BACKGROUND
Brother Bear is another of Disney’s animated features that has been overlooked, underrated and/or forgotten.
The 2000s were not a great time for Disney animation; their famous, though costly, 2D, hand-drawn animation style was being overtaken by the new, modern computer-animated medium, with studios like DreamWorks and Pixar becoming more and more competitive, to the point that many of Disney’s animated releases of the 2000s, even now, pale in comparison to the releases of those other studios.
Brother Bear is considered by some Disney fans to be very underrated, but, like I said, due to that time frame, many people do not remember watching this film when it first came out, and therefore, do not feel the need to watch it now; it’s done, it’s gone, forget about it.
I did watch Brother Bear around the time it first came out. I can’t remember if my family watched at the cinema or not when it was first released, but I’m thinking we did. I didn’t like it when I first saw it. I was still in a phase of only liking the “princess fairytale films” at that time, and it just didn’t interest me. But at some point, probably about a decade later, I rewatched many Disney animated films that I previously hadn’t liked, and I was surprised to find that I did like Brother Bear quite a lot, particularly the music.
Another decade has since passed, and I like Brother Bear even more now. I love the story and find it to be very touching and emotional, with some parts reducing me to floods of tears! Many others would think it a good movie too, if they took the time to watch it, but more and more often, modern audiences would rather return to a Disney movie they are familiar with than go back to an older one and try to change their opinion of it.
Unfortunately, not only did Brother Bear not manage to capture the hearts of its viewers, but it also signalled the end of 2D animation, with this being the second to last one to be released – until a very brief revival between 2009 and 2011 – and the final Disney animated film to be made at the Disney Animation Feature Florida studio, which closed in 2004. Not exactly a legacy any movie wants to have.
PLOT
Brother Bear begins with an Inuit storyteller, translated by an invisible narrator, recounting the story of him and his two brothers, and how the everchanging lights in the sky are the spirits of their ancestors, who change and guide this world.
The movie then goes back to those three brothers: Kenai, the youngest, Denahi, the middle brother, and Sitka, the eldest. They all go to catch fish before Kenai’s big “coming-of-age” ceremony, where he will be given a totem by the shaman-woman, received from the Spirits. This totem will be shaped as an animal and provide whoever receives it with the core value that they should live their life by, and in doing so, they become an adult. Kenai, however, is so excited by his upcoming ceremony that instead of tying up the fish properly in a tree, to stop the bears eating it, he runs off, having tried and failed to tie the basket up.
At Kenai’s ceremony, he is bestowed with the Bear of Love totem, something that he doesn’t think is “manly enough” for him, even saying during the ceremony how he’d like to trade totems with someone else; sorry, Kenai, no trades allowed! Kenai is teased by Denahi about his totem, and on their arrival back at their camp, they realise that the fish have been eaten, and even their basket has been dragged off by a bear. Denahi blames Kenai for being stupid and not tying the fish up properly, saying it took him days to make that basket, so Kenai angrily grabs a spear and hunts for the bear to get Denahi’s basket back. The two brothers shortly go after him, to make sure he is safe. It’s a good thing they do, as Kenai finds the bear but is soon attacked by it, with Denahi and Sitka having to come to his rescue, though all of them are overwhelmed by the strength of the bear. Denahi and Kenai at one point become trapped in ice, with the bear heading straight for them. Sitka plunges a spear into the ice on the edge of the mountain, causing him and the bear to fall straight down to the river below. The bear survives, as do Kenai and Denahi, however, Sitka never resurfaces, having sacrificed himself to save his two younger brothers. Sitka is laid to rest, but Kenai decides that him and Denahi must kill the bear who caused Sitka’s death. Denahi doesn’t want to, telling Kenai he “doesn’t blame the bear”. Kenai angrily goes on alone, having also thrown his “stupid totem” away, which is picked up sadly by Tanana, the shaman-woman of the tribe. Denahi decides to follow him, to stop Kenai from making a big mistake.
Kenai tracks the bear to the top of a mountain where a fight ensues. As the bear lunges at Kenai, he stabs the bear with his spear. Denahi is lower down the mountain and only hears a bear roar, and a scream from Kenai, but rushes up to the top to see what has happened. At this point, a large beam of light appears before Kenai – it is the Great Spirits. Sitka appears, morphing from his spirit animal of an eagle into his human form, to show Kenai how disappointed he is by his choice to kill the bear. The Spirits transform Kenai into a bear, so he can learn from his error of judgement. Confused and dazed after his encounter, Kenai sees Denahi coming towards him, but thinks he’s still human, so it’s a shock to see Denahi go to attack him. Denahi thinks Kenai has been killed by the same bear that killed Sitka, not having seen his “transformation” into a bear. Kenai stumbles off the mountaintop, into the river below, and washes up on shore.
