Brother Bear 2

I will admit I was not sure whether I wanted to see this sequel. I am not saying that all Disney sequels are terrible, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Rescuers Down Under, Simbas's Pride, Enchanted Christmas and Bambi 2 were surprisingly good. However, Cinderella 2 and Jungle Book 2 were below par; both had average animation and a decent voice cast but everything else ranged from mediocre to poor, Cinderella 2 in the music and Jungle Book 2 in the plot.

What were my thoughts on Brother Bear 2 exactly? Well I was surprised. This sequel is above average, and you know what that is quite an achievement. Why do I say that? Well, the first Brother Bear has to be hard to beat in terms of quality. Like another Disney film like Pocahontas, it was visually stunning and I thought the music was awesome. Plus I found the characters engaging and the story heart warming. In fact, despite the flaws the first Brother Bear had, it is beautiful and very underrated.

Back on track, this sequel is inferior in quality to its original, but I admit I wasn't expecting otherwise. The story is a little thin on the ground, and not as well written and heart warming as the one in the first film. Also while there is some humour with the two Moose, the writing isn't quite as inspired. My next problem applies to a lot of the sequels come and gone, it is too short so there isn't quite enough character development.

That said though, a lot does compensate. Well for one thing, the animation is very nicely done. True it isn't as gorgeous or as detailed as the original's animation, but like Bambi 2, Ariel's Beginning and Cinderella 3 it's style is fluid and it is colourful. Some of the beginning scenes especially were like looking at a watercolour painting. Also the soundtrack is very nice, maybe not as catchy as Phil Collin's lively and fun one, that is good as the one he did for Tarzan, but the theme song is beautiful and very memorable. The characters are still likable, if we forgive the fact that Koda isn't quite as adorable anymore, and Nita reminds me in terms of looks of Mulan. And the voice acting is good, Patrick Dempsey is above decent as Kenai, but I do think Joaquin Pheonix put more heart and spirit into the character, and Mandy Moore is surprisingly emotive as Nita. Then like the original, there is some nice messaging.

All in all, not the best sequel there is, but it is above average and definitely worth the look. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Brother Bear 2 (2006)

** (out of 4)

Kenai and Koda are happily living as bears but soon Kenai has a dream about a girl he knew back when he was human. Soon afterwards that girl, Nita, comes to him. She is about to be married but the spirits warn her about a bad curse if she doesn't take the amulet Kenai gave her to the place he gave it to her and burn it.

BROTHER BEAR came out of nowhere and really shocked me. The film has no reputation and it never gets brought up when people discuss good Disney movies and that's a really shame because the film was very good and deserves a better reputation. I wasn't sure what to expect from this direct-to-video release because these types of films from Disney are a real mixed bag. Sadly, this one here doesn't come anywhere close to matching the original's charm or heart and in the end this just seems like a money grab.

There really wasn't too much that I liked about this film. It's certainly not an awful movie but at the same time everything just seems like a watered down version of the original. The biggest problem is that the story itself just doesn't have too much going for it. I really wish there had been more of an adventure as the two bears and this woman went to the location they were trying to reach. There really wasn't any excitement or drama to be had. I'd even argue that the vocal performances weren't as strong as they needed to be.

BROTHER BEAR 2 thankfully didn't run too long but people should just stick with the original.

When I was younger I'd always prefer to watch the second brother bear to the first there's so much charm and warmness In this movie upon rewatching both brother bears I didn't even notice Joaquin Phoenix was gone in the second there's a lot of bad direct to video sequels and this certainly is not one of them full of soul and made with heart!

I loved "Brother Bear" back during it's theatrical run in 2003...and thought that it should have been recognized as a high water mark in hand drawn animated films...and I was deeply saddened when it failed to find a huge audience...and became one of the last masterworks of the art...( which was replaced in audience favor by often lumpy, clunky, and distressingly flat and "realistic" computer generated cartoons.

I was very upset that line drawn was shoved aside and forgotten except for low quality TV animation...and what looked to be shoddy direct to video sequels...which I initially refused to watch because I feared that these "follow ups" would just be graceless rip offs of the original films.

When I began collecting the original Disney Classics on Blu-Ray (which really IS the best way to appreciate them since they are no longer re-released to theaters) (such a shame)...I ended up with the sequels in my library...and decided that I might as well watch them after re-savoring the original classics.

I was a bit surprised to find that most of them are respectable efforts that might have deserved theatrical release if a bit more polishing had been applied to the writing...and I was pretty much shocked when I watched "Brother Bear 2" and found it to be just as visually stunning as "Brother Bear"...almost as well written...and if anything even more moving thanks to some absolutely lovely songs by Mellisa Etheridge.

Why this was relegated to "Direct to Video" status is beyond me...but it deserves to be re-evaluated and rediscovered as the masterpiece it is...

Well, to start off, I adore the original Brother Bear. So, as you can imagine I was a little ticked off when I heard Disney was making yet another one of their trashy sequels. I've seen some, Hunchback of Notre Dame 2 for instance...terrible, absolutely horrifying. And to find out that this might be done with one of my favorite movies was not the greatest piece of news. I decided to see it, actually buy it, encouraged by the positive early reviews it got. I was surprised. It's pretty good, but I have to admit the ending was cheap and easily guessed from the very beginning. I didn't like Nita, and Rutt and Tuke got on my last nerves. If you liked the first Brother Bear you'll like this one. I give this a 5/10.