Brother Bear

Brother Bear is a 2003 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the 44th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon. 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 dies. He tracks down the bear and kills it, but the Spirits, angered by this needless death, change Kenia into a bear himself as punishment. To be human again, Kenai must learn how to see through another's eyes, feel through another's heart and discover the true meaning of brotherhood. 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. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, but lost to the fellow Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. A 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), Denahi (voiced by Jason Raize) and Sitka (voiced by D.B. Sweeney), return to their tribe in order for Kenai to receive his sacred totem, its meaning being 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, much to his objections, stating that bears are thieves. He believes his point is made a fact when a bear steals some salmon. Kenai and his brothers pursue the bear; when they find the bear, Kenai recklessly provokes it and he and his brothers battle the animal on a giant glacier. When the bear gains the upper hand, Sitka willingly causes both himself and the bear to fall off the glacier, thus sacrificing himself to save his brothers. However, the bear survives.

After Sitka's funeral, Kenai, believing that the bear is responsible for his brother's death, 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 transforms Kenai into a bear after the dead bear's body disappears. Denahi arrives, and, mistaking Kenai for dead and his bear form is responsible for it, vows to avenge Kenai.

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 wrong; she quickly disappears without an explanation. Kenai quickly discovers the wildlife can talk, meeting two brother mooses, Rutt and Tuke (voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas). 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 at content with the other bears. During a discussion among the bears, Koda tells a story about his mother defending him from human hunters, making Kenai realize that the bear he killed was Koda's 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 intervened 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 through their eyes. 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 and Harold Gould provided the voice of Old 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 (Older Denahi)
 * Frank Welker as Kenai (bear growls, roars) (uncredited)

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

Design and animation
The film is traditionally animated but includes some CG elements such as "a salmon run and a caribou stampede". 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 [...]".

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.> 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. 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.

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. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 38% rotten rating, saying: "Brother Bear is gentle and pleasant if unremarkable Disney fare, with so-so animation and generic plotting." Metacritic has a 48 out of 100 score, which is "Mixed or average reviews". IMdb has the film at 6.6/10 from 25,904 users.

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.

Home video
The film's March 30, 2004 DVD release brought in more than $167 million in DVD and VHS sales and rentals. The film and its sequel were released on a 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray on March 12, 2013.

References/Trivia

 * This is the fourth Disney film to have dust, after The Lion King, Pocahontas and Tarzan.
 * Brother Bear was dedicated to Disney writer Chuck Jones, and the 7th film to have a dedication to a Disney employee that has passed away during the credits. The first is The Lion King being dedicated to Frank Wells, the second is Hercules being dedicated to Jeremy Irons, Mulan to John Denver, Tarzan to Ed Gilbert, Dinosaur to Rex Everhart, and Alantis: The Lost Empire to Jim Varney.

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

Music

 * 1) "Look Through My Eyes" - Phil Collins
 * 2) "Great Spirits" - Tina Turner
 * 3) "Welcome" - Phil Collins *
 * 4) "No Way Out" (single version) - Phil Collins
 * 5) "Transformation " - Bulgarian Women's Choir
 * 6) "On My Way" - Phil Collins
 * 7) "Welcome" - Blind Boys of Alabama with Phil Collins and Oren Waters
 * 8) "Transformation" - Phil Collins
 * 9) Three Brothers (Score)
 * 10) Awakes as a Bear (Score)
 * 11) Wilderness of Danger and Beauty (Score)
 * 12) "Great Spirits" - Phil Collins (Best Buy Exclusive)