Every once in a while I come across a movie that while I can agree has a lot of flaws, it honestly gets way too hated on and does not deserve to be put down as bad or even mediocre. That apparently seems to be the case with Disney’s 44th animated feature, Brother Bear. This movie came out at a time when Disney was struggling to find their place in a CGI dominated world (Kinda like today actually). Most people liked to call this unusual time in Disney history the experimental faze where some movies succeeded and others really didn’t. I will admit that I do remember watching and decently liking this movie as a kid and as an adult somethings have changed but as a whole, it honestly could have been much worse and there are a lot of great things that did come out of it.
A little while after the Ice Age in Alaska, there lives a tribe of people who believe in the great spirits of the mountains who appear in the sky as an aurora. a young man named Kenai receives a totem that symbolizes what he has to achieve in order to be considered a real man. He receives the bear which is a symbol of love which Kenai rejects. Soon after, he gets attacked by an actual bear and his brothers Danhi and Sitka come to save him but unfortunately Sitka sacrifices himself to save Kenai and Danhi. Enraged by this, Kenai swears to kill the bear that doomed his eldest brother. He succeeds, but then he gets punished by the great spirits which lead him into becoming a bear himself. Now he has to find a way to get back up to the mountain and convince the spirits to change him back while also avoiding Danhi who is seeking to kill him to avenge his little brother.Along the way he comes across some interesting characters including two dimwitted moose and a young bear cub named Koda who agrees to help Kenai in his quest.
The story has a lot going for it and I will say the best bits of this movie is when Kenai is in his human form. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s actually quite good how they handle the relationship between the brothers and how the culture they live in works. The drama works amazingly well and I felt bad when the eldest brother sacrificed himself for his younger brothers. When Kenai gets turned into a bear, it suddenly switches in tone and sometimes it works to its advantage and other times it can seem underwhelming. I do like the dynamic of Kenai and Koda and it can lead to some funny and even sincere moments though it can overstay its welcome a little too much sometimes. I’m not really a fan of the rest of the animal characters though especially the moose. I’m not against talking animals in animated movies but come on, you could at least have given them more of a purpose to the story or make them have witty dialogue or something.
The Animation is quite spectacular and I love how everything, especially the backgrounds, capture the feel of being in an Alaskan Environment. The great spirits are animated so beautifully that I have to applaud the Disney animators for doing such an amazing job at surprising me at what their hand drawn animation can do. Phil Collins returns as a songwriter coming off his success from Tarzan. Even though I really enjoyed his composition In Tarzan, I unfortunately found the music a little too overbearing especially when it came to the emotional moments. It seems rather forced than natural and I know her intentions were in the right place but there really was no need to play a song over an important moment no matter how serious or uplifting it was. At least in Tarzan the songs flowed better and they worked together with the scenes instead of fighting with them for attention.
I’m kinda split on this movie cause there were just as many things that I really liked as much as there were things that I disliked. I can’t say its a bad movie or even that mediocre cause it clearly was trying and its heart and adventurous spirit was in the right place. I’d say its worth watching at least once if your curious to check it out. For those who have checked it out and thought it bad, I wouldn’t say I agree with them completely, but I also think it deserves a little better then what it’s been getting.
(Final Grade: B-)