.

Occasionally you get a couple of movies that seem like they might be related even though that wasn’t the film makers intention. Take Cate Blanchett’s Elizabeth which works really well as a sequel to The Other Boleyn Girl, or Terminator which could easily be the backstory of what eventually happens in The Matrix.

Here then in Cocaine Bear we might feasibly have the truth about why Paddington was first left alone by his parents.

Okay, this might be a stretch (and not only because this is a Black Bear and Paddington is an Andean Short-faced Brown – don’t worry pedants, I got you) but actually it is hard not to think of those sweet movies when watching this one. I guess there are only so many ways to make a CGI bear frown but when the freebasing Fozzie in this film first sights people it is very reminiscent of that other lovable character doing one of his hard stares.

.

Normally it’s a problem when one movie makes you think of another far superior one and if you want to go there then I will also cite other killer animal films like Jaws, The Birds, Cujo, The Ghost and the Darkness and Rampage. Hell, I’ll even add Black Sheep and Lake Placid to the list. To be too critical of this feels a little ungenerous though. It is no masterwork of cinema but it’s called Cocaine Bear so it’s not promising anything it isn’t delivering and it’s certainly not terrible; you’ll notice I didn’t mention Anaconda and Snakes on a Plane before.

So sure I could bemoan how six years after her staggering performance as a six year old in The Florida Project, Brooklynn Prince is now reduced to appearing in this, and I could say how sad it is that this is the last movie the late Ray Liotta will have on an impressive filmography. I could comment on how Isiah Whitlock Jr. has followed great work with Spike Lee in Da 5 Bloods and BlacKkKlansman with this and I may even be tempted to talk about how Alden Ehrenreich, Keri Russell and O’Shea Jackson Jr. have all just been in Star Wars and that Kristofer Hivju was in Game of Thrones. Why be snobby about it though, they’re all having a good time here? Cocaine Bear is about a large woodland predator that consumes several bags of hard narcotics after they’ve been dropped out of a plane and then totally freaks out, it involves violent eviscerations and torn limbs but it isn’t designed to be taken seriously and is actually quite a lot of fun, especially in the middle of awards season. There is one joyous moment after nose candy Yogi has eaten too many of the wrong hampers that leads to a nutso chase with an ambulance to the strains of an 80s pop classic, and you’ll never see anything like that in the clips at the Oscars.

It also has to be said that this is actually a step up for director Elizabeth Banks. After the uneven Pitch Perfect 2 and the uninspired Charlie’s Angels it is nice to see her take on a different type of film with such commitment.

In the pantheon of bear movies then this sits a long way from The Revenant, The Edge, Brave and you know who but as an easy and enjoyable night out at the flicks, you could do a lot worse. It may have a bear that is too cross but watching it is no cross to bear.

.

The Ripley Factor:

The mama bear in this film isn’t the only mama bear in this film. Russell’s storyline sees her heading across through forest to find her lost daughter (Prince) and she is not giving up no matter the threat from the basuco Baloo. She is also about the only real voice of reason in the whole movie but then no one was worried about reason here.