Bärenbrüder

I took my 8 year old daughter to see this and the cinema was packed full of kids. They loved it and I loved it too. It was like going back in time to seeing those old Disney movies of my youth such as the Jungle Book and The Aristocats. Brother Bear is one of those movies that is funny and moving at the same time and of an ideal length to hold the attention of a kid.Sure,the critics hated it probably because it is not as knowingly clever as Finding Nemo. Who cares? The proof of the movie's entertainment value was seeing all those kids in the cinema laughing and having fun. I do sit through an awful lot of garbage when I take my daughter to the movies. Finding something like Brother Bear makes it all worthwhile.The only negative factor was those songs by Phil Collins. Rotten is the only word to adequately describe them.If he wins an Oscar again, I will be annoyed.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Brother Bear as much as I did. It is by far one of the better post-Tarzan Disney movies, along with Emperor's New Groove and Lilo and Stitch. I do think it is very underrated, apart from a couple of minor flaws there is hardly anything wrong with it. So what makes Brother Bear a delight? Well for one thing, the animation is simply gorgeous. Beautiful colours, stunning backgrounds and next to flawless character movement. Out of the post-Tarzan Disney movies, Brother Bear gets my vote as the most beautiful visually.

Another pro was the awesome soundtrack. The orchestral music is lovely, and Phil Colins's songs are every bit as catchy, fun and memorable as the ones he did for Tarzan. The film also has a heartwarming story, concentrating on the friendship between Kenai and Koda and there is a nice moral. There is also a lot of symbolism, that was incorporated into the narrative very well. The characterisations are strong, with Joaquin Pheonix superb as the voice of Kenai, and Koda(voiced by Jeremy Suarez) is a simply adorable character. Plus the MacKenzie Moose, voiced by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis were hilarious. There are some funny parts in the script, but quintessentially it is a heartwarming one, maybe even some tearjerkers.

I have very little to complain about this movie. Though had this movie been a tad longer, we could have had some more development in the secondary characters. My only other qualm was although the songs in general were awesome, the song sung by Tina Turner at the beginning wasn't quite in the same league. Other than that, this is a great underrated movie, not Disney's best, but you know what, it is well worth the look. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox

Though I think highly of the new three-dimensional computerized animated films, the traditional hand-drawn stuff just has a different charm. And whatever some people say, traditional animation is not dated. This cartoon's story is interesting, accurately based on real Inuit beliefs. Every component of it is great, and the scene where Koda discovers that Kenai is really a man is beautiful. Not going to give away the happenings behind this powerful, moving scene. The hand-drawn animation is done in the classical style, but the computer graphics are breathtaking. The waterfalls, the mountains, the Aurora Borealis... they're fantastic. The two McKenzie moose are great for comic relief. The characterization is great, and I like the Inuit priest. The brotherhood is something I can identify with perfectly - my three cousins are exactly the same. The music depends on preference. I think the opening Tina Turner song is OK, nothing special, but the Phil Collins songs are better. It's no Jungle Book, Oliver and Company or Lion King when it comes to the music department. I think Jeremy Suarez (seems familiar in the behind-the-scenes trailer) must be a pretty good actor. Koda's my favorite character in the movie. This cartoon is really great, and I'm torn between it and Finding Nemo for cartoon of the year. It's great entertainment, an interesting story told through a truly great, but dying, art form.

Let me say this first, I truly love this movie. Sure the directing, script, and musical numbers may not be on the same par with The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast.In fact, the song when they first find the salmon run can be downright painful. But I'll be damned if this movie isn't full of emotional punch.

The characters, while not as memorable as ones from other movies, feel real. None of them are presented as caricatures of people like you can see in many other Disney movies. You understand the reason's for all of the actions of the characters and often truly feel the emotions that they do. The scene where Kenai confesses his guilt to Koda is one of the most emotionally powerful scenes i've seen in a film, due, in a large part, to the great acting from Joaquin Phoenix in this movie.

The animation is awesome and is most certainly not sub-par at all. Even if this movie isn't amazing in many technical aspects, its crazy amount of heart will make you want to watch it multiple times.

In conclusion, if this movie doesn't make you want to cry, you aren't human.

Brother Bear (2003)

*** (out of 4)

Underrated Disney film about a Inuit hunter (voice of Joaquin Phoenix) who kills a bear without cause and ends up being transformed into a bear where he must help a young cub who has lost its mother. In order to take human form again, the bear must grow a heart and learn the true meaning of love. BROTHER BEAR seems to get a lot of mixed reviews among Disney fans but I really don't understand why because I thought it was a pretty good film with several memorable characters, some good laughs, the needed pulling of the heart-strings and of course some great animation. I really thought the animation here was quite wonderful from the opening scenes that were full of darkness to the middle of the picture when things are a lot more colorful. The attention to detail was just marvelous and especially the scenes early on with the ice, the flowing water and several scenes inside a cave. There lights in the sky were another impressive bit of animation from the studio who were obviously legends by now. Another major plus were the vocal performances with Phoenix doing an extremely good job in the role of the bigger brother who takes on this young cub. You can just really feel a love and naturing feeling to the vocal work. Jeremy Suarex, Rick Moranis and D.B. Sweeney are also very good in their supporting roles. As you'd expect, there's certain messages that the filmmakers try to get across and I think they did a fine job without having to beat the viewer over the head. The ending, which I won't spoil, was quite touching as only Disney can do. Again, I'm really not sure why this film got so many negative reviews but it's certainly a winning addition to the studio's great work.