In this colorful and innovatively designed animated film based on the 1945 Italian children’s book by Dino Buzzati, Bear King Leonzio gathers his clan to a uniquely creative war against the land of man to save his son from a human circus.
The Bears’ Famous Invasion is classic animation at its finest. Based on a 1945 Italian children’s storybook, the film uses bold colors, angular shapes, and reaches an exceptionally high bar with its visionary creativity. Narratively constructed around a fictitious war between humans and members of the animal kingdom, the film has fighting but is free of bloodshed and generally gentle in its presentation of the fantastical encounters with ghosts, charging boars, a sea monster, and more. The film is framed with a wandering storyteller who awakens an old bear in a cave and relays to him the tale of Bear King Leonzio whose son, Tonino, is swept downriver while fishing and becomes a performer in the human circus. Moving beyond his anguish, Leonzio calls the bears to arms with a surreal bear dance that wondrously opens an imaginary door to where anything can and will happen. How will the conflict between man and animal resolve? What additional perspective may the older bear provide to the storyteller? This is the type of animated film that doesn’t get made anymore: a fairytale that is visually enrapturing yet also explores complex themes for young audiences around the function of storytelling and how humans relate to nature.
— Dustin Kaspar
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