The next morning, he is visited by Tanana. Kenai is confused about what happened yesterday, but sees his reflection in the stream and finally realises that he is a bear. Naturally, he freaks out, and has to be calmed by Tanana, who tells him that Sitka must have done this for a reason, and that if he wants to be changed back, Kenai will have to go to the point where “the lights touch the earth” to discuss with Sitka. Tanana then leaves and Kenai is alone, with his thoughts – and the sounds of animals talking, which, obviously, he has not experienced before. He comes across two moose, and tries to explain that he is not a bear. The moose, Rutt and Tuke, think he’s crazy and run away from him. Then, Kenai gets himself caught in a bear trap, which is when he meets young cub, Koda, who tries to help him, but Kenai doesn’t want help. When Kenai’s plan to get down fails, Koda makes a deal with him – if he can get Kenai down from the trap, then he will take Koda to the salmon run. Kenai reluctantly agrees, not expecting Koda to be able to do it, but by simply pushing over the post in the ground, Kenai is released. Koda then sees a hunter – Denahi – and tells Kenai to run. They hide in an ice cave and wait for Denahi to leave. Kenai plans to go off on his own, breaking Koda’s deal, even though Koda tells him he has been separated from his mother. That is, until Koda tells him that the salmon run is right next to the point where “the lights touch the earth”. Kenai agrees to take Koda to the salmon run and they set off quickly.
Koda’s incessant talking irritates Kenai, but eventually, he starts to have a little bit of fun on their journey. They encounter the two moose brothers again, who tell them that their tracks will certainly lead the hunter to them all. But Kenai has an idea; they should all ride on woolly mammoths! One night, Koda tells Kenai all about the Spirits; it turns out humans and animals have both been told the same thing about them. Koda says that his grandparents are up there, and Kenai tells Koda that his brother, Sitka, is up there too. Koda looks up to the sky and thanks Sitka for Kenai, as Kenai said if Sitka wasn’t up there, he wouldn’t be here now; Koda always wanted a brother.
The next day, the two get off the mammoths to make the next turn to the salmon run, but Koda doesn’t exactly know which way to go, and the two argue. Koda walks off, and Kenai, feeling guilty, follows him to a cave, where they see paintings of man fighting bears. Koda tells Kenai that humans are scary, especially with those spears. Koda and Kenai set off again, with Koda recognising the area that they are in, which is handy, because the two rams they plan to ask for directions get distracted by their own echo while they’re talking to them… They just have to get over a lava pit and then they will be at the salmon run. Kenai gingerly starts to step across, with Koda way ahead, when they begin to be chased by Denahi again. Kenai sets off a geyser in Denahi’s face to distract and slow him down, so that the two bears can run ahead. They start to walk on a log, which Denahi tries to dislodge. Kenai throws Koda to safety before jumping across himself. The log falls, but the bears are safe, angering Denahi. He jumps across, hoping to make the great leap, but he doesn’t and falls to the river below, despite Kenai’s attempts to help him up to the ledge. Denahi lives though.
The two bears finally make it to the salmon run, but the number of bears there is overwhelming for Kenai. The other bears soon realise that Kenai doesn’t know how to do anything bears do, even catch fish, so they have to teach him. Koda finds that his mother is not yet there, but thinks she’ll turn up eventually. Kenai wants to leave to find the Spirits, but is convinced to stay. That evening it’s storytelling time, and this is where Koda gets to tell everyone the exciting story of how him and his mother where separated, as she protected him from hunters. Kenai quickly realises that the hunters were him and his brothers, so the bear must have been Koda’s mother. Koda thinks his mother is still alive as he saw her get out of the water, but Kenai knows that he later killed her. Consumed with guilt, he leaves the bears to figure out what to do. Koda soon finds him, and Kenai knows he has to tell Koda the truth. Koda is so upset that he runs away, right up into a tree, despite Kenai’s attempts to apologise. Kenai climbs the mountain and calls for Sitka. Denahi is lost and cold, but soon sees an eagle, who leads him up to the mountain, where Kenai is. Denahi starts to attack Kenai, with Koda coming to the rescue, after hearing how Rutt and Tuke, though they argue, would never want to be without their brother. Koda takes Denahi’s spear, and as Denahi looks like he’s going to hit Koda, the eagle returns, revealed to be Sitka, and turns Kenai back into a human, with his totem also being returned.
