You might have seen our state flag recently -- it tends to fly before many a school and office building -- and you might have pondered our iconic symbol, the bear.
The Bear Flag, as it is often called, is synonymous with Golden State history and its wild character, and that's a pairing that fits. After all, ursine residents of Yosemite National Park still roam, with some 300 to 500 black bears calling the park home. (The famous yellow "Speeding Kills Bears" signs are seen throughout the area.)
Thus Disneynature's "Bears," the long-awaited film about a bevy of real bears -- as opposed to animated or animatronic beasties -- should find an apt home at El Capitan in Hollywood when it opens on Friday, April 18.
Do we even need to make the comparison about "Bears" in El Capitan, the theater, and bears on El Capitan, Yosemite's mammoth granite symbol? No? You got it? Okay, good.
It's a documentary with the Disney touch, so, yep, the bears on screen do have names: Sky, Amber, and Scout. And while we've made Yosemite comparisions -- please, El Capitan and El Capitan? We couldn't help it -- the film is set in the Alaskan gorgeousness. We mean, wilderness.
The opening date, April 18, is significant, too. It's Earth Week, and anybody who sees the film at El Capitan from April 18 to April 24 lends a claw, or a paw, or a hand, rather, to the National Park Foundation. Why? Contributions will be made to the foundation via the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund.
Oh, and another fine reason to see it earlier at El Cap: Animals will visit the theater, before the show, on stage, courtesy of the Wildlife Learning Center. That's for the first two weeks of "Bears" at the Tinseltown venue.
Can't make it during Earth Week? It's okay: El Capitan has the film through May 14.
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
But take heart: The other El Capitan, in Yosemite, will always have bears in its vicinity, especially if humans pay special heed to animal conservation and the wider issues of our wild world.
