Frère des ours 2

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...

This is a sequel to the 2003 Disney movie staring the voices of Joaquin Phoenix and Harold Gould. But neither returns for this movie which picks up some time after the first. This time Kenai ( still a bear) must team up with his old love Nita vicoed in swedish by singer Ana Johnsson to travel to Hokani Falls to break a bound they made as kids. They are joined by the annoying cub Koda. The Only other returning characters are the moose Rutt and Tuke. Neither Kenais brothers nor the old shaman fron the first movie return. Instead we are joined by a host of new characters like a sassy medicine woman., Two female moose and Nita's two aunts all well voiced at least in Swedish which was the language i saw the movie in by the likes Eva Bysing and Babben Larsson. One a famous old time singer and the other a well known comedian. The Medicine woman is particularly amusing.

This movie unlike the first one is a love story. And it's a decent if unremarkable one. Maybe this stems from me not being such a big fan of the original. . So i hade low expectations. So i find this to be about on the same level. If not a little better. The animation is good especially for a Direct to DVD movie

There are no big twists or turns. But it's not a bad plot. As love stories go it's a good one for kids and it's not too stupid for adults. One good scene is between Nita and her father voiced by Nikolas Falk from the swedish tv show Tre kronor. The songs are nice if nothing special. No characters sing just like the first movie instead it's inspirational pop tunes played over the scenes. All sung by Ana Johnsson , who has a great voice !

The moose could have been funnier. But on the bright side they could have also been a lot more annoying.

And speaking of annoying Koda actually becomes likable in the end when he makes a really selfless offer. Of course the offer isn't taken. But it's a nice gesture and it woerks out fin in the end. Although i think you could have included some more characters from the first movie at the end wedding scene.

The end is also a bit silly with the bears as guests stading side by side with humans and the raccoon is really nasty and mean spirited before suddenly at the end celebrating the wedding with the others like they somehow became friends off screen. But those are the big flaws.

Overall it's a good kids movie. But not a spectacular one with above average swedish voice acting and good animation. But not a classic.

Fun fact: Eva Bysing who does a voice in this movie played Velma Kelly in thee Orginal Swedis hproduction of Chicago. A role played on broadway by Hispanic star Chita Rivera who gott a Lifetime Achievement award from the Tonys in 2018 and a Kennedy Center Honors award in December 2002. That's quite big shoes to fill.

5,5 of 10

Let me just make this clear from the start: I love the original Brother Bear, but as a rule I despise direct-to-video sequels (there are exceptions though). To put it simply... I went into this not expecting much, but I wished I was wrong. And I'll warn you... if you don't like being sequels being reviewed solely compared to the original, you probably won't like my review.

Story: I've read reviews saying that the original's basic story was copied from other movies... I never saw that. This, however, is your general "we think there's a writers strike on right now" copied story. Not a blatant rip-off of anything in particular, but its been done before.

Writing: To be honest, this probably disappointed me the most. While the original was deep and meaningful (or at least as can be for whats supposed to be a kids movie), this relies on a lot of cheap humour, particularly at the start. It levels off, but it never reaches the quality what was in the original. I'm probably one of the few who don't like Rutt and Tuke, although they didn't seem as bad this time around (probably because they had less time on screen and more to do, so less time to waste).

Art/Animation: This was probably the part which disappointed me the least. While it's more than adequate (its pretty good) it just doesn't have the same flair as the original did (or some of the fancier effects). Other than that, no major complaints.

Acting: With most of the returning characters are voiced by their original actors, Kenai's recasting stands out. Don't get me wrong, its not too bad... it's just not the same. Everyone else does a decent job though.

Music: Obviously no Phil Collins music this time around. I'm not quite sure who does the music in this (nobody immediately recognisable) and while the music is appropriate and fits in well, there's nothing memorable like "No Way Out" was for me.

Closing comments: It might not sound like much, but this movie ends up to be more than the sum of its parts (not much though). I don't accept it as a sequel up to the standards of the original Brother Bear, by its own merits, it's a decent movie. I do think it's worth buying, but I'd have no problem recommending it as a rental (especially if you're a fan of the original). Just don't go in expecting too much, and you won't be disappointed.

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!

The original 'Brother Bear' deserves better recognition as a good Disney animated film, so I was looking forward to seeing this straight to DVD sequel.

Now, these tend to be a bit hit and miss, but thankfully this is one of the better ones. There's a lot of heart, there's some lovely messages in there too.

I thought this worked well, I enjoyed it.