Koda is scared by this new turn of events, not sure who Kenai is. Denahi realises that the bear he has been tracking was in fact Kenai. The two reconcile, but Kenai realises that it is his responsibility to look after Koda now that he has been orphaned. Kenai asks Sitka to turn him back into a bear, with Denahi ok with this as he will always be his little brother, even saying that Kenai looks better as a bear! Koda is reunited with his mother’s spirit – albeit briefly – and is overjoyed to find Kenai a bear again. Sitka returns to the spirits, Denahi returns to his tribe, and Kenai and Koda go back to the forest. We then see that Kenai returns to the tribe, with Koda, for his final ceremony, where he gets to finally put his handprint – or bear print – up on the wall with all the others, because, as the Narrator tells us, this was a story of “a boy who became a man by becoming a bear”.
There is also a brief End Credits scene, where Koda informs the audience that no fish were harmed in the making of this film, shortly followed by a bear chasing a clearly distressed fish at the salmon run area!
CHARACTERS & CAST
Kenai is at the heart of this film, as it is his journey to becoming a man that we are following throughout the course of the story. He begins the story in a difficult place; he is the youngest of three brothers, where he is constantly teased by Denahi, and is desperate for his coming-of-age ceremony to begin so he can prove he’s more of a man than his brothers. He isn’t satisfied with his totem the Bear of Love, and when bears eat their fish, Kenai feels the only way to prove he’s a man is to kill them, despite his brothers’ protests. This doesn’t work and only results in the death of Sitka. Kenai then wants to avenge his brother’s death by killing the bear that caused his death, and because of his stubbornness and lack of understanding, he does this, but instead of feeling better, only feels guilty. Still, he’s not happy about being transformed into a bear as punishment and spends the first half of the movie being very moody about it, and rude to Koda, who is just trying to find someone to protect him as he’s lost his mother. Eventually, though, Kenai learns to be a brother to Koda, and even confesses to killing Koda’s mother, showing the guilt and shame he feels about it. The Spirits accept Kenai has learnt his lesson and change him back into a human, only for Kenai to ask to be turned back into a bear, to be a proper brother to Koda, showing that he is accepting responsibility for the young cub, and proving himself a man.
Because of the importance of Kenai within the story of Brother Bear, and the fact that he had to be both a flawed character, yet one capable of compassion and change, Disney were very careful in their casting of the role, auditioning over 100 actors for it. In the end, they felt that actor Joaquin Phoenix was a good fit, especially after seeing his performance in the film Gladiator (2000), where he played Commodus and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards in 2001. He then won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as the Joker in Joker (2019) and will reprise the role in an upcoming sequel. It may seem a surprise that Disney hired Joaquin Phoenix to voice a role in their film, as Phoenix is known for playing quite dark characters, but Phoenix stated that he liked the character of Kenai, saying that he is flawed, and even unlikable at times, but that makes him very relatable as nobody is perfect. The animating team of Jim Jackson, who worked on Human Kenai, and Byron Howard, who drew Bear Kenai, thought Phoenix had great range when working with him on the character, and felt his performance enhanced the character design. Human Kenai was designed to already have a bear-like stance, basing his structure on the form of a standing bear. He was also given thick hair like a bear.
Sitka is the leader of the family, having received the totem the Eagle of Guidance. He is strong, masculine, and can speak to his brothers honestly and calmly, to keep them on the right path and to help them grow as people. Sitka is designed to be larger than both brothers to show his leadership quality. Sitka may not feature too much in the movie itself, but he makes a lot of difference to the story. By sacrificing himself to save Kenai and Denahi from the bear, he sets off a chain of events, where both brothers try to come to terms with his death, but in different ways. This then leads to Sitka making the decision, with the help of the Great Spirits, to turn Kenai into a bear to learn the error of his ways. Sitka, in his eagle form, arrives just in time at the end of the movie to give Denahi and Kenai a chance to reconcile with him, and to see the great transformation that Kenai has had, by making a brave, but necessary choice, proving the lesson was learnt. Sitka is voiced by D.B. Sweeney, who also voices Aladar in Disney’s Dinosaur (2000).
Denahi is the middle brother, given the Wolf of Wisdom totem, who transforms from being a fun-loving brother at the start of the movie, teasing Kenai and play-fighting him, into a tormented man, who thinks that one bear has caused the deaths of both of his brothers, living him lost and alone. I can see why he set out on a quest to destroy that bear – even though it was actually Kenai! Jason Raize, who originated the role of adult Simba in the Broadway musical of The Lion King, voices Denahi in his first and final film role. Raize sadly died in 2004 at the age of 28.
Denahi also appears at the start of the movie as an elder telling the story of him and his brothers to the children of his tribe, though it is not specifically stated that this is him. The narration is first spoken in Inuit, before being translated into English. The Inuit narration is provided by Oscar Kawagley, who was an anthropologist, actor, and Associate Professor of Education at the University of Alaska until his death in 2011. The English narration is provided by Harold Gould. Gould had many roles in both television and film, including as Miles Webber on The Golden Girls (1985-92) and as Grandpa in Freaky Friday (2003), which starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. He passed away in 2010.
