The SmarK DVD Rant for Brother Bear
– Given the repetitive nature of storytelling and Disney in particular, certain themes often show up fairly frequently in different movies — a character changing as the movie progresses, a character going on a journey to complete his change, losing family members, gaining new family, etc. It’s just not often that all those elements are used so LITERALLY in the same movie. According to the supplements, the origin of the movie came after Michael Eisner saw The Lion King and wanted another movie about talking animals. You just can’t make this stuff up.
The Film
“It was the story of a boy who became a man by becoming a bear.”
Figure THAT one out.
Taking place in a vague time in the past, with a people who are vaguely evocative of Inuit (or Eskimos as they’re more popularly known), Brother Bear is one of those Disney movies that pays lip-service to the beliefs and customs of another culture while still turning it into a cartoon version of itself.
Joaquin Phoenix voices Kenai, a young man filled with typical teenage angst about growing up and wanting more responsibility and stuff, but he’s a bit of a screwup and a hothead, who fights with his two older brothers. One day, he reaches the age where he receives a totem to guide him through his life, and discovers to his horror that he is protected by the Bear of Love. His older brother Sitka has the Eagle of Guidance, naturally, which is much cooler and doesn’t sound quite so much like someone’s ad in the men’s personals.
However, when a bear invades the happy sanctuary of the unnamed group of Inuit people, Kenai feels responsible and charges off after it, leading his brothers on a chase of HIM to keep him from doing something stupid. And of course it leads to something bad, as Sitka sacrifices his own life to save Kenai from the bear. Well, that only pisses Kenai off even worse and he goes after the bear in a mano-a-bearo showdown, winning on a fluke and killing the bear. However, since this is a Disney movie, the law of the jungle doesn’t apply, and the gods are PISSED. So much so, they decide to teach Kenai a lesson by turning him into a bear himself, so he can see things through the bear’s eyes. That’s a little too granola-sucking New Age for me, but to each their own. And soon he’s on a quest to be changed back again, joined by a cute little cub who lost his mother in the recent past (and only the youngest members of the audience will not immediately have guessed who that mother is and where the big conflict at the end will come from), headed for the mountain where the lights touch the earth and joined by two moose who are voiced by Dave Thomas & Rick Moranis and steal every scene they’re in. I found Denahi (the middle brother, who now believes Kenai dead at the hands of a bear and goes on his own hunt for some bear meat) to be an interesting character, actually, and had this been a PG-13 movie instead of a G movie there was a better and more satisfying ending to be had, but it’s not, so you take what you can get.
Anyway, the problem with the movie isn’t so much the annoying politically correct tendencies, it’s just the whole “been there, done that” feel of the whole thing. There’s some songs from Phil Collins that feel like they’ve been attached with a rivet gun — guys, not EVERY friggin’ animated movie has to be a musical, okay? The talking animals, the silly sidekicks, the “love nature and it’ll love you” crap, it’s all recycled and cliché from countless other Disney movies, and while it’s a well-meaning and sweet movie, I just felt like I knew the entire story 5 minutes in. The backgrounds are BEAUTIFUL, however. There’s some truly gorgeous scenery here and the animation is top-notch, but Pixar is just blowing the Disney animation studios away in terms of producing better stories these days. If you want a much better movie about an obnoxious teenager turned into an animal to teach him a lesson, check out “The Emperor’s New Groove”. If you want harmless and banal diversions for the kids, then you might as well pick up Brother Bear. It’s an okay movie that’s flawed more in its total lack of originality than in any great flaw with the moviemaking.
The Video
Another nice transfer from Disney, although a confusing one. Let me explain: There’s THREE different ratios here. Disc 1 is the “family-friendly” one, and it’s presented in Disney’s new pet ratio of 1.66:1, which is a little bit in between 16:9 and full-screen, and looks fine for TV. Disc 2 is the more serious version, and there’s another two ratios there. The first 25 minutes of the movie are windowboxed to 1.85:1, which means there’s black bars on all four sides of the picture. Then, when Kenai turns into a bear, the movie opens up into full 2.35:1 Cinemascope ratio, ala GalaxyQuest. I found that a bit annoying and actually ended up watching the family-friendly version of the movie, as actually the movie doesn’t lend itself very well to the widescreen format in the first place. Anyway, colors look beautiful and it’s all very clear and detailed, so huzzah.
The Audio
Again, more confusion. The “family” disc only has Dolby Digital 5.1, but the widescreen disc has DTS and Dolby 5.1. Both sound about the same, although DTS is a bit louder and more precise. Both are very good surround mixes, with the ambient water noises and forest sounds mixed into the rear speakers and the music kicking in nicely. Since it’s Disney, there’s not quite the LFE response you’d like, but that comes with the territory.
The Extras
There’s again two different sets of stuff.
Disc one is the family set, and you get the following
– A commentary track from Rutt and Tuke, complete with MSK3K style on-screen visuals, and I found it bearable to listen to it for exactly 10:30, at which point I realized the joke wouldn’t get any funnier or less annoying, and switched it off for good. Picture Bob & Doug MacKenzie doing a commentary track but having nothing to talk about, and you’ve got the idea.
– A goofy set of “outtakes” running 3:00. This was cute enough.
– A couple of set-top games, one of which was assembling bones and the other a sort-of personality test, which made for an amusing diversion.
– A sing-along version of “On My Way”, one of the numerous and completely banal songs contributed by Phil Collins. This soundtrack makes “Sussudio” sound edgy.
– A video for “Look Through My Eyes”.
– A quick primer on native legends about bears, animated with cave paintings. That was pretty cool.
– “Making Noise: The Art of Foley”. I’ll skip the Cactus Jack jokes and just note that this is a kid-sized look at my favorite behind-the-scenes trick, foley, which is using a variety of sounds to substitute for ones happening on-screen.
– There’s also a 10-minute feature on the artwork, showing early sketches and origins of the characters and such.
Disc two is the more serious set, and you get the following
– A 45-minute documentary on the movie, broken up into sub-sections, covering all the major points. Interesting to note that at several points the director and writer very gently complain about studio interference and how the story was drastically different from their original draft (but of course they add how much BETTER it is now), and how what made it to the screen isn’t what they intended. The stuff with Phil Collins and how they have to kiss his ass and hail him as a genius while at the same time pointing out how many times he clashed with the writer of the score is also quite interesting.
– 10 minutes of deleted scenes, including a deleted character named Muri the Squirrel, who was crazy and wacky and stuff. Nothing really exciting here, as the scene with Rutt and Tuke overstays its welcome by two minutes.
– “The Fishing Song”, which was a deleted song already written by Phil Collins but removed because it sucked (although they said so in a much nicer way).
– And finally, the transformation song, with English subtitles.
It’s really only a single-disc special edition, because each disc appeals pretty specifically to either parents or kids, but each one is fine for what it is.
The Ratings
The Film: **1/2
The Video: ****
The Audio: ****1/2
The Extras: ****
