Brother Bear
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| Brother Bear | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Brother Bear |
|
| Directed by | Aaron Blaise Robert Walker |
| Produced by | Igor Khait Chuck Williams |
| Written by | Lorne Cameron David Hoselton Tab Murphy Steve Bencich (screenplay) Ron J. Friedman (screenplay) Broose Johnson (story) Jeffrey Stepakoff (additional writer, story) |
| Starring | Joaquin Phoenix Jeremy Suarez Rick Moranis Dave Thomas Jason Raize D.B. Sweeney Joan Copeland Michael Clarke Duncan |
| Music by | Phil Collins Mark Mancina |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 1, 2003 |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $250,397,277 |
| Followed by | Brother Bear 2 (2006) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
| Ratings | |
|---|---|
| United States: | G |
Brother Bear is a 2003 Academy Award nominated traditionally-animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 1, 2003, the forty-third animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. In the film, an Inuit boy pursues a bear in revenge for a battle that he provoked in which his oldest brother is killed. He tracks down the bear and kills it, but the Spirits, angered by this needless death, change the boy into a bear himself as punishment. Originally titled Bears, it was the third and final Disney animated feature produced primarily by the Feature Animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida; the studio was shut down in March 2004, not long after the release of this film in favor of computer animated features.[1] A direct-to-video sequel, Brother Bear 2, followed in 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Long ago in a post-ice age North America, there were three brothers named Kenai, Denahi, and Sitka. Denahi, the middle brother, and Sitka, the oldest, work hard. They think Kenai should work more and play less. Kenai, the youngest, hates bears because they fight for the same food, overtake the land, and ruin his coming-of-age ceremony. Each brother was given his own totem when they came of age: Sitka, the eagle of guidance and Denahi, the wolf of wisdom. At the ceremony, Kenai is presented with the bear of love. Kenai questions the totem he has been given with his brother: "Bears don't love, they're hunters, they're monsters...they're thieves!"(upon seeing a stolen basket of fish)
When Sitka is killed in a battle with the bear that stole the basket, Tanana, the tribal shaman woman, officiates a funeral rite for Sitka. Afterward, Kenai throws away his totem and ignores Denahi's warnings of upsetting the spirits. He sets out to hunt the bear for revenge and eventually kills it during a battle. Disappointed with Kenai's actions, the Great Spirits and the spirit of Sitka transform him into a bear, while the background song sings in the Inuktitut language "Everything will become clear to you when you see things through another's eyes." Unfortunately, his other brother, who was pursuing Kenai to stop him, doesn't realize what has happened. He finds Kenai's torn clothes and believes the bear he sees took his brother's life. In his grief, he remembers Kenai's words to him and, as he had done, vows revenge.
Disoriented and having fallen into the river, Kenai awakens on the shore and in the presence of Tanana, who eases him through his initial shock at his change. Although she cannot understand his bear speech, she advises Kenai to find the mountain where the lights touch the earth so that he can ask Sitka's spirit to change him back, and then she disappears without giving him directions. To Kenai's surprise, he finds he can talk with the other animals - but the only animals who are willing to talk to him are two sibling moose, named Rutt and Tuke, who are more interested in cracking jokes at Kenai's claims to have been a man than helping him. Along the way, Kenai meets a talkative, pesky bear cub named Koda who saves him from a trap, and asks him to accompany him on the way to the salmon run where the bears gather to fish near the mountain where the lights touch the earth.
What follows is a journey in which Kenai, when not dodging Denahi who is now hunting him, grows rather fond of the irrepressible Koda who he learns shares his spiritual beliefs. This in turn puts his hatred of bears in a stark perspective that forces him to reconsider, especially when he learns that Koda sees humans as the same sort of dangerous monsters as he himself once believed bears to be. This culminates when they finally reach the salmon run and Kenai has the awkward experience of being surrounded by bears. Yet, the bears quickly accept him and he in turn learns about the loving community of these animals that makes his hate seem so foolish even as he learns to enjoy himself.
This contentment is shattered when Koda tells the story of his separation from his mother. Kenai is aghast as he puts the pieces together and realizes the story is about the fight he and his brothers had with the bear. Kenai realizes to his horror that the bear he killed was Koda's mother. Distraught at the harm he has done to a cub he has grown to love, Kenai flees the gathering. The next morning Koda follows and asks what's wrong. With great shame and remorse, but also with great moral courage, Kenai confesses. At this traumatic revelation, Koda is left grief stricken and runs away in loss and betrayal while ignoring Kenai's apologies and pleas for forgiveness.
