Bear Man (웅남이) is a South Korean action comedy movie that was released on 22nd March 2023.
About
From IMDB:
Based on the Danggun myth that bears become humans after eating garlic and mugwort, it depicts the story of twin Asiatic Bear brothers, who were managed by the Pro-North Korean Institute of Technology, disappearing one day after eating mugwort and garlic.
Cast
Park Sung Woong (박성웅) as Woong Nam
Maybe his character name is a play on his real name. A popular actor in both in movies and TV shows although this is the first time I’ve seen him in anything. I believe the TV shows “Crash Landing on You” and “Life on Mars” that he was in were both highly popular.
Yeom Hye Ran (염혜란) as Jang Gyung Sook
She played Woong Man’s adopted Mother. A very popular actress maybe due her notably international fame on Uncanny Counter playing Chu Mae Ok (Mrs Chu).
Oh Dal Soo (오달수) as Na Bok Cheon
He played Woong Mam’s adopted Father. He started his acting career in 2001 in Busan. His first movie was in 2002. He is very popular in film but hasn’t appeared much in TV shows.
Lee Yi Kyung (이이경 ) as Mal Bong
A very popular actor who was born in 1989. His acting debut was in 2011 on the TV show Heartstrings. He has been very popular in mainly TV dramas but also movies.
Review
This was a very cute movie with a lot of comedy and some action. I would also add superhero as one of the genres.
The story line felt a little disjointed because there was something odd with the continuity, like it was cut down with some little pieces missing. Maybe it was the directing, I couldn’t tell.
I would say the action was divided into two. Mostly it has real action with fights and chases. Then there was the action that was quite in the slapstick genre, when it was part comedic.
Every actor did well and had an opportunity to shine in the movie. Yeom Hye Ran played a great “concerned” Mother and Lee Yi Kyung was great at Woong Man’s vlogging geeky friend.
The great parts of the movie was when Woong Nam played the superhero, some of the special effects were subtle but very well done too. They could have improved on the CGI animals.
Summary
Worth a watch but I would only give is a 3/5. Sorry.
Where To View
We saw the movie on Viki, I don’t know where else it’s playing.