Product Description

Award-winning director Ola Solum and the Jim Henson Creature Shop bring to life a breathtaking fairy tale of romance and magic, in the enchanting, live-action adventure of The Polar Bear King. In the kingdom of Summerland, where flowers bloom eternal, handsome and newly crowned King Valemon refuses to marry the evil Witch. As punishment for his refusal to ally himself with the forces of darkness, the Witch casts a wicked spell, transforming Valemon into a gigantic Polar Bear. Fleeing north to the icy kingdom of Winterland, Valemon falls in love with a beautiful, young Princess who sees beyond his fearsome Polar Bear exterior to the goodnes within. It's up to the Princess to thwart the Witch's diabolical scheme, rescue Valemon and break the chilling spell of The Polar Bear King.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17335 in DVD
• Published on: 2003
• Released on: 2003-05-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Remarkable Film
I rented this movie several months ago from the video store for my cousins aged 7 and 10 while their mother was out of town. They grew up in a house without cable television, in a part of the country where network television reception was not available without a cable hookup. Consequently, their media exposure as children was limited to occasional Disney movies on video. I am not a fan of Disney, or children's cartoon films in general, so I thought that this adaptation of a Norweigan folktale might fit the bill. Although I was concerned that, due to the fact that my cousins had had almost no exposure to violent or "scary" sequences in films, this movie might scare them or prove to be over their heads. BOY WAS I WRONG! They LOVED it. This is, without question, a family film. Some of the acting is cliched (the evil queen's demonic wedding banquet towards the end is so cliched that many adults will have to bite their lip to keep from laughing out loud) The special effects and animatronic polar bear sequences are actually pretty good, especially considering that this is a low budget film from 1994. Some of the polar bear sequences (particularlly the voice and facial expressions) are a bit scary, and some of the plot elements are too involed for children under 7 or 8 to understand without some explanation. The visuals are absolutely stunning in their beauty and the plot is enthralling. My older cousin is normally very easily frightened. So much so that she will run out of the room in terror when the wicked queen appears in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. During this movie she did not leave her seat once, even during the scary parts. It was almost like there was a spell on her. I cannot describe just how happy I was with this movie. It is beautiful, magical, and captivating for even the most timid of children. If I could, I would give it 6 stars. This is a must watch film, and would make a wonderful addition to any family's DVD collection

Fabulous family film!
The Polar Bear King is a Scandinavian folk tale with all the classic elements of a truly great story: love; magic; adventure; the struggle between good and evil; and, of course, a quest. What my children and I really love about this story is the strength and independence of the female characters. The protagonist is a young woman who's strong, independent, and resilient; she does the rescuing, but she doesn't do it alone. Incidentally, this is not a man-bashing story; the male characters are strong, too, it's just not about them. This story is really about family and community.

There's not much dialogue, but there's a narrator. This is what makes The Polar Bear King a true folk tale: we don't get to know everything that's going on in the characters' heads, so the viewer is free to interpret what's happening. Because this European movie was filmed in 1991, there's a certain lack of sophistication in the special effects and dubbing; I don't think it takes away from the film, but I'm just adding this comment as a reminder that media technology has changed significantly over the past several years.

I hope you enjoy this film as much as my children and I have!

A Great Faery Tale
Thi story is a great story for the whole family. Kids can watch it but adults would also enjoy it. It is a classic Norwegian story- though ussually lumped into the faery tale category the Norwegians and Danes actually have a different term for them, one that loosely translates as 'legendary story' (Hans Christian Anderson was actually a writer of this kind of story- which is why his tales are a great deal deeper than something you might read in the Brother's Grimm- and when Dickens chose to honor his friend by writing a story in Anderson's genre what he came up with is A Christmas Carol). These kinds of stories are far more than light entertainment- they stay with you for life.

The scenery is beautiful and the characters very well done.