Hollywood is a weird place. Sometimes, you get a movie that everyone expects to be a total flop, and then it ends up having this bizarre, enduring life on streaming services and in the "wait, they were in that?" corner of our brains. The cast of yogi bear movie from 2010 is the perfect example of this.
You’ve got a legendary Ghostbuster, a pop music icon at the height of his "Social Network" era, and the queen of scary movie spoofs all sharing the screen—well, technically sharing the frame with some very early-2010s CGI.
Looking back, the lineup is actually kind of stacked. It’s one of those casts that feels like a fever dream. If you told someone today that Justin Timberlake played a bow-tie-wearing bear cub right around the time he was being taken seriously as a dramatic actor, they might not believe you. But it happened. And honestly? Some of it was actually pretty good.
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The Big Names: Who Voiced the Bears?
When the movie was announced, the biggest question was who would step into the shoes—or paws—of Daws Butler, the man who voiced Yogi for decades. The choice was Dan Aykroyd.
Aykroyd is a guy who takes his craft seriously, even when he’s playing a bear who steals picnic baskets. He reportedly refused to listen to old tapes of the original voice actor, wanting to find his own rhythm. He channeled that old-school, Catskills-style comedy energy. It’s loud, it’s boisterous, and it’s very... Aykroyd.
Then there’s the Boo-Boo situation.
Justin Timberlake took the role of the sidekick. This was 2010. He had just finished filming The Social Network. Critics were starting to think he was the next great dramatic lead. Instead of leaning into that, he went to a recording booth to do a high-pitched, nasal voice. Surprisingly, he was great at it. He actually did an impression of Boo-Boo for his parents as a kid, so it was basically a childhood dream come true for him.
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The two of them recorded their lines together in the same room. That doesn’t always happen with animated movies, but the director, Eric Brevig, wanted that "Batman and Robin" chemistry. You can kind of tell. The banter feels less like two guys reading lines in separate cities and more like a comedy duo trying to make each other laugh.
The Human Side of Jellystone
While the bears get the title, the live-action cast of yogi bear movie had to do the heavy lifting. Have you ever tried to act opposite a tennis ball on a stick? Because that’s basically what Tom Cavanagh and Anna Faris did for months.
- Tom Cavanagh (Ranger Smith): Before he was the many versions of Harrison Wells on The Flash, Cavanagh was the long-suffering Ranger Smith. He plays it straight. Like, really straight. It’s almost impressive how much he treats Yogi like a real, annoying neighbor.
- Anna Faris (Rachel Johnson): Faris plays a nature documentary filmmaker. She’s the heart of the movie, though she’s admitted in interviews that she never actually watched the finished film. Classic.
- T.J. Miller (Ranger Jones): This was early in Miller’s career. He plays the slightly-dim, overly ambitious deputy ranger. Fun fact: his audition tape involved him acting with a real, live bear. That’s commitment (or just a lack of fear).
The Villains and Bureaucrats
Every kids' movie needs a greedy guy in a suit. Enter Andrew Daly as Mayor Brown. He wants to shut down Jellystone Park to fix his city’s bankruptcy issues. It’s a very 1980s plot for a 2010 movie. Daly is great at playing "politely evil" characters, and he’s joined by Nate Corddry, who plays his sycophantic Chief of Staff.
Why This Cast Worked (And Why It Didn't)
Critically, the movie wasn't a darling. It has a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.
But if you look at the audience scores or talk to anyone who was seven years old in 2010, the vibe is different. The cast of yogi bear movie leaned into the silliness. They didn't "wink" at the camera too much. They just did the job.
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One thing people often get wrong is thinking the movie was a flop. It actually made over $200 million. People showed up. They showed up for the 3D effects, sure, but they also showed up because the voice talent was genuinely famous.
The real struggle for the actors wasn't the script—it was the tech. Shooting in New Zealand, acting against empty air, trying to make a "frog-mouthed turtle" (voiced by Josh Robert Thompson) look real. It was a weird era of filmmaking where CGI was getting good enough to be everywhere, but not quite good enough to look seamless.
Looking Back at Jellystone
It’s been over a decade. Most of the cast of yogi bear movie moved on to much bigger things.
Justin Timberlake went back to music and more "serious" roles. Dan Aykroyd continues to be a legend and sell crystal-head vodka. Tom Cavanagh became a staple of the DC TV universe.
But there’s something charming about this specific moment in time. It was the last gasp of those big-budget, live-action/CGI hybrid reboots of 1960s cartoons. Before everything was a gritty "reimagining," we just had Dan Aykroyd doing a funny voice and T.J. Miller trying not to get mauled by a bear for an audition.
If you’re planning a rewatch, keep an eye on the background actors. You’ll see a lot of New Zealand locals, as the film was shot there to take advantage of the southern hemisphere's summer (which doubled for a North American spring).
The best way to appreciate the film now is to stop looking for a cinematic masterpiece. It’s a time capsule. It’s a reminder of a specific era of Hollywood casting where you just threw the most talented people you could find into a park with a CGI bear and hoped for the best.
Next Steps for the Curious:
If you want to see the "evolution" of this style, check out the Sonic the Hedgehog movies. You can really see how the technology (and the way human actors interact with it) has changed since Ranger Smith was chasing Yogi around. Also, look up T.J. Miller’s actual audition tape on YouTube; it’s genuinely wild to see him interact with a real bear.