Cocaine Bear

If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a big surprise, as mother bear's opened a bag of cocaine and is reaching for the skies, it's made her somewhat volatile and her temper wont abate, if she catches hold she will remould your limbs and amputate.

It's not the worst film about a drug addled bear high as a kite on cocaine that you'll come across, and it probably won't be the last, as variations on a theme are bound to come along in multiform. Quite often amusing, with various appendages and body parts being removed by claw and tooth, fine performances all round and it must have been a fun movie to direct and make.

First, I really enjoyed the movie even it's flaws. I expected less from the first half of the movie. So it was great entertaining.

Second, the second half is extremly weird and predictable. Even the overused CGI almost ruined any credibility of the supposed "based on a real story".

Third, overall, the movie is funny, goofy, crazy, dumb and forgettable, just because the plot. A bear sniffing cocaine the whole movie.

Last, I am not going to spoil anything saying the premise was crazier than the execution, because the really weak script. It could have been a masterpiece, but instead you got an over the average gory crazy bear feast.

To add, this was the last Ray Liota's movie, so respect for him.

Come for the "Cocaine" ...stay for the "Bear." I am certain this will be a HUGE hit. They may already be working on sequels. Allow me to suggest:

• Cocaine Bear 2: Mushroom Bear (Trippin' on psilocybin)
• Cocaine Bear 3: Molly Bear (Luvs everybody)
• Cocaine Bear 4: Cannabis Bear (Uncontrollable munchies)
• Cocaine Bear 5: Viagra Bear (self-explanatory)

The title pretty much tells you what kind of movie to expect and delivers as promised. If you expect too much ...then you may be disappointed, but I don't think anyone who is going to see this film is expecting an Oscar-worthy meaningful masterpiece. Yeah, I guess the movie could have been better (definitely not a 10-star film), but compared to other things in this category; I think it's above average and effort was made to produce something entertaining.

I predict the "Cocaine Bear" films will become quite a successful franchise. I'm actually kicking myself right now and thinking: "Why didn't I come up with this first?!"

Cocaine Bear offers little beyond the trailers in terms of originality, flashiness, or cleverness, but it does offer more of the same...and a lot of it. Chances are, however you interpret the trailers and however you feel about them will determine how you enjoy this movie. If you're ready for a leave-your-brain-at-home 80's adventure of slasher gore (sans human antagonist) and some corny punchlines, then this is your ticket. I would be lying if I said I did not have the occasional chuckle, and truth be told, some of SFX company Weta's bear animations were uncomfortably realistic at times. Ultimately though, I found myself several times throughout the brisk 95 minute runtime wishing the film would tingle my brain with abstractions that never came.

My advice? If you like the trailer, see it in theaters. If you were indifferent about the trailer, wait until it hits streaming.

'Cocaine Bear' does exactly what it says on the box - it's a film about a black bear in Georgia, USA, that gets high from some cocaine dumped in the forest and goes on a rampage. Very loosely based on a true story, where illegal drugs actually were thrown out of a plane and killed a bear. Needless to say, the bear is CGI. The cast is surprisingly strong, with the main cast of 'The Americans' present - Russell, Rhys & Martindale - along with Ehrenreich (from 'Solo'), Jackson Jr (from 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'), Whitlock Jr (from heaps of stuff) & Ray Liotta's final ever role.

Even though it has funny parts, there's probably not enough consistently funny jokes or moments to be a true comedy. Likewise with the horror/thriller aspect - there's some scary moments, but nothing sustained or truly horrific. A bit of gore and I think the death tally reached 9 in the end, but probably needed to be a few more to reach actual horror territory.

It's basically a creature feature, and I'd put it alongside 'The Meg' and 'Piranha 3D', rather than 'Jaws' or 'King Kong'. The cast are all likeable, but their skills are severely underutilised. The score is good and some of the shots of the Chattahoochee forest are nice. The ending is a bit underwhelming with too much family drama.