The Little Polar Bear (in Dutch; Flemish: '''Lars de kleine ijsbeer''') is a franchise about a polar bear cub named Lars who first starred in a number of books written by Dutch author, Hans de Beer.
The first of several animated adaptations of the books is a Japanese original video animation, released on April 28, 1990, with animation production by I.G Tatsunoko (now known as Production I.G).[1]
It later became an animated TV series for BBC TV and WDR Lars, der kleine Eisbär, in the 1990s. The show proved to be popular in Germany.
The show was later revived between 2001 and 2003. For its first film, subtitled Der Kinofilm, Warner Bros. and animation studio Rothkirch Cartoon Film bought the rights to adapt the children's books into a feature-length film, released in 2001.
Following the success of the feature, several direct-to-video features were released, one of the new characters included was a tiger cub. In 2005, another film, (German: Der kleine Eisbär 2: Die geheimnisvolle Insel) was released and also proved successful.
The score to The Little Polar Bear was composed by Nigel Clarke & Michael Csanyi-Wills and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and was nominated for several awards.
The Japanese version uses Tomoko Tane's "Rainbow Song" as the ending theme.[2]
| Genre: | Animation |
| Creator: | Hans de Beer (novel) |
| Director: | Theo Kerp |
| Voices: | Susan Sheridan Jimmy Hibbert Vanessa Feltz |
| Theme Music Composer: | Manfred Schoof |
| Country: | Germany, United Kingdom |
| Language: | German English |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Executive Producer: | Siegmund Grewenig |
| Producer: | Theresa Plummer Andrews |
| Runtime: | 5-6 minutes |
| Company: | Rothkirch/Kringel Cartoon Films |
| Channel: | BBC One (UK) Das Erste (Germany) |
In the mid-1990s there was a German-British TV adaptation for the BBC and WDR, featuring the voice talents of Susan Sheridan and Jimmy Hibbert. The animation of the series was provided by Sinan Gungor.
| No. | Cartoons | Original airdate |
|---|
| Director: | Piet De Rycker Thilo Graf Rothkirch |
| Producer: | Willi Geike |
| Music: | Nigel Clarke Michael Csányi-Wills |
| Editing: | Bettina Behrens Nadia Hennrich |
| Studio: | Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Rothkirch Cartoon-Film Motion Works GmbH Animationsstudio Ludewig GmbH Animagix Media AG Animationsfabrik GmbH Comet Film GmbH BB-Film GmbH Westdeutscher Rundfunk Nord-Sud Verlag, Schweiz |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. Germany |
| Runtime: | 76 minutes |
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | English |
The Little Polar Bear is a 2001 German film based on the books of the same name. It is directed by Piet De Rycker and Thilo Graf Rothkirch and produced by Willi Geike. The film was distributed in Germany by Warner Bros. Germany through the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment unit on 4 October 2001.
Warner Bros also produced an English dub of the film that was released in America and Britain in 2003.
| Character | German version | English version | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lars | Mijail Verona | Wesley Singerman | |
| Robby | Maximilian Artajo | Brianne Siddall | |
| Kalle | Jochen Busse | Daran Norris as Brutus | |
| Nalle | Mike Krüger | Neil Kaplan as Bert | |
| Palle | Bernd Stelter | Tom Fahn as Boris | |
| Mika | Ingolf Lück | Michael McConnohie | |
| Greta | Jeanette Biedermann | RuDee Sade | |
| Caruso | Dirk Bach | Joe Ochman | |
| Pieps | Sandro Blümel | Sandy Fox | |
| Lena | Adak Azdasht | Rebecca Forstadt as Anna | |
| Henry | Harry Rowohlt | Steve Blum | |
| Manili | Vanessa Petruo | Kimberly J. Brown as Lena | |
| Sopho / Sophocles | Wolfgang Völz | Ralph Votrian | |
| Großmutter | Barbara Adolph | Edie Mirman as Grandmother | |
| Mutter Eisbär | Anke Engelke | Mari Devon as Nina | |
| Lemmings | Hans Werner Olm Johann König Thomas Hackenberger Roberto Capitoni | Joshua Seth R. Martin Klein Edie Mirman Peter Lurie | |
| Seagulls / Möwe | Santiago Ziesmer Hans Werner Olm Frank Schaff | Steve Kramer Jason Spisak Robert Axelrod |
Additional English voices