In this cartoon, Clouseau goes hunting and,given his innate ineptitude, does it badly. He keeps hitting the wrong target, primarily a bear trying to hibernate through winter. One's sympathies lie almost entirely with the bear, who, not unreasonably, just wants to be left alone. Things become increasingly painful (as well as visually comic) as a very well-spoken and articulate bear metes out punishment to Clouseau for disturbing his rest. The bear, having troubled no one, is most cetainly the aggrieved party her and it's difficult to feel much sympathy for Clouseau here. Bear in a landslide, no recount needed, winner and still champion. Recommended.
3 Reviews
This is a very puzzling picture, as it deals with a . . .
pixrox14 September 2023
. . . dude who insists upon hunting quail when there's a bear underfoot. Those of us who have chowed down frequently on BOTH quail and bear will attest to the fact that quail is an appetizer at best, and often poses a speed bump on the way to a filling meal. On the other hand, bear is universally accepted as a main course. As Skip said the other night at deer camp, "If you've got bear, who needs trout?" That goes double for a Sky and Fry pairing of quail and bear. Some of the uninitiated may quibble that the inspector is afraid to hunt the titular WAR BEAR. If he scares so easily, he ought to resign his day job.
Battling the bear
TheLittleSongbird2 October 2019
Like The Inspector a lot as a character, one of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises' more entertaining and interesting lead characters. While his series of cartoons was not a consistent one, most of the cartoons were to me among the better cartoons from the studio and came close to the best of The Pink Panther cartoons. As someone who enjoys to loves the 60s Pink Panther cartoons and likes the early 70s output, that is high praise.
'Bear De Guerre' may not quite be among the very best The Inspector cartoons and not an essential as such, but it is still very entertaining, one of to me the funniest later cartoons of the series, and features one of my favourite opponents of the whole The Inspector cartoon series. Not one of the most imaginative or most enjoyably bizarre, but one of the funniest and actually one of the most compelling in personality. Again high praise with there being many fun opponents in the series that proved to be great matches for The Inspector.
The story in 'Bear De Guerre' is very flimsy and figuring out what is going to happen next is never in doubt, so the surprise factor is lacking somewhat.
It is a shock as well that The Inspector is at his least easy to sympathise with, in a way one sort of dislikes him, which is pretty unusual for the series.
He is not exactly bland though and his chemistry with the bear is reason enough to see 'Bear De Guerre' as it carries the cartoon beautifully. My favourite asset though is the character of the bear, one of the few opponents of the series, hence what is meant by saying he's one of the best, to actually be a more compelling, funnier and more sympathetic character than The Inspector. One does relate to his situation and understands his actions as he is not the one in the wrong this time, that's actually an interest point with 'Bear De Guerre' as that is very seldom the case with The Inspector cartoons.
On the humour side of things, the physical bumbling comedy is not overdone or mean-spirited and even better is the verbal humour, as witty and subtly ironic as ever heard in the dialogue for the bear. A lot of energy here too, the cartoon never being dull even if the surprises aren't there and the conflict has fun and tension throughout. Once again, the animation is fine and unmistakably distinctive DePatie-Freleng in style. Simple but always attractive, with nice attention to detail and especially striking were the rich colours. The music never sounds cheap and doesn't get bombastic or manic, regardless of the energy. It is hard to think of a better voice for The Inspector than that of Pat Harrington Jr and the bear similarly is well voiced.
All in all, very entertaining and the re-watch of it was much needed after a difficult year. As well as still being bothered by the serial down-voting review abuse that has been happening frequently (despite being told to stop) and as an Aspergers sufferer the feeling of being targeted inexplicably has been anxiety-inducing, watching 'Bear De Guerre' did help distract me from that for a while. 8/10
'Bear De Guerre' may not quite be among the very best The Inspector cartoons and not an essential as such, but it is still very entertaining, one of to me the funniest later cartoons of the series, and features one of my favourite opponents of the whole The Inspector cartoon series. Not one of the most imaginative or most enjoyably bizarre, but one of the funniest and actually one of the most compelling in personality. Again high praise with there being many fun opponents in the series that proved to be great matches for The Inspector.
The story in 'Bear De Guerre' is very flimsy and figuring out what is going to happen next is never in doubt, so the surprise factor is lacking somewhat.
It is a shock as well that The Inspector is at his least easy to sympathise with, in a way one sort of dislikes him, which is pretty unusual for the series.
He is not exactly bland though and his chemistry with the bear is reason enough to see 'Bear De Guerre' as it carries the cartoon beautifully. My favourite asset though is the character of the bear, one of the few opponents of the series, hence what is meant by saying he's one of the best, to actually be a more compelling, funnier and more sympathetic character than The Inspector. One does relate to his situation and understands his actions as he is not the one in the wrong this time, that's actually an interest point with 'Bear De Guerre' as that is very seldom the case with The Inspector cartoons.
On the humour side of things, the physical bumbling comedy is not overdone or mean-spirited and even better is the verbal humour, as witty and subtly ironic as ever heard in the dialogue for the bear. A lot of energy here too, the cartoon never being dull even if the surprises aren't there and the conflict has fun and tension throughout. Once again, the animation is fine and unmistakably distinctive DePatie-Freleng in style. Simple but always attractive, with nice attention to detail and especially striking were the rich colours. The music never sounds cheap and doesn't get bombastic or manic, regardless of the energy. It is hard to think of a better voice for The Inspector than that of Pat Harrington Jr and the bear similarly is well voiced.
All in all, very entertaining and the re-watch of it was much needed after a difficult year. As well as still being bothered by the serial down-voting review abuse that has been happening frequently (despite being told to stop) and as an Aspergers sufferer the feeling of being targeted inexplicably has been anxiety-inducing, watching 'Bear De Guerre' did help distract me from that for a while. 8/10
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