‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ is based on the hugely successful illustrated children’s book by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. The film, which will be made using hand-drawn animation and hand-painted backgrounds, promises to be a beautifully crafted, timeless classic for a young audience which will prove the jewel in the crown of any holiday TV schedule. When Grandma’s car breaks down, Mum and Dad go to her rescue, leaving their teenage son Stan in charge of their younger children Katie, Rosie, Max and the baby. Spurred on by Rosie’s love of bears and Dad’s insistence that they go and get some fresh air, the children decide it would be fun to go on a bear hunt. Rufus, the family dog, picks up a scent and leads the children through increasingly challenging countryside, wading through a river, squelching through mud and creeping through a dark forest. Struggling through a snowstorm to a deserted beach, they follow a trail of bear prints that lead them to a narrow gloomy cave. Once inside, Rosie and Rufus become separated from the others and end up in a dark passageway. Switching on her torch Rosie finds herself face to face with a huge bear! Initially frightened, Rosie soon realises that he is just old and lonely and needs looking after. She combs his fur and gives him something to eat. As the appreciative old bear envelops her in a great big hug, the other children suddenly appear. Stan, despite Rosie’s attempts to explain, grabs her and, together with the other children, they run all the way home. Later that evening the parents return home with Grandma, and play along with the children’s story of their bear hunt. As the merriment begins at home, Rosie can’t stop thinking about the bear. She quietly sings a sentimental song, which is carried by the wind to the seashore where the bear stops to listen. Rosie’s voice is now no more than a whisper as the bear disappears back into his cave, the waves washing away his paw prints in the sand.