The Little Polar Bear (German: Der kleine Eisbär) is a franchise about a polar bear cub named Lars who first starred in a number of books written by Dutch author, Hans de Beer.
It later became an animated TV series for BBC TV, Lars, der Kleine Eisbär, in the 1990s. The show proved to be popular in Germany, but its English-dubbed version (titled The Little Polar Bear) had also gained a cult following with UK viewers.
The show was later revived between 2001 and 2003. For its first film, subtitled Der Kinofilm, Warner Bros. and animation studio Rothkirch Cartoon Film bought the rights to adapt the children's books into a feature-length film, released in 2001.
Following the success of the feature, several direct-to-video features were released, one of the new characters included was a tiger cub. In 2005, another film, The Little Polar Bear 2 – The Mysterious Island (German: Der Kleine Eisbär 2: Die geheimnisvolle Insel) was released and also proved successful.
The score to The Little Polar Bear (1) was composed by Nigel Clarke & Michael Csanyi-Wills and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and was nominated for several awards.