Based upon Hanna-Barbera's syndicated animated television show The Yogi Bear Show, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! was the first theatrical feature produced by Hanna-Barbera, and the first feature-length theatrical animated film based on a television program.[4][5] In keeping with the limited animation of the television series, the film was not fully animated, but did contain more detailed animation work than the show.[6] The long-awaited epilogue series, The New Yogi Bear Show, premiered on September 12, 1988, and consists of 45 episodes.
Plot
Boo-Boo Bear wakes up from winter hibernation, excited about the new Spring. Then Yogi Bear wakes up, only interested in finding some food to eat. Cindy Bear unsuccessfully tries to woo Yogi. After Ranger Smith thwarts Yogi's latest attempts to grab some food, Yogi gets angry and convinces the Ranger to transfer him out of Jellystone National Park. Smith prepares Yogi to be sent over to the San Diego Zoo along with an identification tag. Yogi first says goodbye to everything, but tricks another bear named Corn Pone into going to California instead of him and Boo-Boo and Cindy remain unaware of this, thinking Yogi has departed for good.
Soon, Yogi is stealing food from all over the park under the alter ego "The Brown Phantom". Smith believes "The Brown Phantom" is a mysterious bear-like vigilante whom the Park Commissioner hired to replace Yogi, and scares away all of the Jellystone goers and gobbles their food up shortly after stealing it. He threatens whoever it is to be sent to the zoo and comes up with a clever plan to stop "The Brown Phantom" and save the park, not knowing it is actually Yogi. Cindy, wishing to be with Yogi at the zoo, angers Smith into mistakenly sending her away. However, she gets sent to the St. Louis Zoo by train instead, as the San Diego Zoo does not need any more bears. When she realizes her true destination, she gets very sad, crying since she knows she would be far from Yogi now. Late that night, Cindy falls out of the train and becomes lost. A traveling circus, run by the Chizzling Brothers, is looking for a great act to raise their ratings, when suddenly, their dog Mugger runs off and scares Cindy into walking on the telephone wires, the perfect act to save their circus.
Yogi has recently missed Boo-Boo and, above all, Cindy. Ranger Smith tricks "The Brown Phantom" in going to the St. Louis Zoo as part of his plan to save Jellystone. Soon, Yogi and Boo-Boo escape from Jellystone to find Cindy. After an extensive travel, Yogi and Boo-Boo locate Cindy, who is being kept a prisoner, forced to perform her high-wire act for the Chizzling Brother's circus. As Yogi confronts the manager, Grifter Chizzing, he is tricked into joining Cindy in her cage, where Grifter tells him he's now in "show biz." Boo-Boo releases Yogi and Cindy and they make their exit. Meanwhile, Ranger Smith decides to let them find their way home to avoid trouble with the Park Commissioner, who thinks Yogi, Boo-Boo, and Cindy are "The Brown Phantom" and Smith's two henchmen, who bring the picnic baskets to it after its scares, and they send the police to hunt down "The Brown Phantom", which is the second part of his plan. As Yogi, Cindy, and Boo-Boo make their way home, they crash a barnyard party, somehow escaping afloat a river with the barn's door. Then, while Cindy & Yogi dream about a honeymoon in Venice, they find themselves suddenly being chased and hunted by the police, as they somehow became fugitives, but make their escape.
They hitch a ride in a moving van, but find themselves in the middle of a busy city (later revealed to be New York City) and make a run from the police to the top of a hotel and across to a high rise under construction. The next morning, Ranger Smith sees the three bears on television and decides to rescue them from "The Brown Phantom" in a helicopter as the final part of his plan to save Jellystone. With the name of "The Brown Phantom" cleared up (who is revealed to be Yogi, who simply wanted an excuse to return to the park), all the commotions have made great publicity for Jellystone and Ranger Smith gets promoted to Chief Ranger by the Park Commissioner in gratitude for saving the park from "The Brown Phantom", bringing all three bears back to Jellystone, where they promise to be "good bears" from now on.
A review from the May 27, 1964, issue of Variety pointed out that the scarcity of theatrically released feature animated films made Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! highly marketable. The review called the film "artistically accomplished in all departments". The review commented that the script was a bit redundant, but that the songs were "pleasant, if not especially distinguished".[8]
The film was released on VHS two times in the United States in the 1980s by Paramount Home Video and KVC Home Video. GoodTimes Home Video re-released it in 1992. These releases use the 1986 Clubhouse Pictures reissue version.
On December 2, 2008, Warner Home Video released the film on DVD in North America. Unlike a concurrent DVD release of another Hanna-Barbera feature, The Man Called Flintstone, it is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen (both films were animated in 1.33:1 and matted to 1.85:1 for theaters). A R2 DVD was released in the UK on January 31, 2011, and is also presented in 1.78:1.
The film was released on Blu-ray under the Warner Archive Collection on May 30, 2023.[12] Unlike the previous releases however, the original Columbia Pictures opening logo is left intact.[13]
^"Big Rental Pictures of 1964", Variety, 6 January 1965 p 39. This figure is rentals accruing to distributors, not total gross.
^Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 933–934. ISBN978-1476665993.