The final human character in Brother Bear is Tanana, the shaman-woman of the tribe. She is responsible for collecting each member of the tribe’s totem when they come of age, and for performing important ceremonies. Tanana also tries to keep all members of the tribe on the straight and narrow. She looks so disappointed when Kenai refuses to accept his totem, and is determined to make sure that Kenai sees through whatever lesson Sitka is trying to teach him by transforming him into a bear. Tanana then does not appear again until the end of the movie, when Kenai gets to formally show himself as a man by adding his print to the wall with all the others; it’s clear she’s proud of him in that moment. Joan Copeland voices Tanana. Copeland began her career in the theatre, and then began working on screen in the 1950s, including in various soap operas. I love her voice performance as Tanana, making her both spiritual, wise, and funny.
Koda is the sweet, but talkative, bear cub that Kenai teams up with. I feel sorry for Koda, especially at the start of his time with Kenai, because Kenai is clearly not interested in Koda’s stories and is so rude to him by basically telling him to shut up all the time. He just wants some company and someone to talk to; he’s been on his own for a few days, give him a break! Alex Kupershmidt, who animated Stitch, animated Koda. He wanted Koda to seem like a four or five-year-old kid, whose attention is constantly switching and who gets excited about the smallest things. Some people have said that they find Koda annoying, but I don’t; I think he’s cute and cheeky. Koda goes through an immense tragedy, by finding out that his mother was killed and isn’t coming back, so you have to have sympathy for him. And even though Kenai isn’t always kind to Koda, he does care for Koda a lot, enough to revert back to being a bear of his own free will. They fight, but brothers do fight and that’s ok.
American actor Jeremy Suarez voices Koda. Suarez began his acting career by appearing as Tyson Tidwell, son of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character, in Jerry Maguire (1996). Suarez also featured in The Bernie Mac Show (2001-06) as Jordan Thomkins. For both his performances in The Bernie Mac Show and Brother Bear, Suarez was nominated for awards. For his voice acting role as Koda, Suarez was nominated for the Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting award at the Annie Awards, but lost to Ellen DeGeneres, who had just voiced Dory in Pixar’s Finding Nemo (2003). Jeremy Suarez gives a confident performance as Koda, and the team at Disney liked how he was easily capable of providing them numerous different takes and points of view. At one point, when Joaquin Phoenix and Suarez were recording together, Phoenix referred to Koda’s friend as “Binky” instead of “Bucky”; Suarez quickly improvised a funny response and this was kept in the movie. I particularly like this scene.
Then there is the big grizzly bear, Tug. He might seem like he’d be aggressive, but he is a gentle giant, and a friend to all the bears, big and small. Tug only features during the salmon run scene, but Tug was going to be a bear called Grizz, who would have accompanied Kenai on his journey to the spirits instead of Koda. The partnership was working well, with Grizz being a boisterous, loving character, but it was fiercely debated whether the character should stay or be replaced with a younger, affable kid brother instead. In the end, directors Aaron Blaise and Bob Walker lost this fight, but were determined to keep voice actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who voiced Grizz, involved and wrote the part of Tug for him instead. Michael Clarke Duncan is perhaps best known for his role as John Coffey in The Green Mile (1999), where he was nominated for many awards including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has performed in various other roles, including numerous voice roles such as in Cats & Dogs (2001), Air Buddies (2006), and Kung Fu Panda (2008). Duncan sadly passed away in 2012.
A couple of other interesting voice actors for two of the bears at the salmon run are Greg Proops, perhaps best known for appearing in both the UK and US versions of the improvisational comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1989-present); and Estelle Harris, who is the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise (1999-present).
Then there are the two moose, Rutt and Tuke, the comic relief of Brother Bear. Disney thought it would be good if animals had different dialects as humans do, so they thought it would be funny to have two obviously Canadian moose in the movie! Broose Johnson and Tony Stanley animated the characters, and felt that moose were funny-looking animals anyway, with their huge ears, big hoovers and antlers, large noses etc., so they had ample choice of how to animate the characters in a comedic manner, but also keep them realistic. The moose ended up being more dumb than they’d originally planned, but I find Rutt and Tuke funny, with some of their lines being my favourites in the film[1]. Their brotherly arguments are hilarious at times, and I feel the movie needs this comic relief, even if others felt the two were irritating. Disney had originally only designed the characters to be pure comedy, however, they found that them being brothers was actually very important to the overall message of the movie, with the two’s arguing convincing Koda that he does need Kenai as his brother, and goes to save him from Denahi at the end of the film.
Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, both Canadian actors and comedians, voice Rutt and Tuke. They based their performances of the moose on their personas of Bob and Doug MacKenzie that they had used in SCTV, a Canadian sketch comedy show, in sketches in the 1980s[2]. The duo would be revived in the late 2000s. Moranis has appeared in movies such as Little Shop of Horrors (1986) as Seymour Kreiborn, and as Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and its sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992). Thomas has performed in various roles in television and film, including The Simpsons from 1997 to 2006 and the comedy film Rat Race (2001).
MUSIC
After Phil Collins’ success and enjoyment writing the songs for Disney’s Tarzan (1999), when Disney approached Collins to ask if he would like to work with them again on Brother Bear, he agreed quickly and got straight to work on the music. It was a slightly different process to that of working on Tarzan though, as the storyline for Tarzan was based on the novel, whereas Brother Bear was an original story idea, so although songs may have been written for certain scenes, these scenes could be rewritten or removed entirely, leading to different material being needed. But Collins was flexible and found that this made the process all the more collaborative.
One example of this is at the salmon run scene. Originally, Phil Collins wrote a song called “Fishing Song” or “Eat, Swim, Fish, Play”, as he had been given the concept that this was to be a frat party-like atmosphere at the salmon run, so he wrote a song to match that. However, Disney decided that they did not feel this song fit in with the scene correctly, and wanted it to be rewritten. Phil Collins called producer Chuck Williams’ house at one point, and his wife answered, telling him she was sorry to hear his song had been cut. Collins had no idea at the time of the call, but he wasn’t too disappointed and wrote “Welcome” instead over the summer. It became a soulful song with a strong message about family. Co-composer of Brother Bear’s score, Mark Mancina, who had also scored Tarzan (1999) and went on to work on Moana (2016), felt that the lyrics in “Welcome” were some of Collins’ best in the film. I do like “Welcome” as a song and think it fits in much better than the “Fishing Song” would have done, in terms of matching the overall message of the movie[3].
Another song that was rewritten was “On My Way”, which started out as a song called “This Can be My Destiny”, sung from Kenai’s perspective. It was deemed to be too gloomy and negative, so instead “On My Way” was written for the journeying scene to become an optimistic, joyful song instead, showing Koda and Kenai becoming friends. “On My Way” is not my favourite of the Brother Bear songs, but it works.
“Transformation” was apparently a difficult song for Collins to write as it was different to anything he’d done before, and it had to fit a beautiful and grand scene, which started off as being designed to be kind of scary, but then morphed into a positive and spiritual experience, so Collins had to match this mood. Obviously, it was first written to have English lyrics; this version, sung by Collins, does appear on the Brother Bear soundtrack, however Mancina thought it would be a good opportunity to bring in the Bulgarian Women’s Choir, who their vocal arranger and conductor Eddie Johnson had worked with before. The lyrics were translated into Inuit by a native speaker and then performed by the choir. It is a much more powerful song, this version that is in the film, and it is my favourite piece of music in the whole soundtrack, and probably my favourite scene too.
Though Phil Collins had sung every song in Tarzan (1999), because he was meant to be recounting Tarzan’s inner thoughts and feelings through the songs, it was decided that that was not the right approach for Brother Bear, and that a mixture of voices might be better. For the song “Great Spirits”, which features towards the beginning of the film to introduce the tribe and its spiritual connections, then-CEO Michael Eisner wanted a woman to sing the track. Tina Turner was approached and she was very happy to sing it for the movie. That is another great song in the film, and it starts the film off with a bang.
Though Collins sings in “Welcome”, it was decided that it would be good to have the group The Blind Boys of Alabama feature as the backing singers, to basically provide a voice for all the other bears at the salmon run. The Blind Boys of Alabama were founded in 1939 and the gospel group is still going today. Disney felt that the group provided a purity and soulfulness to the piece, which I definitely agree with it. There are two different versions of “Welcome” on the soundtrack, one that includes The Blind Boys of Alabama, which is featured in the film, and another that is Phil Collins’ cover of it.
The other songs that Phil Collins wrote are the End Credits song, which was also the film’s first single and had a music video filmed, called “Look Through My Eyes; and “No Way Out”, which has only one version in the film, but two on the soundtrack. “Look Through My Eyes” sums up the whole message of the movie, and for that reason it is good, but because it doesn’t feature in the movie at all, I don’t personally have any emotional attachment to it and can’t link it to any character, so it’s not one of my favourites.
“No Way Out” is very much the opposite, as this song is featured during the confession scene, where Koda is being told by Kenai that his mother was killed, by him. This scene was fully recorded and mostly animated and was going to be played as it was, without the song, which would feature in a separate scene. It was then decided to combine the two for the film[4]. Some have said that they would have rather seen the confession fully, without the “distraction” of Collins’ song, but I disagree. It’s a very powerful song, and to have just snippets of the conversation playing on top of the song makes me feel even more sad than just hearing Kenai say his piece in silence. The shorter version of “No Way Out” is the one that is heard in the movie, and is quieter and calmer, compared to the more upbeat, rock version, which is the longer version and features as the second End Credits song.
