‘Cocaine Bear’ Movie Review: A delightful, funny creature feature

A still from ‘Cocaine Bear’ Photo credit: Universal Pictures

Creature features are always fun and interesting. Cocaine Bear Gore’s already overcrowded diadem features another stunning gemstone. Based on true events with few creative liberties, Cocaine Bear It begins with a former narcotics agent, Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys), who drops bags of cocaine from his overloaded plane during smuggling. He dies when his parachute malfunctions.

Bags of cocaine drop in and around Chattahoochee National Park. Sid (Ray Liotta), the intended recipient of said drug from the oppressive Colombia, instructs his son, Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich) and enforcer, David (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), to retrieve the cocaine.

Sari (Keri Russell), a nurse, promised her daughter, Dee Dee (Brooklyn Prince), that they could go to the park but cancels a weekend with the new man in her life. In a fit of pique, DD skips school and decides to go to the park with her best friend, Henry (Christian Convery). The local forest ranger, Liz (Margo Martindale), who is in love with Peter (Jess Tyler Ferguson), the inspector, sees her day in the ravaged forest of Sari, who comes looking for DD.

Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), a police detective, overhears David and Eddie and heads to the park to find cocaine and get the bad guys. There are innocent hikers, Olaf (Christopher Hugo) and Elsa (Hannah Hoekstra), paramedics Beth (Kaheon Kim) and Tom (Scott Seiss), and Bob’s co-worker Reba (Evola Smart) who babysits Bob’s newly adopted dog. I promise. Dog, rosette. And among them all is the “Supreme Predator on Cocaine.”

While one bear died of a cocaine overdose in December 1985, it did not go on the killing spree depicted in the film. At 95 minutes, Cocaine Bear It’s a slick, action-packed ride through eye-poppingly beautiful scenery, happily matched with all the gore and mangled body parts. The bear is a marvel of CGI and looks adorable as it scrambles through trees and various gazebos to reach a duffle bag full of cocaine.

The funny lines are mainly from Stitch (Aaron Holliday), a young man who has the misfortune of getting mixed up with David and Eddie. He advises Eddie, who is grieving the loss of his wife to cancer, on how to connect with his son, Gabe.

While Cocaine Bear It can be seen as a metaphor (anything is a metaphor for something for that matter) for obvious use or for the eternal man vs. nature debate, it can also be seen as a silly thriller. Where humans can be trusted to do and say. Funny things and they get slapped, whipped or torn, and even shot for their pain.

Cocaine Bear is currently playing in theaters.