Best friends come in all sizes. The little polar bear is an animated feature film about a friendly little polar bear called Lars that becomes best friends with a little seal called Robby. Lars and Robby are natural enemies but nobody told them they shouldn’t be friends so when Robby saves Lars from drowning after he accidentally falls into a hole in the ice, they become firm friends. It is through Robby and Lars’ friendship the other polar bears and seal learn to live in harmony, the seal’s catch fish for the polar bears, and in return the polar bears stop hunting the seals. Lars goes on many adventures including a trip to the warm oceans, and an expedition of the neighbouring human village. Lars is brave and not afraid to explore the world around him, so when his way of life is threatened by a huge metal fish-eating monster, Lars is there to save the day (with a little help from his friends).

This DVD is gorgeous, and anyone who has read the little polar bear books will be happy with the transformation of the story from book to DVD. Its really well done both the animation of the animals and the scenery. This DVD still possesses a cartoon-like quality and is not of the calibre of a Disney-Pixar animation but the animation and story is good enough to be really entertaining and enjoyable for both adults and children. I have 4 children ranging in ages from 3 to 8 and all of them sat and watched this to the end. My 6-year-old son has read the storybooks at school and was really impressed to have them on DVD, he loved this particular story.

Kids can be so demanding with what they will watch on DVD and are bored quite quickly so it was great to find a DVD like this one that seems to have enough entertainment to go the distance.

THE EXTRAS

WOW this was a fest!!!!

The best feature was the intro- Lars came on and did a 5 min spiel on how to navigate around the menu and what to look for this was excellent (and a bit if a must have for smaller kids) My kids confidently played in this section for about 30 minutes before moving on to other things.

About the animated creatures - this was a fabulous load of info on the characters in the film.

Play with Lars Jigsaw puzzle - my 3 year old loved this but it was a bit too easy for my 8 year old.

Memory game - this was hard but my 8 year old enjoyed the challenge and did this a few times.

Play Catch the lemmings game - an easy game but lots of fun all my kids liked this one.

Create your own polar bear music- this had sound effects that you could add or remove to a sound track. Pretty good

How does Lars learn to walk - just a quick flick on animation of Lars the bear. Interesting probably a bit boring for smaller kids.

Music Clip - there must be an angel - by the No Angels (not as good as the Eurhythmics!) but OK.

Theatrical Trailer. Advertising blurb

CONCLUSION

Best friends come in all sizes. The little polar bear is an animated feature film about a friendly little polar bear called Lars that becomes best friends with a little seal called Robby. Lars and Robby are natural enemies but nobody told them they shouldn’t be friends so when Robby saves Lars from drowning after he accidentally falls into a hole in the ice, they become firm friends.