As part of Collins’ agreement to write the songs for Brother Bear, he also wanted to write the score, something that he had been close to during his work on Tarzan. Collins and Mancina therefore worked quite closely together on the score, with Mancina not afraid to tell Collins that what he had come up with wasn’t right!
The directors had said that they wanted the score to be completely true to the Inuit culture and the time period of the film, however, Mancina, Collins and the rest of the music team said it greatly limited their musical and instrumental choices, as it would have just primarily involved drums and the older versions of that instrument didn’t always necessarily sound great! Instead, they came up with hybrid sounds by mixing the sounds of many instruments, using them in a complimentary manner to the usual orchestral sounds[5].
The score doesn’t detract from any of the action on screen and compliments it. I particularly like the moments in the score where it links to the Spirits, such as reusing some elements of “Transformation”, or when it involves the Inuit ceremonies. But for me personally, the songs speak more to me and give me more of an emotional connection to the story than the score does in this particular Disney feature.
PRODUCTION
Brother Bear is an original story idea from the Disney Studios. After The Lion King was released in 1994, Michael Eisner, then-CEO of Disney, asked if anyone had any more ideas for “animal films”. He himself liked the concept of a movie about bears that would be set in North America. Co-director Blaise was very interested in drawing bears, and had been to Alaska, and loved the area, so he used this as inspiration to develop the story. The other director, Bob Walker, come into the team about a year into development, with him, Blaise and producer Chuck Williams, developing the plot together. Walker had grown up around animals and was interested in how they think and feel.
The team were asked to look at legends and myths involving bears, especially those based in Native American teachings. They found that many of these stories involved transformations of humans into animals to teach them important life lessons, with many legends being about bears. Some such stories included one around the origin of bears, where a boy decides to separate from his tribe and live in the woods. He tells them that if they fast for a week, they can join him. The tribe members complete this task and walk into the forest, where their bodies start to grow hair. This is how bears came to be. Another story is of a boy rescued by animals when he is trapped in a cave by his uncle. The boy is then taken in by bears and raised with them. The uncle soon comes across his nephew while hunting, and asks for forgiveness. Providing the uncle promises to be kind to the bears who saved his life, he does forgive his uncle. One further story is that four hunters and a dog were pursuing a vicious bear, and chased it all the way up a mountain and straight into the sky, where they became stars. The constellation they became is “The Big Dipper”[6].
As physical transformation works particularly well in animation, with Pinocchio (1940) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) involving some very impressive transformation scenes, they decided this was a good direction for the story to go, especially as every main character of any good movie starts off flawed and then has to learn something about themselves and others. This works even better if the main character has to become something else to be taught something important.
For research into the locations, the team went to many areas of North America, including Alaska, Canada, Wyoming and Californian National Parks, such as Yosemite. From all these locations, they wanted to create one overall picture of North America for the movie, meaning that Brother Bear is not solely based in one location. Specifics such as big sequoia trees, ice glaciers from Alaska and geysers from Yellowstone all make it into the movie, with other individual locations also being able to be spotted within the film. They not only looked at the different structures and rock types, but also at the layers of atmosphere in the areas.
The backgrounds on Brother Bear are particularly stunning, with Disney wanting them to have a realism to them, reminiscent of painting outside, en plein air, instead of referencing photographs. For some inspiration, they did also look back at Bambi (1942) to get an idea of how Bambi’s backgrounds made the viewers feel like they were actually in the forest. The difference for Brother Bear, though, is that Bambi was set in the concentrated area of the forest, whereas Brother Bear is located in a much larger space. To get a further artistic feel to the backgrounds, the artists looked to the work of landscape artist Albert Bierstadt, who happened to be a favourite of Michael Eisner’s.
Another interesting point that I didn’t realise when watching the movie is that the first part of the movie has a different aspect ratio to the point where Kenai wakes up as a bear. This is to show Kenai’s narrow viewpoint when he is a human, with a small screen, which then widens into CinemaScope with richer colour and sound to show the changes to how Kenai views the world now as a bear.
Disney’s portrayal of Inuit culture is seemingly accurate in terms of their references to ceremonies, music, and the overall transformation story[7]. Disney used photo references of Inuit tattoos, face paintings, and clothing to make design choices for their characters. The team also studied their architecture, where their use of animal bones featuring in their movie, as well as their ceremonies, including the manhood ceremony and funerals[8].
