The shrewd picnic basket-stealing “Yogi Bear” often likes to say that he’s smarter than the average bear. With his sly plans, goofy wit and ability to speak fluent English, he is undoubtedly more intelligent than the typical forest animal. Unfortunately, the new movie “Yogi Bear” doesn’t measure up to his intellect and is just another bland family-friendly film that features potty jokes and a few funny lines.

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The story begins with Yogi Bear (voiced by Dan Akroyd) planning to steal a picnic basket from an unassuming family. His sidekick Boo Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake) stands at his side watching the master at work.  Yogi’s basket-stealing ploy doesn’t work as well as Yogi planned but this gives the filmmakers the opportunity to show off the film’s 3D effects.

When the food ends up flying into the air, audiences see the snacks and drinks up close and in slow motion — and in 3D. It’s a fun scene to watch and one of the best aspects of the film is actually its use of 3D graphics. Instead of simply showing objects flying towards the audience, “Yogi Bear” appreciates the technology and shows how neat  it can be, especially for young people.

As the story continues, a documentarian named Rachel (Anna Faris) visits Jellystone Park, the home of Yogi Bear. With support from Park Ranger Smith (Tom Cavanagh), Rachel films the adventures of Yogi and Boo Boo. However, a corrupt politician soon arrives to cause trouble. (more…)

“The only way to upset the power structure in your communities is to goad them, confuse them, irritate them and, most of all, make them live by their own rules. If you make them live by their own rules, you destroy them. And never forget that ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. Comedy is our friend. Throw the kitchen sink at them!” – from Saul Alinksy’s “Rules for Radical Comedians.”

Alinsky

I never really had any insight into the pure comic genius of Saul Alinsky until I saw his new age Method followers display their considerable chops on the national stage. James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles, the Master’s ostentatious and envelope-pushing Dan Aykroyd and Gilda Radner-like proteges, whose hilarious ACORN skits also showed brilliant flashes of the late great Allen Funt. The Mysterious Mister X, the L.A. street comic who “Alinskyed” Faris Alkhateeb’s boredom-fueled Obama Joker art into an urban poster as devilishly humorous as Hannibal Lecter, also made as big a national splash as a 300-pound chub doing a cannonball into a crowded public kiddie pool. (more…)