Staged "This French film was made in1988 in the Alps of of Italy & Austria standing in for B.C. wilderness. Annaud used trained animals including a kodiak bear & 3 animatronic bears made in Jim Henson's Creature Shop used in fighting scenes. It's based on a 1916 novel The Grizzly King, the story of an orphaned bear cub finally accepted by a Grizzly shot by hunters after the cub licks it's wounds. After many adventures together fleeing hunters the bears go into a cave to hibernate. "