The Two Little Bears

Grammar school principal and father to three kids--none of whom look or sound alike--has to accept the fact that magic can happen when his two youngest boys change themselves into bears via an incantation borrowed from a trailer-park gypsy. Aside from the typical stereotyping of a nervous, hypocritical psychiatrist, there's nothing offensive about "The Two Little Bears"...indeed, it's as blithely innocuous and harmless as a sitcom from the early 1960s. Littered with famous faces and a familiar suburban scenario, the movie incorporates fanciful comedy and a little song into its mix; still, even trained bear cubs can only do so much, and the picture feels extremely thin at 83 minutes. Eddie Albert and Jane Wyatt are charming as the non-hysterical, low-keyed parents; Brenda Lee is their twangy-voiced teenage daughter (perhaps adopted?); and Donnie Carter and Butch Patrick are the boys (neither of whom are perceptive child-actors, though they are cute as a button). Lee sings (very well) and acts (not so well). Had Walt Disney made this movie, the teasing from critics never would have stopped. Since Twentieth Century-Fox made it--on a TV budget with TV actors--nobody paid any attention. ** from ****