Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear!

Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! is a 1964 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. The film stars the voices of Daws Butler, Don Messick, Julie Bennett, Mel Blanc, and J. Pat O'Malley.

Based upon Hanna-Barbera's syndicated animated television show The Yogi Bear Show, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! was the first theatrical feature produced by Hanna-Barbera, and the first feature-length theatrical animated film based on a television program.

Plot
Boo-Boo Bear wakes up from winter hibernation, excited about the new Spring. Then Yogi Bear wakes up, his only interest finding some food to eat. Cindy Bear unsuccessfully tries to woo Yogi. After Ranger Smith thwarts Yogi's latest attempts to grab some food, Yogi gets angry and convinces the Ranger to transfer him out of Jellystone National Park. Smith prepares Yogi to be sent over to the San Diego Zoo along with an identification tag. Yogi first says goodbye to everything, but tricks another bear named Corn Pone into going to California instead of him and Boo-Boo and Cindy remain unaware of this, thinking Yogi has departed for good.

Soon, Yogi is stealing food from all over the park under the alter ego "The Brown Phantom", but Smith believes it is another bear. He threatens whoever it is to be sent to the zoo. Cindy, wishing to be with Yogi at the zoo, angers Smith into mistakenly sending her away. However, she gets sent to the St. Louis Zoo instead, as the San Diego Zoo does not need any more bears. When she realizes her true destination, she gets very sad, crying since she knows she would be far from Yogi now.

Late that night, Cindy falls out of the train and becomes lost. A traveling circus is looking for a great act to raise their ratings, when suddenly, their dog runs off and scares Cindy into walking on the telephone wires, the perfect opportunity for the circus.

Yogi has recently missed Boo-Boo and, above all, Cindy. Yogi goes to Ranger Smith and hears about her disappearance. Soon, Yogi and Boo-Boo escape from Jellystone to find Cindy. Meanwhile, Ranger Smith decides to let them find their way home to avoid trouble with the Park Commissioner. After an extensive travel, Yogi and Boo-Boo locate Cindy, who is being kept a prisoner for the greedy circus manager's nest egg. As Yogi confronts the manager, he is made to join the circus, too. Boo-Boo releases Yogi and Cindy and they make their exit. As they make their way home, they crash a barnyard party, somehow escaping afloat a river with the barn's door. Then, while Cindy & Yogi dream about a honeymoon in Venice, they find themselves suddenly being chased and hunted by the police, as they somehow became fugitives, but make their escape.

They hitch a ride, but find themselves in the middle of a busy city (later revealed to be New York City) and make a run from the police to the top of a hotel and across to a high rise under construction. The next morning, Ranger Smith sees the three bears on television and decides to pick them up in a helicopter. All the commotions have made great publicity for Jellystone and Ranger Smith gets promoted to Chief Ranger by the Park Commissioner.

Cast

 * Daws Butler as Yogi Bear
 * James Darren as Yogi Bear (singing "Ven-e, Ven-o, Ven-a")
 * Don Messick as Boo-Boo Bear, Ranger Smith
 * Julie Bennett as Cindy Bear
 * Mel Blanc as Grifter Chizzling, Southern Accented Bear in Train, Mugger (grumbling sounds)
 * J. Pat O'Malley as Snively Chizzling
 * Hal Smith as Corn Pone, Moose
 * Jean Vander Pyl as the Barn Dance Woman

Uncredited

 * Daws Butler as Airplane Pilot, Ranger Tom
 * Bill Lee as Yogi Bear (singing "Ash Can Parade" "Whistle Your Way Back Home" and "Yogi Loves Cindy")
 * Allan Melvin as the Police Sergeant
 * Don Messick as Ranger Jones, Mugger, Yogi's conscience, the blonde-haired policemen, TV Reporter, Airport Manager
 * Ernest Newton as Boo-Boo Bear (singing)
 * Jonah and the Wailers as the zoo-bound bears performing "St. Louis"
 * Thurl Ravenscroft as the black-haired policemen
 * Jackie Ward as Cindy Bear (singing, "Like I Like You" and "Whistle Your Way Back Home")

Production
The animated musical film was produced and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with a story by Hanna, Barbera, and former Warner Bros. Cartoons storyman Warren Foster. Another Warner Cartoons alumnus, Friz Freleng, served as story supervisor. When the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio closed in May 1963, several of its animators, including Gerry Chiniquy and Ken Harris, also joined Hanna-Barbera to work on this film.

Release and reception
A review from the May 27, 1964 issue of Variety pointed out that the scarcity of theatrically released feature animated films made Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! highly marketable. The review called the film "artistically accomplished in all departments". The review commented that the script was a bit redundant, but that the songs were "pleasant, if not especially distinguished".

After its 1964 release, the film was reissued on January 17, 1986, as part of Atlantic Releasing Corporation's short-lived Clubhouse Pictures label.

Home media
The film was released on VHS a few times in the United States by Paramount Home Video, KVC Home Video, and GoodTimes Home Video respectively in the 1980s and 1993. These releases use the 1986 Clubhouse Pictures reissue version, but it is not known if it contains the Columbia references. In 2000, Warner Home Video included this film on its VHS Bumper Collections (with several other TV shows) in Australia. This release also lacks the original Columbia Pictures card and credit references.

On December 2, 2008, Warner Home Video released the film on DVD in North America. However, like a concurrent DVD release of another Hanna-Barbera feature, The Man Called Flintstone, this release alters the opening of the film by removing the Columbia Pictures logo and its credit references. Unlike the former, it is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen (both films were animated in 1.33:1 and matted to 1.85:1 for theaters). A R2 DVD was released in the UK on January 31, 2011, and is also presented in 1.78:1.