Brother Bear (2003)

I didn't go into this with high expectations. Its middling reception aside, I've found that movies set in prehistory tend to have awfully simple plots. So do movies about animals at a low level of anthropomorphism. And for whatever reason, few 2003 titles, even among hits, have done much for me. But I rarely pass up an Academy-nominated animated feature, and what little I'd seen from this one didn't look bad. Besides, I wanted to see how it compares with Brave. If nothing else, BB runs a short 85 minutes and promised to be heartwarming.

In a fictionalized Alaska with both humans and mammoths, irresponsible adolescent Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) pursues and kills a bear for questionable vengeance. Spirits of departed humans, particularly his eldest brother (D.B. Sweeney), see fit to teach him a lesson by turning him into a bear. He can now talk with all sorts of animals except humans, which doesn't stop a savvy shaman (Joan Copeland) from cryptically telling him where to journey for penance and restoration. He makes little progress until meeting cub Koda (Jeremy Suarez), who got separated from his mom and would like a companion as he heads to almost the same destination. They had better make good time, because Kenai's other brother (Jason Raize) has mistaken him for Kenai's "killer" and is on a similar vengeful quest.

FWIW, mammoths died out nearly 400,000 years before humans reached North America. Why include the former at all? Well, they are oddly complacent enough to provide some track-hiding transportation for the bears. If that wasn't the whole justification, I guess Disney was taking a hint from the previous year's Ice Age. That one actually kinda needed both humans and mammoths to work, but my point is, it set a precedent for acceptance.

The writers were pretty careful with Koda, who had to be annoying enough to explain Kenai's ongoing reluctance to associate with him but not too annoying to charm us in the end. His negative traits include talkativeness, prying, overconfidence, and limited tact. On the plus side, he's chipper, playful, and constantly cute. So basically a typical kid. I read that the character was initially going to be older than Kenai, which doesn't sound nearly as fun.

From the title and poster, it's no secret that Kenai grows brotherly toward Koda. The film also telegraphs a blatant moral early on when Kenai grumbles about receiving a bear-shaped totem that symbolizes love in a broad sense, which he deems unmanly. Indeed, predictability rather rules the day right up to the denouement. I'd feel better about that if it were more credible that a prehistoric tribe, albeit one with more culture than I anticipated, would have such empathy toward bears. Much as I appreciate the lack of a true villain, the fairy-tale happy ending is eye-rolling.

More than one source classifies BB partly as a musical. Yet just like in Tarzan, a character sings for mere seconds, leading into the background vocals by Phil Collins. That is not worth a "musical" tag in my book, no matter how pleasant the soundtrack is.

The comedy classification is fine. The humor itself? Nothing original. Two moose brothers (Rick Moranis and David William Thomas) were apparently meant to be the Timon and Pumbaa of the picture but didn't garner enough popularity for the planned spinoff. Not the most natural chemistry.

Personally, I think part of the problem is the scarcity of a feminine presence. Notice how few females I mentioned above. Even a crowd of bears appears disproportionately male from the voices. Again, it's no worse than in the first IA entry, but the practice has a tougher time flying today.

Nevertheless, BB delivers on its promise. What it lacks in freshness, it largely makes up for in sweetness. I don't mind its Oscar nod; for most of my viewing, I actually half-preferred it to Finding Nemo or The Triplets of Belville. I'll pass on the sequel, tho.