Forevergreen

CinemaSerf

An orphaned and hungry bear cub is helped out by it's own coniferous version of “Treebeard” as it wanders the forest lonely and afraid. The rest of it's youth is spent in idyllic joy - fuelled by a diet of what looks like pre-processed pesto! High up in the branches one day, it espies a crisp packet. It’s still full and the bear relishes the taste. Across the ravine it sees the birds hovering and concludes that a visit is in order. The anxious tree is determined to prevent him, but then a rash act by the bear sees it released to explore the site of copious amounts of human waste. Now, well it's like the proverbial pig in…, but when a spark sets this new home afire, it finds itself trapped. Can the strong tall tree help him now? There’s a fairly savage indictment of mankind and our ability to wreck just about everything in the environment that we touch, but I think this is more about what sacrifices wouldn’t be made by a parent for a child, even when the child might not even be of the same species. It’s not so much a duty of care as a need to care, a longing to protect - and that’s captured well, and often quite mischievously, as this moves along. I did like the slightly angular, carved, style of the animation too: there are no big-eyed faces, just a curious bear growing up, rebelling then doing some realising of it’s own.