into a tree on the remote location. He tricks Yogi and the gang to take him and his furry friend aboard the Spruce Goose, which of course leads to a double cross by the duo. Yogi and company eventually overcome what happens, leaving the Baron and Mumbly to get what they deserve.
As if all of this is not enough, there is also a pair of aliens named Merkin and Ferkin (voiced respectively by Frank Welker and Dave Coulier) who are bent on taking over Earth but stopped by the Spruce Goose inadvertently everywhere they go. The comic relief duo’s inclusion in the story is so random that it simply makes no sense at all. It is as if the writers threw in this element for the sake of adding it in for a secondary comic aspect.
After all is said and done, the Spruce Goose returns to its hangar and Yogi and company wake up, as if everything that happened was a dream. The group then piles back into its van and leaves the museum/hangar, ending the story. The story, in whole, does have heart, but the whole thing just has so much contrivance throughout that audiences who may have watched this as children are sure to see it in a whole new light watching it now as adults. For children seeing it for the first time, they likely will enjoy it far more than their parents. To that end, the story is both a positive and a negative but ultimately leaves the movie mostly forgettable.
The story at the center of Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose is just one of its problematic elements. As with its previous DVD release, this release is a bare bones presentation. There are no bonus materials at all along with the movie. It certainly would have been nice to have had some discussion by the movie’s creative heads on how the story was established, what happened behind the scenes. It would also have been nice to have had perhaps some discussion on the art of hand drawn art versus today’s CG art in movies and television. What’s more it would have even been interesting to hear from some of the voice cast that is still alive (R.I.P. Daws Butler) as to their thoughts about the movie and even the legacy of Hanna Barbera. Sadly, none of that is there. There is nothing here. It is just the movie. There is not even a scene selection option on the main menu. The only option audiences get on the main menu is whether to watch it with or without subtitles. So again, having so little extra to enhance the viewing experience really does detract from the presentation even more.
Considering all of the negatives, there is perhaps one lone positive. That aspect is the movie’s packaging. It sits on its own spot inside the case and is easy to remove. There are no concerns about it ever coming lose from that “spindle” so to speak. So, to that end, there will be no worries of it ever coming loose inside the case and getting scratched. Sadly, there is no chapter guide inside or outside the case, leaving audiences once again to have to skip through chapters when the need arises, rather than just having it at their fingertips (literally and figuratively). That aspect of the packaging is negative but again not enough to doom the presentation. Keeping all of this in mind, there is not a whole lot to like about Warner Brothers recent Blu-ray re-issue of Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose perhaps other than its price, which comes in at less than $20, even on Blu-ray. Keeping in mind everything examined here, the whole of this movie’s re-issue makes it one of the lesser of 2024’s movie and TV re-issues.
Warner Brothers’ recent Blu-ray re-issue of Hanna Barbera’s 1987 made-for-TV movie, Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose is anything but a memorable offering from the two companies. That is due in part to its story. While the story has some heart, the overwhelming majority of its presentation is contrived and silly. The lack of any bonus content that could have otherwise helped improve the viewing experience detracts from the movie’s presentation even more. Much the same can be said of the movie’s packaging in its latest presentation. Yes, the disc sits safely inside the case but there is also no chapter guide to at least make up for the lack of any chapter menu on the disc itself. Each item examined here is key in its own way to the whole of the movie’s presentation. All things considered they make this re-issue anything but magical.
Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose is available now through Warner Brothers. More information on this and other titles from Warner Brothers is available at:
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