Brother Bear (November 1, 2003)

Full disclosure, this is another film that I disliked as a child. I thought it was odd and boring with no real purpose. Perhaps this through this review I might change my opinion. In the film, an Inuit boy named Kenai pursues a bear in revenge for stealing a basket with fish. During this pursuit his oldest brother, Sitka is killed. Kenai tracks down the bear and kills it, but this act incenses the spirits who change him into a bear as punishment. In order for him to regain his human form, Kenai must travel to a mountain where the Northern Lights touch the earth and talk to Stika. Along this journey, he is joined by an adorable (if not a bit annoying) bear cub, named Koda. The most striking aspect of the movie is its animation. It is stunning, with a notable scene being the sequence in which Kenai is transformed into a bear. It is accompanied by wonderous spirts and bathed in a spectacle of multicolored lights. The characters themselves are also well done- both human and animal. It is yet another argument for the revival of 2D animation by Disney- they are such masters of the craft it is a shame to waste their potential. Regarding the story (and be warned this will include spoilers) It is a run of the mill buddy adventure though with the added danger of Kenai’s other brother, Denahi, who believes Kenai was also killed by a bear and thus is determined to avenge his death. The twist is that the bear Kenai killed was Koda’s mother. This was not a big surprise, but it does induce a meaningful change Kenai as he becomes ashamed and seeks repentance for his actions. However, I do not blame him entirely for Sitka’s death. A bear is still a wild animal, even if it was provoked; it is not Kenai’s fault. I think the spirits were out of bounds to turn him into a bear because of it. It would have been good enough he was simply turned into a bear because his totem was one. In fact, it would have been a cool concept if being turned into your totem animal was a rite of passage for the tribe, but I digress. Then ending, however, is what I really take offense with. Kenai chooses to remain a bear in order to take care of Koda. I think this is an unsatisfying conclusion- his whole goal is to turn into a human and he just gives that up? He could have taken care of Koda as a human; It just left a bad taste in my mouth. On final note is that Phil Colins, who composed the soundtrack for Tarzan (arguably the best part of that movie) returns for this movie. This means that this film has awesome music and great songs (and many montages). Overall, Brother Bear is an ok movie, with great visuals and an amazing soundtrack but bad ending and weak characters.

Final Rating: 4/10