Shawn Levy to Produce Berenstain Bears Feature

USA Today is reporting that Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy will produce a feature film based on The Berenstain Bears books.

The comedy will be a mix of live-action and computer animation.

Walden Media has acquired the film rights to the popular books written by Jan and the late Stan Berenstain.

"I'd like the film to be un-ironic about its family connections but have a wry comedic sensibility that isn't oblivious to the fact that they're bears," Levy said. "The comedy comes from this bear family coexisting in a more recognizably real world."

Levy compared his vision of the film to the tone of Will Ferrell's Elf, which had a sweet, earnest hero who clashed with his cynical surroundings. "I think the movie will be witty but never sarcastic," he says.

The film is being fast-tracked to begin production late next year, to be in theaters late 2011.