Brother Bear

***Brother Bear*** is a 2003 traditionally-animated musical fantasy comedy-drama movie produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 21, 2003. It is about a prehistoric human named Kenai who turns into a bear and discovers brotherhood. The 43rd animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, it was originally titled _Bears_, and was the third and final Disney animated movie produced mainly by the Feature Animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida, that studio was shut down in March 2004, not long after the release of this movie in favor of computer animated features. The movie received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Finding Nemo. A sequel, _Brother Bear 2_, was released directly-to-DVD on August 29, 2006. As a result, Brother Bear was the final Disney animated movie to have a direct-to-video sequel.

## Plot

In prehistoric Alaska, the local Native Alaskans believe in the Great Spirits, who create life and are said to appear in the form of an aurora. Three human brothers, Kenai, the youngest; Denahi, the middle and Sitka, the elder; return to the tribe to receive totems, necklaces that take the shape of prehistoric creatures, with each animal being representative of something the brothers must achieve to prove themselves as men. Unlike Sitka, who receives the Haast's eagle of guidance, and Denahi, the dire wolf of wisdom, Kenai receives the cave bear of love, to which he objects, believing them to be thieves; he makes his point a fact when a female cave bear steals their basket of fish. Kenai and his brothers pursue her; when the fight culminates on top of a glacier, Sitka sacrifices himself to save his brothers, by dislodging the glacier, but the creature survives. Kenai takes it upon himself to slay her, blaming it for his brother's death. After fighting and slaying the bear, Sitka's spirit appears in the form of a bald eagle, and the Spirits transform Kenai into a cave bear. Denahi arrives and, thinking that the cave bear also killed Kenai, vows to avenge his brother by killing her.

Kenai falls down some rapids and is healed by Tanana, the tribal shaman; while she does not speak the bears' language, but advises him to travel to the mountain where Sitka's spirit will turn him back into a human being, but only if he atones for his crime; vanishing without explanation. Kenai discovers he can now communicate with animals, meeting two _moose_ called Rutt and Tuke. He ends up getting caught in a hunter's trap, but is freed by Koda, a sassy cave bear cub. The two strike a deal; in exchange for leading Koda to an annual salmon run, he will take Kenai to the mountain. The two form a brother-like relationship, and Koda reveals his mother is missing. The two are pursued by Denahi, who is out to avenge Kenai; unbeknownst to him, his brother is the bear he is hunting. Upon reaching the salmon run, where several bears congregate, including the leader Tug. Kenai accepts his new surroundings and is comfortable living amongst the bears. During a discussion, Koda tells a story about his mother getting involved in a fight with human hunters; this reminds Kenai of his brothers' fight with the bear, and he realizes, to his horror, that he killed Koda's mother.

Horrified by his actions, Kenai runs away in guilt, but Koda follows him. Upset, he confesses to Koda that he killed his mother, and the bear cub runs off in grief; an apologetic Kenai then travels to the mountain on his own. Meanwhile. Rutt and Tuke have a fight, but reconcile with each other in front of Koda, prompting him to forgive Kenai. On the mountain, Kenai is attacked by Denahi, but Koda steals his spear. Out of love for the bear cub, Kenai sacrifices himself, and Sitka's spirit transforms him back into a human, much to the surprise of Koda and Denahi. Upon realizing that the cub needs him due to his own mistakes, Kenai asks to be transformed back into a bear, with Denahi's support. Sitka complies, and transforms his brother back to his bear form, and Koda is briefly reunited with his mother's spirit, before she and Sitka depart to the spirit realm. In the end, Kenai lives with the other bears and gains his title as a man through living as a bear.

## Reception

The reaction from movie reviewers was mixed to negative with many panning the movie as copying older Disney movies like _The Lion King_ and the 20th Century Fox movie _Ice Age_ (although _Brother Bear_ began production before _Ice Age_ did), while others defended the movie as a different and reasonable variation of the theme. The popular American movie critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper have given positive reviews of the movie. However, _Brother Bear_ holds a rating of 38% in Rotten Tomatoes, which says that "_Brother Bear_ is gentle and pleasant if unremarkable Disney fare, with so-so animation and generic plotting".

## Voice cast

- 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 grizzly bear cub, who helps Kenai on his journey to where the Lights Touch the Earth
- Jason Raize as Denahi, the middle brother
    - Harold Gould as Old Denahi (English)
    - Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley as Old Denahi (Inuktitut)
- Rick Moranis as Rutt, a comic Canadian moose
- Dave Thomas as Tuke, another comic Canadian moose
- 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
- Paul Christie and Daniel Mastrogiorgio as two rams
- Estelle Harris as Mabel, old lady bear
- Greg Proops as a male lover bear
- Pauley Perrette as a female lover bear
- Darko Cesar as foreign bear
- Bumper Robinson as two chipmunks
- Frank Welker as Animals' vocal effects (uncredited)
- Hope Levy as a valley girl bear (credited as additional voices)
- Additional voices by: Pat Pinney, Brian Posehn, Phil Proctor, Pam Seagall, Bob Bergen, Rodger Bumpass, Jennifer Darling, Debi Derryberry, Bill Farmer, Hope Levy, Sherry Lynn, Mickie McGowan, Caitlin Rose Anderson, Maxi Anderson, Carmen Carter, Randel Crenshaw, Trey Finney, Ben Johnson, Bethany Johnson, Luke Johnson, B. Wyatt Johnson, Amy Keys, Rick Logan, Susan Stevens-Logan, Arnold McCuller, Tim Mertens, Josef Powell, Lamonte Van Hook, Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine W. Waters, Oren Waters, Willie Wheaton, Fred White, Terry Wood and Terry Young.

## 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||

## 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

## Release Dates

|Country|Premiere|VHS release date|DVD release date|Blu-ray release date|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||November 1, 2003|March 30, 2004|March 30, 2004|March 12, 2013 October 12, 2021|
||December 5, 2003|May 10, 2004|May 10, 2004|September 29, 2014|
||December 26, 2003|June 30, 2004|June 30, 2004|September 21, 2016|
||April 16, 2004|September 10, 2004|September 10, 2004|November 15, 2013 August 23, 2024|

## Deleted songs

- "The Fishing Song" - This was intended for the salmon run sequence, but was replaced by "Welcome".
- "This Can't Be My Destiny" This was song by Phil Collins. But unfortunately it never made it to the movie. The song was however mention in the special feature by Phil Collins. This song was never released.

## Sequel

_Brother Bear 2_ was released August 29, 2006.

## Other websites

- Official site
- Bear_ at the Big Cartoon DataBase (Dead link)

## Infobox (movie)

- **name**: Brother Bear
- **director**: Aaron Blaise
Robert Walker (animator), Robert Walker
- **producer**: Chuck Williams
- **writer**: Tab Murphy
Lorne Cameron
David Hoselton
Steve Bencich
Ron J. Friedman
- **narrator**: Harold Gould
- **starring**: Joaquin Phoenix
Jeremy Suarez
Rick Moranis
Dave Thomas (actor), Dave Thomas
Jason Raize
D.B. Sweeney
- **music**: Phil Collins
Mark Mancina
- **editing**: Tim Mertens
- **studio**: Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation
- **distributor**: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures
- **runtime**: 85 minutes
- **language**: English
- **country**: United States
- **budget**: $46 million
- **gross**: $250.4 million