'Yogi Bear' movie review: Swing left at Jellystone

Remember Jellystone National Park? Well, in "Yogi Bear," the live-action version of the old 1960s cartoon, the park's name has been changed to Jellystone Park, and that one missing word becomes the occasion for a story about uncaring politicians and ravenous developers out to wreck Yogi and Boo Boo's habitat. They don't care about trees or animals, just profit and power.

This is a cute movie, a kid's movie, and a rather good one. The computer-generated bears are adorable - it's come to this: Computer creations can be adorable - and the movie packs a lot of amusing incidents into a nice, trim 79-minute package. But don't be surprised if in a few days right-wing bloggers start denouncing the movie as a feature-length propaganda piece to indoctrinate children with liberal values.

Likewise, don't be surprised if parents start bringing their kids to "Yogi Bear" for the precise purpose of introducing a dose of liberal social philosophy along with the Milk Duds and popcorn.

On the one side, the movie presents a smug, repellent mayor (Andrew Daly) who wants to balance the budget by selling off Jellystone to loggers. And on the other, we have a sweet documentary filmmaker (Anna Faris) and a dedicated park ranger (Tom Cavanagh), who want to save Jellystone for the animals, for the trees and for future generations.

But the movie's lefty message goes beyond environmentalism into economics and the role of government in people's lives. At the start of the film, the ranger needs to come up with $30,000 to close the park's deficit and prevent the sale. So he attempts to make the park profitable. But ultimately, the movie suggests, private-sector solutions are elusive, and what's required is federal intervention.

In the midst of this struggle - all played as though for laughs, but still, kiddies will get the message - we find the endearing Yogi (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), who is many times smarter than the average bear, and who is pursuing his happy existence of stealing picnic baskets and showing off for his sidekick Boo Boo (voiced by Justin Timberlake). Yogi has no idea that right outside his private workaday paradise forces are converging to come in and level the place, destroy his home and, who knows, maybe send him and Boo Boo to a zoo. Or separate zoos. These are not nice people.

Yogi, who was created as far back as 1958 (when the word Yogi meant only one thing to people, a great Yankees catcher named Berra), is quite a positive character, a can-do fellow who is always inventing things and coming up with elaborate schemes. Usually he's just smart enough to get himself into trouble, but his resiliency makes him a not-bad role model.

"Yogi Bear" takes place in a world in which everybody knows that Jellystone has a talking bear but no one seems to think that's interesting enough to pay the park a visit. So he's not much of an attraction, but in our world, "Yogi Bear" is attraction enough. For single adults, there's no reason to see it, unless you're a Yogi Bear completist. But adults with children, who are used to getting bored out of their skulls with children's fare, may find in this a refreshing and politically charged change of pace.

E-mail Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle