The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree

Plot synopsis:
It is Christmas Eve in Bear Country and the Bear Family is decorating for Christmas. Now the only thing they need is the tree. Mama suggests Papa and the cubs to get a tree from Grizzly Gus' lot, but she reminds them to return home as soon as they can since a snowstorm is likely. Papa, however, decides to go out into the mountains to find the right tree for them. The first tree they find is in good shape, but unfortunately, it is home to a skunk, some squirrels, a grouse, a chipmunk, and twenty-six crows.
Papa and the cubs find another tree on a cliff. But it is the home to an eagle, a hawk, a wolf, and an snowy owl who aren't too pleased that Papa wants to chop their tree down either. After narrowly avoiding the eagle's attack, the bears continue on through the mountains, despite the fact that it is now snowing heavily.
After climbing their way through the snow-covered mountains, Papa and the cubs find a third perfect-looking tree. This time, however, Papa takes a good look at the tree and sees a little window on the trunk. Inside, there is a family of snowbirds decorating a small twig like a Christmas tree. Touched by this, Papa decides not to chop the birds' tree down and tells Brother and Sister that Christmas is the time to be thinking of family and friends. They then go back down the mountain to the tree lot, only to find that every last tree has been sold. They are all sad about this until they find that their tree house has been decorated by all the animals they met on their way as their act of kindness, delighting all the bears in town.

Tags: psychedelic, romantic

Review:
Okay for the kids, I guess. This seems like quite an obscure Xmas special, yet it appears to have a bit of a cult following. I'm not into Dr. Seuss-style rhyming myself, but it was bear-able. Man, I am so witty.It features a family of country bears who head out into the forest on Xmas Eve to find the perfect Xmas tree. The problem is the very tree trunk is home to a skunk, and other forest animals. So they keep looking, and singing. Tree no. 2 is so regal it's home to an eagle. Yeah, I'm beginning to see where this is going.The animation is nothing special, but the backgrounds are occasionally nice, and it succeeds in creating a nice, snowy atmosphere. I can't imagine I'll be watching this twice though.. Heartwarming and delightful like a real Christmas special. The Berenstain Bears are nostalgic memories of my childhood, and I'm proud to say, they are still watched by me to this very day. Being that I was born in 1996, I never got the proper introduction to the original cartoon from the eighties, so naturally I tuned into the 2003 series that is in current syndication on pretty much all PBS networks. I did watch episodes from the eighties' show, but never loved and cherished it like I do the current one. The animation is a lot smoother, and the voice acting isn't as out of place in the newer one. But the newer one lacks the classic feeling the older one had. But that still doesn't mean I don't go back to visit the old one of occasions. It's Christmas time, I decided to visit one of it's specials.Mama, Papa, Sister, and Brother live in a treehouse in Bear County. Papa gets the bright idea he wants to go cut down a tree for the family last minute. He takes the cubs with him to find "the perfect tree". It seems every tree they run into has one problem; it's inhabited by creatures of the outdoors such as skunks, eagles, and crows. As night approaches, the cubs still haven't found a tree, and when they go to Grizzly Gus' Tree Farm they are all sold out. But they return home where they find something better than a tree...The whole episode follows in the footsteps of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and is in rhyme the whole time (no pun intended). It's a little awkward, most likely because I wasn't expecting it, but it grows on you after a while to the point where you need to appreciate it. It's a charming Christmas special to say the least, and it does live up to it's name. While the animation is a bit choppy, and the character development isn't as deep as the new cartoon, The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree has it's ups and bear downs.Starring: Ron McLarty, Gabriela Glatzer, Jonathan Lewis, and Pat Lysinger. Directed by: Mordicai Gerstein.. The message makes up for the flaws in animation. "The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree" is another television Christmas special that runs for (under) half an hour and this one was released back in 1979, so it will soon have its 40th anniversary. The director is Mordicai Gerstein (not Berstein) and he worked on several other Berenstein Bear films too. The Berensteins were a married couple who wrote children's books about the characters you see in here. This film we got here is not only the first, but probably also the most known from the series. Easter for example has its own film too. Anyway, this one here is about Father Bear who wants to get his family the perfect Christmas tree, a subject I have come across on other occasions too. The problem is just that cutting the tree will make all the animals living inside it homeless. A difficult choice right? I liked the solution in here though. This made up for some of the animation I guess as I really wasn't too big on the visual side here, especially the character design of the bears that I found pretty underwhelming and it is somewhat of a negative deal breaker as the bears are visible in it permanently from start to finish. So overall some good some bad in here, it's not a bad film, but also not on a level where I want to watch any of the many sequels. A thumbs-up as a whole. See it during the holidays. Final side-note: The actor voicing Papa Bear reminded me a bit of Pinto Colvig's Goofy. Really that's all now.