Alaska (film)

A 1996 film about two kids with a Missing Mom who search for their bush pilot father who goes missing in the Alaskan wilderness. The kids meet a polar bear cub who helps them along the way. Little do they know that a poacher named Colin Perry (Charlton Heston) -- who captured the cub after killing her mother in the beginning -- is pursuing them.

"Perry: "It's a shame to seperate a mother and child isn't it?""
 * Age-Appropriate Angst: Sean, who reasonably gets angry over his mother being dead.
 * Dead Guy Puppet:The poachers take the mother bear's hollowed out carcass and use it as a hand puppet to tease the baby.
 * Evil Gloating: Perry delivers one before shooting the polar bear.
 * Failed a Spot Check / Hidden in Plain Sight: How hard is it for the search and rescue team to spot a bright yellow plane against a bunch of snowy mountains?
 * Harmless Freezing: Apparently, kids can be barefoot out in the frigid Alaskan wilderness without so much as socks without any adverse affect. Not even frostbite.
 * Idiot Ball: The search and rescue team; see Failed a Spot Check.
 * Jerkass: Sean, and how. After refusing a compass as a gift, he wishes that his father died instead of his mother. Geez!
 * Kick the Dog: After the poachers killed a mother polar bear, they teased her captured cub by flailing the mother's hide right in front of the cub's cage for fun.


 * Kids Wilderness Epic
 * Large Ham: Perry once again.
 * Magical Native American: Ben the convenience store clerk, who even has a pet bald eagle. He calls him his "Tornac", or "spirit guide".
 * Police Are Useless: Nice portrayal of Alaskan Search-and-Rescue there, movie.
 * Scenery Porn: This is Alaska were talking about.
 * Vision Quest: Ben convinces Sean to treat the search like one.