With nothing left to keep him with the bears, Kenai scales the mountain to contact the spirit of Sitka. Koda mourns alone, but then has a chance encounter with the squabbling Tuke and Rutt who reconcile because of their brotherhood, which makes Koda realize the importance of his friendship with Kenai. Meanwhile, Denahi finally tracks down Kenai; in the ensuing fight, Koda, having forgiven Kenai, rushes in to help at a critical moment in the fight. Kenai struggles to protect Koda and is willing to sacrifice himself to save the cub, much as Koda's mother had done. With this selfless act, Kenai shows that he has profoundly changed for the better and Sitka, who had been watching everything in the form of an eagle, changes Kenai back into a human.
Yet, while Kenai has regained his humanity, he can no longer talk with Koda, a cub who is now orphaned yet again by the bear he had come to accept as his brother. Rather than abandon Koda, Kenai tells Sitka that Koda needs him. Denahi calls Kenai "little brother" instead of "baby brother" and Sitka transforms Kenai (by his choice) back into a bear. He and his brother hug together and say goodbye, while Koda and his mother's spirit do the same.
The film ends with Kenai as a bear, accompanied by Koda, being welcomed back by his tribe and pressing his pawprint to the cliff wall, which bears the handprints of countless generations of other tribe members who also fulfilled the calling of their totem animals.
[edit] Critical reaction
The reaction from film reviewers was mixed with many panning the film as a retread of older Disney films like The Lion King and the 20th Century Fox film Ice Age (although Brother Bear began production before Ice Age did), while others defended the film as a legitimate variation of the theme. The popular movie critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have given positive reviews of the film.[2]
Of note to many critics and viewers was the use of the film's aspect ratio as a storytelling device. The film begins at a standard widescreen aspect ratio of 1.75:1 (similar to the 1.85:1 ratio common in U.S. cinema or the 1.78:1 ratio of HDTV), while Kenai is a human; in addition, the film's art direction and color scheme are grounded in realism. After Kenai transforms into a bear twenty-four minutes into the picture, the film itself transforms as well: to an anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and towards brighter, more fanciful colors and slightly more caricatured art direction. Brother Bear was the first feature since The Horse Whisperer to do a widescreen shift. It was the only animated feature to do this trick, until The Simpsons Movie and Enchanted in 2007.
[edit] Awards
The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, but lost against Finding Nemo.
[edit] Box office and home video
Brother Bear made $85,336,277 during its domestic theatrical run and then went on to earn $164,700,000 outside the U.S., bringing its worldwide total to $250,383,219, which is successful.
In addition, its March 30, 2004 DVD release brought in more than $167 million in DVD and VHS sales and rentals.[3] In April of 2004 alone, 5.51 million copies of Brother Bear were sold.[1]
[edit] Pop culture references
- Ice Age - A scene with the Mammoth herd trampling through the scene from left to right, especially the shot with the feet stepping into the same footprints. Also, the bears sleeping in the Mammoth tusk (like Sid the sloth in Ice Age).
- The Land Before Time - Tanana says "Yep yep yep", which is Ducky's most famous catchphrase.
- Lilo and Stitch - An Inuit child in the "Great Spirits" scene resembles Lilo. In the outtakes on the DVD, Stitch is shown in the first blooper replacing a chipmunk dubbed "What's-his-name" in the DVD's Moose Commentary.
- The Lion King - During On My Way, Kenai is seen sleeping by Koda on a rock, a reference to Pride Rock. Also similar to The Lion King is that the elk stampede at beginning is played as a gag. On the DVD, one can choose to watch the film with commentary by the two moose, Rutt and Tuke. At one scene, Rutt and Tuke comment on what animals they would like to change into; Tuke says he'd like to be a lion. Rutt insists that that's already happened in the film The Lion King. Tuke replies "No moose ever turned into a lion in The Lion King!". The two mountain goat somewhat resemble Mufasa and Scar.
- Second City TV - The two moose are actually recreations of Bob and Doug MacKenzie, from Second City Television, and their own movie Strange Brew.
- The Sword in the Stone - Kenai's line "I'm not a beaver, I'm bea- no, I mean I'm not a bear, I'm a MAN!" is a reference to Merlin's line: "I am not a boy, I'm a squirre-, I mean I'm not a squirrel, I'm a boy, no, I'm... I'm an old man!".
