Brother Bear

Brother Bear
Promotional poster
Directed by	Aaron Blaise Robert Walker
Produced by	Chuck Williams
Written by	Tab Murphy Lorne Cameron David Hoselton Steve Bencich Ron J. Friedman
Narrated by	Harold Gould
Starring	Joaquin Phoenix Jeremy Suarez Rick Moranis Dave Thomas Jason Raize D.B. Sweeney
Music by	Phil Collins Mark Mancina
Editing by	Tim Mertens
Studio	Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Feature Animation
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates	November 1, 2003 (2003-11-01)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$250,397,798[1]

Brother Bear is a 2003 American animated adventure drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 44th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. In the film, an Inuit boy named Kenai pursues a bear in revenge for a battle that he provoked in which his oldest brother Sitka is killed. He tracks down the bear and kills it, but the Spirits, angered by this needless death, change Kenai into a bear himself as punishment.^[2] In order to be human again, Kenai must learn to see through another's eyes, feel through another's heart, and discover the meaning of brotherhood. 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. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Pixar's Finding Nemo. A direct-to-video sequel, Brother Bear 2, was released on August 29, 2006.

Plot

The film is set in a post-ice age North America, where the local tribesmen believe all creatures are created through the Spirits, who are said to appear in the form of an aurora. Three brothers: Kenai (voiced by Joaquin Phoenix)- the youngest brother, Denahi (voiced by Jason Raize)- the middle brother -and Sitka (voiced by D.B. Sweeney)- the eldest brother, return to their tribe in order for Kenai to receive his sacred totem, a necklace in the shape of an animal. The particular animal it represents symbolizes what he must achieve to call himself a man. Unlike Sitka, who gained the eagle of guidance, and Denahi, who gained the wolf of wisdom, Kenai receives the bear of love, to which he objects, stating that bears are thieves. He believes his point is made a fact when a bear takes some salmon. Kenai and his brothers pursue the bear, but a fight follows on a glacier, during which Sitka giving his life to save his brothers, although the bear survives. Vengeful, Kenai heads out to avenge Sitka. He chases the bear up onto a mountain and kills it. The Spirits, represented by Sitka's spirit in the form of a bald eagle, transform Kenai into a bear after the dead bear's body disappears. Denahi arrives, mistaking Kenai for dead, and believing the bear is responsible, vows to avenge Kenai by hunting it down.

Kenai falls down some river rapids, survives, and is healed by Tanana (voiced by Joan Copeland), the shaman of Kenai's tribe. She does not speak the bear language, but advises him to return to the mountain to find Sitka and be turned back to normal, but only when he corrects what he had done; she quickly disappears without an explanation. Kenai quickly discovers the wildlife can talk, meeting two brother moose, Rutt and Tuke (voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, in a send-up of their famous characters Bob and Doug McKenzie). He gets caught in a trap, but is freed by a chatty bear cub named Koda (voiced by Jeremy Suarez). The two bears make a deal: Kenai will go with Koda to a nearby salmon run and then the cub will lead Kenai to the mountain. As the two eventually form a sibling-like bond, Koda reveals that his mother is missing. The two are hunted by Denahi, who fails multiple times to kill Kenai, still unaware that he is his brother. Rutt and Tuke run into the bears multiple times, the group hitching a ride on a herd of mammoths to quicken the pace to the salmon run, but the moose are left behind when the bears move on. Kenai and Koda escape Denahi again and reach the salmon run, where a large number of bears live as a family, including the leader Tug (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan), a grizzly bear. Kenai becomes very much at home and content with the other bears. During a discussion among the bears, Koda tells a story about his mother fighting human hunters, making Kenai realize that the bear he killed was Koda's mother.

