<P> While animatronic bears were used for several of the fighting scenes, live animals--including bears, dogs, horses, and honey bees--were used on location for filming . A trained, 9 - foot tall Kodiak bear named Bart played the adult grizzly, while a young female bear named Douce ("Sweet" in English) took on the role of the cub, with several alternates . Three trainers worked with Bart (including his owner Doug Seus), eleven with the cubs, three with the dogs, and three with the horses . One day during production, Bart injured Annaud while the two posed for photographers; Annaud's wounds, which included claw - marks on his backside, had to be drained with a shunt for two months . In addition to the real bears, there were animatronic bears which were used in specific scenes that were made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop . </P> <P> With its intersecting story lines of animals and humans, The Bear includes a variety of thematic elements . These themes include orphanhood, peril and protection, and mercy toward and on the behalf of a reformed hunter . </P> <P> Film critic Derek Bousé has made the connection between The Bear and Disney's model of wildlife films, comparing not only the sympathetic characters but also the filmatic structure, to the animated Bambi (1942) and the live - action Perri (1957). In his 2000 book Wildlife Films, Bousé makes a stronger correlation between Annaud's film and Disney's Dumbo (1941), in that both young animals lost their mothers at an early age, creating an unfortunate situation that allows the rest of the plot to develop (although, Dumbo's mother was merely imprisoned for a while, and was re-united with her son at the film's end). Dumbo and The Bear also share a similarly purposed dream sequence, brought on by alcohol in the former and hallucinogenic mushrooms in the latter . </P> <P> The theme of the reformed hunter is a direct reference to the original novel and its author . James Oliver Curwood, himself a past hunter and trapper, considered The Grizzly King to be a "confession of one who for years hunted and killed before he learned that the wild offered a more thrilling sport than slaughter". During its American release, the film used one of Curwood's famous quotes as a tagline--"The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live"--and the film was endorsed by both the American Humane Association and the World Wildlife Fund . </P>

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