Knut the polar bear was one of the cutest news stories this year. After being born at the Berlin zoo, he was rejected by his mother, and an animal rights activist almost suggested he be killed, before spawning a range of merchandise and rasing zoo attendence to record levels. He also has a journalist writing a blog about him, a few hit records recorded in his honor and a weekly TV show, not to mention a Vanity Fair cover. If only I was as cute as a polar bear.

Now Ash R. Shah is making a movie about the polar bear’s busy life, and who is a more obvious choice as the voice of the bear than Suri Cruise.

Shah hopes to use the voice of the 18-month-old in an animated movie version of Knut, the world-famous polar bear, after he offered a German zoo $5 million for the rights to the animal’s story.

Shah says, “With (Knut’s) friendly character, he’s serves as an ambassador for the Earth’s problems — climate change and the melting polar ice caps. A movie about Knut would affect people all over the world.

“Suri could speak the English voice of Knut.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Now, I don’t think director Ash has thought this through. While Suri is undoubtably a box office drawcard, she is also only 18 months old. She can’t learn the lines, nor can she read them, and she probably can’t pronounce all the words.

Still, it would be great publicity for the film, but I think the old adage of not working with children or animals applies here. Suri might be box office gold, but that’s yet to be proven. And have you ever tried to convince a toddler to do what they’re told? If you’ve succeeded, email me your secrets to their good behaviour. Also, I suspect her very business savvy parents would be negotiating a pretty good pay packet for their baby girl.

It pays very well to have famous parents!

Note by Celebitchy: I saw Knut recently and people still crowd around to take his picture, but he’s predictably not a cute little bear anymore. He’s nearly full grown. Here’s a photo of Knut taken on 10/31/07, found at Wikipedia and credited to photographer Aconcagua.

Also I know that’s an unflattering header image of Suri, but I was struck how she’s in the exact same pose as Knut with her hand up, being held by the waist with a bottle.