Backkom Bear: Agent 008

Backkom Bear: Agent 008
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not the Bernard we loved and remembered.
Genre: Comedy Action Adventure Based on: Bernard Starring: Tang Shuiyu Xu Jiaqi Yang Mo Photography: Color Release date: 13 January 2017 Country: China Prequel: My Friend Bernard (2007) Sequel: Agent Backkom: Kings Bear (2020)

Backkom Bear: Agent 008 is a 2017 Chinese-Korean-Spanish-French animated adventure comedy family film directed by Li Qingfang, based on the Backkom (a.k.a Bernard) character and animated series, which was a South Korean-Spanish-French co-production. It was released in China on 13 January 2017. It is also the second film to be based on Bernard/Backkom, after Mug Travel (known as My Friend Bernard in English by Phase 4 Films). This film serves as a prequel to the show.

Plot

With the human exploitation of natural resources, the Arctic environment is completely destroyed, leaving only the last polar bear to survive. Jessica, a human girl, adopts the polar bear and names him Backkom.

Why It's Not an Agent

1. Incredibly clichéd plot.
2. Weak and unfunny humor, which mostly consists of overused toilet and fart jokes.
3. Very poor grasp of the source material. For instance, in the original series, Bernard lives in a "ghost town" city with his friends penguins Lloyd and Eva and Zack the lizard, but in this movie, he is the last surviving polar bear who is adopted by a girl named Jessica, but it is possible that the film is a prequel (as mentioned earlier above) to the show at least.
4. On that topic, the film bears little resemblance to the original show.
5. Extremely stupid and clichéd concept, even for an adaptation. For example, an idea of making Bernard a spy and secret agent is just rather plain stupid.
6. Weird character design, except for Bernard, his mother and Jessica.
7. The robotic bee that follows Bernard is kind of pointless as it doesn't do anything in the plot other than being filler.
8. Unoriginal scenes that have ripped off numerous other better films.
9. Similarly to Scooby-Doo: The Movie, the movie can't decide if it wants to be for kids or teens. Some scenes are too inappropriate (see number 14 for more details), violent (such as one where Bernard keeps hitting a guy in the head with a broom to take out some fire the latter had in his head) and dark for kids, while teens might be annoyed and disgusted by the gross out humor, so it miserably fails to appeal to both audiences.
10. Very dumb plot-twist, the villain is revealed to be Bernard's mother near the film's climax.
11. Bland action scenes.
12. Some of the posters actually have characters like Bernard holding real guns and weapons (and in the actual film itself), which is surprisingly out-of-place and too violent for a kids movie, especially considering that the original series was supposed to be a comedy series and not an action one.
13. On that topic, similarly to the Yogi Bear movie posters, some South Korean posters use Bernard's crazy face five times, which is incredibly annoying and quite unprofessional.
14. Sexual innuendos in a kids movie, such as a scene where Bernard looks at Jessica's butt.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Great animation that is better than the one in the show.
2. A few funny moments here and there.
3. At least Bernard still has his usual self as a clumsy, curious polar bear whose bumbling slapstick antics typically result in the bear being knocked unconscious and how he is in the show.
4. The voice acting is decent.
5. Jessica looks really beautiful, especially when compared to the designs of other human characters.
6. Some moments can be very emotional, touching, and heartful.
7. Good soundtrack.
8. The posters without guns are somewhat cute, despite the fact they overuse Bernard's same face (as mentioned earlier) on some of those posters.
9. The film has more character variety than the series.

External links

• Backkom Bear: Agent 008 at the Internet Movie Database

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