[FILM] We're Going on a Bear Hunt

We're going on a bear hunt is an adaptation of a classic children's book which came out this Christmas, although I felt the story was drawn out a little too much, the animation was fantastic. I had previously emailed Robin Shaw about the future of hand-drawn animation who states that, "We’re Going on a Bear Hunt is an adaptation of a children’s picture book, which has to nod respectfully towards the original illustrations." The animation was undoubtedly beautiful and captured the beauty of British landscapes. 

One of the main reasons why I want to discuss this film is not necessarily because of the art direction, but rather the timing of the animation. Many of my previous animations have had timing issues, and it is something I want to address with this animation, getting rid of anything unnecessary. We're going on a Bear Hunt to me, felt like it added an unnecessary narrative about the death of a grandparent and the unnecessary perspective of the bear at the end. The film could have been a 10 minute classic, but ended up being a 30 minute film which tried to touch upon more than the original storybooks intentions. 

Overall, the animation quality was wonderful, and a real nod into how much 2D traditional animation has grown. However, I feel that this is another example of where narrative lets down the medium. Looking at reviews of the film I am seeing more and more of the same views as myself, where the story was unnecessarily depressing for a children's film or it felt too long. To me, it was a wonderful film to watch, but I think it could have been much better and should have been a push in the right direction for traditionally drawn animation.