Kenai's contentment is about to be shattered when Koda tells the story of his separation from his mother

Guilty and horrified, Kenai runs away, but Koda soon finds him. Kenai reveals the truth to Koda, who runs away, grief-stricken. An apologetic Kenai leaves to reach the mountain. Rutt and Tuke, having fallen out, reform their brotherhood in front of Koda, prompting him to go after Kenai. Denahi confronts Kenai on the mountain, but their fight is interrupted by Koda, who steals Denahi's hunting pike. Kenai goes to Koda's aid out of love, prompting Sitka to appear and turn him back into a human, much to Denahi and Koda's surprise. However, Kenai asks Sitka to transform him back into a bear so he can stay with Koda. Sitka complies, and Koda is reunited briefly with the spirit of his mother, before she and Sitka return to the Spirits. In the end, Kenai lives with the rest of the bears and gains his title as a man, through being a bear.

Voice cast

• Joaquin Phoenix as Kenai, the younger brother of Sitka and Denahi. After killing a bear, Kenai is turned into one himself to teach him to see another's eyes, feel through another's heart, and discover the meaning of brotherhood. John E. Hurst and Byron Howard served as the supervising animators for Kenai in human and bear form respectively.
• Jeremy Suarez as Koda, a wisecracking grizzly bear cub who helps Kenai on his journey to where the Lights Touch the Earth. Alex Kupershmidt served as the supervising animator for Koda.
• Rick Moranis as Rutt, a comic Canadian moose.
• Dave Thomas as Tuke, another comic Canadian moose.
• Jason Raize as Denahi, the middle brother. Ruben A. Aquino served as the supervising animator for Denahi.
• 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 grizzly bear.
• Greg Proops as Male Lover Bear
• Pauley Perrette as Female Lover Bear
• Estelle Harris as Old Lady Bear
• Bumper Robinson as Chipmunks
• Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley as Inuit Narrator

Production

In 2002, Digital Media Effects reported the title of the film as Bears.^[3] An article in IGN in 2001 also mentioned an upcoming Disney release with the title Bears^[4] as did Jim Hill of Ain't It Cool News.^[5]

Design and animation

The film is traditionally animated but includes some CG elements such as "a salmon run and a caribou stampede".^[6] Layout artist Armand Serrano, speaking about the drawing process on the film, said that "we had to do a life drawing session with live bear cubs and also outdoor drawing and painting sessions at Fort Wilderness in Florida three times a week for two months [...]".^{[citation needed]}

According to Ruben Aquino, supervising animator for the character of Denahi, Denahi was originally meant to be Kenai's father; later this was changed to Kenai's brother.^[7] Byron Howard, supervising animator for Kenai in bear form, said that earlier in production a bear named Grizz (who resembles Tug in the film and is even voiced by the same person) was supposed to have the role of Kenai's mentor.^[8] Art Director Robh Ruppel stated that the ending of the film originally showed how Kenai and Denahi get together once a year to play when the northern lights are in the sky.^[8]

Release

Critical reception

The reaction from film reviewers was mixed, with some 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 American movie critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have given positive reviews of the film.^[9]

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.

Box office

The film 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.^[1]

Home video

The film's March 30, 2004 DVD release brought in more than $167 million in DVD and VHS sales and rentals.^[10] In April 2004 alone, 5.51 million copies of Brother Bear were sold.^[11]

The film will be released on a Blu-Ray Special Edition combined with its sequel Brother Bear 2 on March 12, 2013.^{[citation needed]}

Awards and nominations

The film was also nominated at the 76th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature,^[2] but ultimately ended losing out to another Walt Disney pictures film, Finding Nemo.

Soundtrack

Video games

Brother Bear
Developer(s)	KnowWonder Digital Mediaworks (PC) Vicarious Visions (GBA)
Publisher(s)	Disney Interactive
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance, Mobile Phone, Windows
Release date(s)	Game Boy Advance NA November 4, 2003 PAL November 21, 2003 Windows NA November 11, 2003 PAL November 28, 2003 Mobile NA 2003
Genre(s)	Action

Disney's Brother Bear was released in November 2003 for the Game Boy Advance, Mobile phone and Microsoft Windows. The story starts as the two moose are telling the story of "The bear who said he wasn't a bear". The story follows the film where Kenai transformed into a bear by his brother Sitka and is being hunted by his brother Denahi.

See also

• Brother Bear 2 - the 2006 sequel
• List of Disney theatrical animated features

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Brother Bear

• Official website
• Brother Bear at the Internet Movie Database
• Brother Bear at allmovie
• 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