Review of Grizzly Falls

Introduction

Grizzly Falls is a family movie about bonding between father and son. Trying to make up for neglecting his family the father (Bryan Brown) tries to make it up to his son (Daniel Clark) by taking him on a Bear hunt in West Canada. Things go a bit wrong when the son is taken, albeit implausibly, by a mother Grizzly Bear trying to rescue here trapped cubs.

Billed as a family adventure I was more than a little sceptical and prayed to the powers that be that I wasn`t about to be subjected to a cute `n` cuddly movie in traditional Disney family movie style.

Video

The anamorphic picture is very clear and sharp. The fact that there are a large number of daytime scenes shot outside does help the overall clarity however the night scenes are well handled with very little break-up in the areas of pitch black. The location shooting looks fresh with a natural colouring that gives you a real taste for the beauty to be found in that part of the world.

Overall a tidy transfer.

Audio

I was expecting the audio to be a rather unspectacular affair but I was pleasantly surprised right from the opening scene. The Dolby Digital 2.0 track does a very nice job with the rear channel, creating quite an immersive soundstage. It`s helped a lot by a very deep and involving orchestral score that wouldn`t sound out of place in a movie with a far higher budget.

Features

The extras, or should that be extra, comprises of a trailer. Whether a low key release such as this would benefit from any extras however is a different matter, personally I didn`t feel cheated.

Conclusion

It`s a family adventure movie alright but starts off well with a bit of a darker edge to things than you would expect. Unfortunately this all goes out of the window when the young boy gets taken by the mother grizzly bear. From that moment on the movie goes downhill fast as human emotions and thought patterns are bestowed on this massive killer animal.

The implausibility of the abduction is one thing, but the supposed relationship that springs up between the boy and the bear is probably the main reason that this type of movie makes me cringe. When things moved to a level where the pair are seemingly communicating with each other I was praying for the end.

This is a shame as there is a plot line which started in the very opening scenes which would have held far more interest. This is centred around the mother`s death and the absence of the father. The father and son are a world apart and there are moments which focus on the fathers anguish. These are most definitely darker moments in the movie but are far more believable and would have made a much more interesting movie. As it stands they further serve to show up the moments of closeness between boy and bear.

Overall a good quality DVD but a movie let down by bowing to the family side of the movie far too much.