Review: We Bare Bears “Lazer Royale”

Meet….Lazer.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The episode starts out with the kid-versions of the Bears noticing a TV advert for a Lazer Tag event called “Lazer Royale” where the winner gets a “Giant Ice Cream Sundae” and will take kids in for free on a specific day. Of course not passing up this chance, all 3 of them enter the event leading to some random comedic moments such as a liability form with oddly specific disclaimers to even a random young girl who claims the game is a trap. As the game begins, we’re treated to a series of comical references to Battle Royale as with each losing participant that loses, the Intercom announces their elimination by the numbers on their helmets.

Understandably, the Bears being children in this episode, begin to react to the game as a life or death scenario with each losing kid dramatically acting like they’re dying which gave me a good laugh. By the 3rd act, it’s now down to all 3 bears left and the intercom says only one winner must remain. The suspense properly builds in this scene as your left wondering who will get the Ice cream until an unexpected twist happens that even caught me off guard. We do to get a winner but it’s someone even I didn’t expect.

Our Take

As a fan of the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale I really wasn’t expecting the show to cleverly parody & reference the film. It even went as far as to have the cheerful lady in the Lazer Royale adverts acting as comedically cheerful as the lady in the BR training video. When the action started to pick-up it cleverly used 90’s techno/synth music in places including a tune that sounds eerily close to the Iconic Mortal Kombat song by Techno syndrome. And the ending was unpredictable but for all the right reasons complete with a comical PSA image you wouldn’t expect to see in a kids cartoon.