Despite the majority of the movie being hand-drawn animation, some elements of the movie did use computer-generated imagery, such as the scenes of the salmon run and the caribou stampede. For the bears, Disney had live drawing sessions with bear cubs, to capture the true form and behaviour of bears for the movie. They also went to Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground at Walt Disney World in Florida for drawing sessions three times a week for two months. During their research trip in Alaska, the team also took the opportunity to sketch bears in their natural habitat. They flew into Geographic Harbor in Alaska, and saw 20-30 bears from the air, but they had all scattered once the team had landed. They sat for hours, hoping that at least one would come back, and one did; a huge male who walked down to the river just about six feet in front of them. There was also an incident at their campsite when they almost walked into a mother and her cubs one night[9]!
RECEPTION
Brother Bear was released on 1st November 2003 in the United States, becoming Disney’s 44th animated feature. It did well at the box office, bringing in a total of $250 million at the box office, however, the reviews were mixed. Brother Bear was compared unfavourably to The Lion King, Disney’s best “animal film” to many audiences. The Lion King Platinum Edition DVD was released a month earlier, in October. Disney probably thought the two releases would compliment each other, not realising that one may overshadow the other. On top of that, Pixar’s Finding Nemo, which had been released in May 2003, brought in over $900 million at the box office, showing that again Pixar were “beating” Disney[10].
In terms of critical reviews, some felt that Brother Bear may resonant with some viewers, calling it “sweet”, with a strong message about tolerance and understanding. Others liked the visual animation, but stated that the story was not strong enough and lacked originality. Many enjoyed the music in Brother Bear, but the comedic elements were a bit hit or miss, with some liking them and others hating them! One reviewer in the Los Angeles Times even stated that Disney have to try harder, and compared the movie unfavourably to Disney’s earlier hit of Lilo & Stitch (2002). Little did they know that things wouldn’t get much better for Disney until around 2010, even after they ditched their 2-D animation style[11]…
Brother Bear was nominated for Best Animated Film at multiple awards ceremonies in 2004, including the Academy Awards, the Critics Choice Awards, and the Annie Awards, where it was also nominated for other animation awards, however, it did not win any award, and lost out to – you guessed it – Finding Nemo…
When Brother Bear was released on DVD in 2004, some versions included the brilliant 45-minute-long documentary “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, which is a very interesting look at the production process. But it did also include some strange additions, such as “outtakes”, in a similar style to those that Pixar had done on some of their earlier films such as A Bug’s Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999). The outtakes were not particularly funny, unlike the Pixar ones, though Stitch did make an appearance in one. Another strange addition was a full commentary of the movie being provided by Rutt and Tuke. Not the voice actors, but the actual moose characters…
LEGACY
Despite Brother Bear’s lacklustre critical reception, it did receive the direct-to-video sequel treatment, with Brother Bear 2, which was released in 2006. It follows on a few months after the events of the first film, and details Kenai’s relationship with his childhood sweetheart from his past, and her impending marriage to someone else. Jeremy Suarez, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas and Michael Clarke Duncan all returned to reprise their roles, however, Patrick Dempsey replaced Joaquin Phoenix as Kenai. Mandy Moore, who would later voice Rapunzel for Disney’s Tangled (2010), voices Nita, Kenai’s love interest.
There was some discussion around a television series based on Brother Bear being developed at one point, which would have revolved around Koda and Kenai adopting other orphaned animals into their family. The series was not picked up by Disney Channel executives. There was also talk of a spin-off involving Rutt and Tuke, the moose, but this never happened either[12].
At the Disney theme parks, Brother Bear is rarely featured in attractions, meet-and-greets, and even merchandise, due to the film’s lack of popularity, especially in comparison to other Disney animated movies. However, Koda and Kenai have appeared at Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World. Most recently, the two bears appeared on a flotilla at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort for Earth Day and the 25th anniversary on 22nd April 2023. They appeared again for Earth Day in 2024. The two have not appeared at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris as recently, seeming to be more likely to appear at Animal Kingdom, however, they may appear at special events.
I didn’t think there was any attraction at any Disney theme park that was related to Brother Bear, but I actually found two, both at Disneyland California Adventure Park. The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, a children’s play area, first opened at the park in 2001, and received a Brother Bear-themed overlay in 2003. Kenai and Koda did use to have a meet-and-greet location here at that point too. Most of the Brother Bear theming was removed when the area was rethemed to Pixar’s Up (2011) in 2011, however, one element does still remain and that is Kenai’s Spirit Cave, where you can put your hand on a monitor and it will tell you what your spirit animal is. Also in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, The Magic of Brother Bear Totem Ceremony used to be performed. It was a 20-minute show, based outside, with a costumed Kenai and Koda, two moose totem poles that spoke, meant to be Rutt and Tuke, and a Cast Member leading the ceremony, where a totem was given by the Spirits. This show ran from 2003 until apparently the winter of 2009, however, I didn’t find anything official to confirm the end date of the show.
