I love it! I was worried but I think we have a home run on our hands! It feels like a cross between the original show and vacation hoedown, especially with
being back! They nailed the humor, and though not as subversive as the original show, it reminds me of the humor in vacation hoedown quite a bit. I love the song choices with the exception of Try Everything which feels very out of place. The new song is perfectly adequate, but not great. They should’ve just kept Bear Band Serenade. All of the other songs I loved, especially Big Al’s, which again feels very reminiscent of his portrayal in Vacation Hoedown.
The banter from Melvin, Buff, and Max is spot on, although they could’ve kept the ‘we’re kinda hung up here’ bit instead of having them do the safety warning. The animatronics are the best they’ve ever looked. The intro Henry looks like he could be a guy in a costume he’s so fluid. The fog, lighting, and projections are all perfect as well. This show feels much more ‘alive’ than previous versions.
The imagineers did their homework, and this is a very ‘on brand’ country bears experience which feels like a continuation of the original rather than an ‘Under New Management’ situation. You can tell lots of love and care was put into the show. This is the first ‘reimagining’ in a long time that equals and even improves upon what was there before. Overall very very happy and relieved to see what they did here!
Here’s my official country bears ranking: 1971 show > Musical Jamboree > Vacation Hoedown > Christmas Special > 2012 show