- The Sound of Music - The background where "On My Way" starts resembles the landscape from where Fräulein Maria sings "The Sound of Music". This is pointed out by Rutt in "Rutt and Tukes commentery" on the DVD.
[edit] Sequel
- Brother Bear 2 was released on August 29, 2006.[4]
[edit] Voice cast
The movie stars the voices of:
- Joaquin Phoenix as Kenai, the youngest of three brothers who gets turned into a bear, to teach him to see through their eyes
- Jeremy Suarez as Koda, a wisecracking cave bear cub, who helps Kenai on his journey to where the Lights Touch the Earth
- Rick Moranis as Rutt, a comic Canadian moose
- Dave Thomas as Tuke, another comic Canadian moose
- Jason Raize as Denahi, the middle brother
- D.B. Sweeney as Sitka, the oldest brother
- Joan Copeland as Tanana, the shaman-woman of Kenai's tribe
- Michael Clarke Duncan as Tug, a wise old cave bear
Wil Wheaton is listed by many sources, previously including the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) as providing "additional voices" for the film. Willie Wheaton, the credited voice actor, is a different person.
[edit] Crew
| Crew Position | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Aaron Blaise Robert Walker |
| Produced by | Chuck Williams |
| Written by | Tab Murphy Lorne Cameron David Hoselton Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman |
| Songs by | Phil Collins |
| Original Score by | Mark Mancina Phil Collins |
| Associate Producer | Igor Khait |
| Art Director | Robh Ruppel |
| Film Editor | Tim Mertens |
| Artistic Supervisors | Steve Anderson (Story supervisor) Jeff Dickson (Layout supervisor) Barry R. Kooser (Background supervisor) Phillip S. Boyd & Chrisine Lawrence-Finney (Clean-up supervisor) Garrett Wren (Effects supervisor) |
| Supervising Animators | Byron Howard (Kenai-Bear) Alex Kuperschmidt (Koda) Ruben A. Aquino (Denahi) James Young Jackson (Kenai-Human) Tony Stanley (Rutt) Broose Johnson (Tuke) Anthony Wayne Michaels (Sitka) Tom Gately (Tanana) Rune Brandt Bennicke (Tug & Koda's Mom) |
| Background Stylist Character Design Artistic Coordinator Production Manager |
Xiangyuan Jie Rune Brandt Bennicke Kirk Bodyfelt Bruce Anderson |
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] Songs
| Song | Performed by | Available on the soundtrack disc? | Heard in the film? |
| Great Spirits | Tina Turner | Yes | Yes |
| Transformation | Phil Collins | Yes | No |
| Transformation | Bulgarian Women's Choir | Yes | Yes |
| On My Way | Phil Collins | Yes | Yes (except Koda sings the first few lyrics and the last lyric) |
| On My Way (this version contains Koda singing the first few lyrics and the last lyric) | Jeremy Suarez Phil Collins |
No | Yes |
| Welcome | Phil Collins | Yes | No |
| Welcome | Phil Collins The Blind Boys of Alabama |
Yes | Yes |
| No Way Out (theme from Brother Bear) | Phil Collins | Yes | Yes |
| Look Through My Eyes | Phil Collins | Yes | Yes (also on bonus material) |
Score by Mark Mancina/Phil Collins
[edit] Deleted song
- "The Fishing Song" - This was intended for the salmon run sequence, but was replaced by "Welcome".
[edit] Technical data
- Directed by: Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker
- Written by: Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, Tab Murphy, Steve Bencich (screenplay), Broose Johnson (story), and Jeffrey Stepakoff (additional writer, story)
- Music by: Phil Collins and Mark Mancina
- Released on: November 1, 2003
- American picture
- Specifications: Technicolor, 35 mm 1.85:1 (partly) and 2.35:1 (partly) (color, Dolby digital sound)
- Genre: Animation, fantasy, comedy, drama
- Runtime: 85 minutes
- MPAA Rating: G
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Brother Bear (2003) - News
- ^ Animated News » Brother Bear Two Thumbs Up!
- ^ THE YEAR ON DVD AND TAPE (washingtonpost.com)
- ^ Brother Bear 2 (2006) (V) - Release dates
[edit] External links
- Brother Bear Official Site
- Brother Bear at the Internet Movie Database
- Brother Bear at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Brother Bear at Rotten Tomatoes
- Brother Bear at Metacritic
- Brother Bear at Box Office Mojo
- Brother Bear Online Archive
