Brother Bear

Brother Bear 2-Disc Special Edition DVD

In Walt Disney Pictures' feature BROTHER BEAR beautiful animation of the Pacific Northwest complements an upbeat musical score that includes songs by Phil Collins and Tina Turner. From snowcapped mountains and glaciers to lush springtime forest scenes the colorful drawings are dazzling and dreamlike. Children will especially enjoy the animals in the film. There are rivers full of leaping salmon forests inhabited by squirrels and chipmunks and processions of giant wooly mammoths. The story carries messages about the power of friendship and community the difficulty of losing a loved one and the highs and lows of growing up. Kenai Joaquin Phoenix is a boy who longs to become a man but must learn a valuable lesson before he can achieve the maturity it requires. At a tribal ceremony the spirits give him the symbol of the bear which stands for love. Then through a series of events he is transformed into a bear. Kenai must brave the wild with only a little bear-cub brother Koda Jeremy Suarez to guide him. In their travels Kenai and Koda meet a couple of hilarious moose Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas who provide comic relief to this otherwise heartrending family tale.

Brother Bear (Walt Disney Pictures Presents) [VHS]

Brother Bear has a dramatic story--after he kills a bear, a young hunter named Kenai (voiced by Joaquin Phoenix, Gladiator) in prehistoric North America is turned into a bear himself and hunted by his own brother--but the animated movie's tone is more earnest and warm than tragic, focusing on the unfolding relationship between Kenai and an orphaned bear cub named Koda (voiced by Jeremy Suarez). However, it's often the comic supporting characters who prove the most popular, and a pair of moose voiced by Rick Moranis and Doug Thomas in their McKenzie brothers/Canadian dude mode (from SCTV and the movie Strange Brew) will win many fans. The songs by Phil Collins are typically negligible, but the hand-drawn animation is lush (occasional flashes of computer- generated animation clash with the movie's overall look). Kids will also enjoy the mammoths; no sabre-toothed tigers, unfortunately. --Bret Fetzer