The Country Bears

Jim Henson's Creature Shop made the Bears for this movie, which were performed by Henson puppeteers/suit performers.

Based on an attraction at Disneyland, the Country Bear Jamboree, "The Country Bears" (2002) was the first in a recent series of attraction-based movies which include "Haunted Mansion," "Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and its sequel, "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest". The Country Bears was certainly not the most succesful of the three. It is also one in a long line of live action Disney family films. The movie is a satire of Behind the Music rock & roll bands. Beary, a young bear raised by a human family in a world where humans and talking bears coexist, attempts to trace his roots. He meets up with the Country Bears, a long-since broken-up band, a parody of bands like the Eagles. Beary helps the Country Bears reunite for one final concert, while searching for who he truly is.

Unlike Disney animation, where the stars voices are laid down first, it was the puppeteers who worked closely with the director and it was their voices that were captured during the entire shoot as they operated the animatronic heads. This gave the Bears the ability to improv and be directed as on-set performers. The stars voices were recorded later.

For the movie's premiere at the El Capitan in Hollywood, the Bears performed a live Rock Concert. And for a limited run, they performed before every showing of the film. This was done to a pre-recorded track, with animatronic puppeteers operating the faces on the side of the stage.

A few of the puppeteers had cameos in this film. Julianne Buescher, Jody St. Michael, and Terri Hardin were in the Swarmin Hive Honey Bar (Julianne was a waitress and Jody had a tattoo of Tennessee on his arm, painted by Julianne). Brian LaRosa was a patron at Trixie's nightclub.

CAST
Haley Joel Osment - Beary Barrington (voice)

Diedrich Bader - Officer Cheets/Voice of Ted Bedderhead

Candy Ford - Trixie St. Clair (voice)

James Gammon - Big Al (voice)

Brad Garrett - Fred Bedderhead (voice)

Toby Huss - Tennessee (voice)

Kevin Michael Richardson - Henry (voice)

Stephen Root - Zeb (voice)

Christopher Walken - Reed Thimple

Stephen Tobolowsky - Norbert Barrington

Daryl Mitchell - Officer Hamm

M.C. Gainey - Roadie

Alex Rocco - Rip Holland

Meagen Fay - Mrs. Barrington

Eli Marienthal - Dex Barrington

Elton John - Himself

Willie Nelson - Himself

Queen Latifah - Cha cha

Don Henley - Himself/Tennessee singing voice

Bonnie Raitt - Herself/Trixie St. Clair singing voice

Brian Setzer - Himself

E.G. Daily - Beary Barrington singing voice

Julianne Buescher - Puppeteer (Tennessee O'Neil)

Jodi St. Michael - Suit Performer (Tennessee O'Neil )

Michelan Sisti - Puppeteer (Ted Bedderhead)

Brian LaRosa - Suit Performer (Ted Bedderhead)

John Kennedy - Puppeteer (Zeb Zoober )

Tony Sabin Prince - Suit Performer (Zeb Zoober )

Alice Dinnean-Vernon - Puppeteer (Beary Barrington )

Misty Rosas - Suit Performer (Beary Barrington )

Allan Trautman - Puppeteer (Fred )

Kaepan Shaw - Suit Performer (Fred)

Bruce Lanoil - Puppeteer (Henry )

Tom Fisher - Suit Performer (Henry )

Terri Hardin - Puppeteer (Trixie St. Clair and Big Al )

John Alexander - Suit Performer (Big Al)

CREW
Directed by: Peter Hastings

Written by: Mark Perez

Produced by Jeffrey Chernov .... producer Andrew Gunn .... producer John G. Scotti .... associate producer Original Music by Krystal  (song "The Kid In You") Christopher Young Non-Original Music by Roger McGuinn  (song "So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star") Cinematography by Mitchell Amundsen Film Editing by George Bowers Seth Flaum Dean Holland Casting by Ruth Lambert Production Design by Dan Bishop Art Direction by Maria L. Baker Set Decoration by Kathe Klopp Costume Design by Genevieve Tyrrell