The Bear (1999 film)
| The Bear | |
|---|---|
| Based on |
The Bear by Raymond Briggs |
| Written by | Hilary Audus Joanna Harrison |
| Directed by | Hilary Audus |
| Theme music composer | Howard Blake |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | John Coates |
| Editor(s) | Taylor Grant |
| Running time | 26 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Original release |
|
The Bear is a 1998 short animated television film directed by Hilary Audus. Based on the book of the same name by the author Raymond Briggs, the film first broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom during Christmas 1998. It was also released on Buena Vista Home Video in 1998, the year before its release on British television. It won a Peabody Award in 1998.
Like The Snowman, the film does not have any spoken dialogue, although for the American version, Judi Dench narrates the film. The musical score was by Howard Blake and the end theme "Somewhere A Star Shines For Everyone" was sung by Charlotte Church.
A young Polar Bear cub chases a bird and is captured by sea men on a ship after he is spotted. The bear, now grown up in captivity, looks up at a star before lying down to sleep. The next day, a red haired girl named Tilly is on a daytrip to the London Zoo, but accidentally drops her teddy bear into the bear pen. The bear wakes up and spots the teddy, paws at the bear and carries it off to his cave as Tilly looks on shocked.
That night, Tilly cries over her lost bear and her mother attempts to give her a toy rabbit for her to use as a sleeping comfort. Tilly takes the rabbit, but then throws it on the floor and turns to sleep. Later that night, a figure is seen walking towards Tilly's window — it is the polar bear from the zoo with her lost teddy bear, who lifts her window and enters her room. The bear wakes Tilly up and returns her bear to her. Tilly looks up surprised to see the polar bear looking at her smiling. Then Tilly yawns and falls asleep again. Then the bear sleeps in Tilly's bed.
The following morning, Tilly wakes up and runs downstairs to get some food for the bear. When she runs upstairs, she finds that the bear has excreted on the stairs. Tilly cleans up the waste and empties it outside before walking into the bathroom and nearly slipping over the bear's urine. Crossed, she then mops up the urine and watches on as the bear drinks out of the toilet. Then Tilly moves the bear and runs a bath to wash him. He soaks Tilly in the process of getting into it and already beginning to tire of him, she washes the bear. In the kitchen, Tilly dries and brushes the bear and proceeds to feed him with honey. While eating the honey, the bear makes a mess of the kitchen and gets his nose stuck in the jar (to Tilly's amusement). Then Tilly and the bear go to her parents' bedroom and sleep. Tilly wakes up to the sound of the door of her parents returning from work. She hugs her mother and they later sit down to watch The Snowman as the bear walks in and heads out. That night, the bear hides under Tilly's bed as she is put to bed by her mother. Tilly falls asleep and moves over as the bear climbs onto the bed with her.
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