The only other thing related to both Disney theme parks and Brother Bear is The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion at Disney’s MGM Studios – now Disney’s Hollywood Studios – at Walt Disney World. The Disney Feature Animation Florida Studio was first set up in 1989, and was considered an annex to the official Disney studio in Burbank. It was originally based in trailers roughly where Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is today, with just 40 artists. In 1998, the studio was moved into its own $70 million building, located just behind The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion. The number of artists was expanded to around 400. The Florida Studio was responsible for primarily making Mulan (1998), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Brother Bear, though the artists did do pieces for many of the other Disney features released during the Florida studio’s lifetime. The Florida studio closed in January 2004, meaning that Brother Bear was the third and final animated film to have been made there[13].
The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion opened in 1989 and guests could see real Disney animators working on actual Disney animated features. There were also character meet-and-greets, shows about the workings of hand-drawn animation and Disney animation history, and an opportunity to learn how to draw some of the most popular Disney characters yourself at The Animation Academy. I had many a meltdown as a child coming out of those, because my drawings were not as good as my sister’s – I’m not much of an artist! The Magic of Disney Animation outran the lifetime of the Florida Studio, therefore, the chance to actually see artists at work was not as prominent or marketed after 2004. The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion closed in July 2015, where it became Star Wars Launch Bay, which still exists today, mostly as an exhibition area and meet-and-greet location for characters like BB-8, Chewbacca and Darth Vader.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Brother Bear is, for me, an underrated movie. I’m not sure enough people have given it a chance over the years, and I’m thinking more should go back and watch this one, especially now that Disney+ makes viewing all these Disney animated features so easy to do. I like the humour in it, though I know some people claim it’s a bit “too much” or too forced, and I love the music. The story is moving for me, especially the Transformation scenes, both the first and the last one, with the themes of forgiveness, understanding, and brotherhood being very prominent. It’s a simple message, but one that is too often forgotten – that we are all the same inside, even though our outsides are different, and that understanding other people’s points of view can make for a much more peaceful world.
I would encourage anyone who has not seen Brother Bear for a few years, or since they were a child, to go back to it and see if it has a different effect on you. I know it did for me. Even the less popular Disney animated features deserve to be remembered.
On a final note, I wanted to take a moment to remember Disney historian and writer, Jim Korkis, who sadly passed away on 28th July 2023.
I have been a fan of his work since The Vault of Walt, first published in 2010, which I bought as a present for my mum, before stealing it and taking it for myself, and making my way through the other ten books! I have featured sections from many of Jim’s articles and books in my pieces, as anyone who sees the list of credits may have noticed.
I found multiple articles that Jim wrote about Brother Bear this week, whilst researching, and it seemed to be a film that he felt was underrated. Jim stated how he used to teach classes to interns at Disney Feature Animation Florida, where he was able to attend some special presentations about Brother Bear. Jim expressed his disappointment at the fact that many Disney fans of today seem to ignore many of the Disney animated features that are not considered “iconic”, something that I have made sure not to do myself by re-watching all of them and trying to find something good in each of them.
I will never be as good a writer as Jim, and certainly not as good a researcher, but by crediting his work in my own pieces, I hope that shows my respect and admiration for his work, and how he has inspired me to write. Luckily, I still have more of Jim’s books to read, and therefore plenty more to learn.
Rest in peace, Jim. You’ll be missed.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Disney, “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, from Brother Bear (2003) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2004).
[2] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘In Their Own Words: The Directors of “Brother Bear”, CartoonResearch.com, 30th April 2021.
[3] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).
[4] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).
[5] Credit: Disney, “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, from Brother Bear (2003) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2004).
[6] Credit: Disney, “Bear Legends: Native American Tales”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).
[7] Credit: Disney, “Paths of Discovery: The Making of Brother Bear”, from Brother Bear (2003) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2004).
[8] Credit: Disney, “Art Review”, from Brother Bear (2003), DVD (2004).
[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘In Their Own Words: The Directors of “Brother Bear”’, CartoonResearch.com, 30th April 2021.
[10] Credit: Mari Ness, ‘The End of an Animated Era: Disney’s Brother Bear’, Tor.com, 3rd November 2016.
[11] Credit: Kenneth Turan, ‘Old school ‘Brother Bear’’, Los Angeles Times (online), 25th October 2003.
[12] Credit: John Witiw, ’10 Things You Didn’t Know About Brother Bear’, CBR.com, 30th March 2021.
[13] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Disney Films Done at Disney Feature Animaton Florida’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.
The Disney Purist 