Brother Bear

[mommax3]

I could not stand this movie! We decided to take all three boys to see it -- it was Nathan's "first" movie -- and I was in a good mood and was looking forward to seeing the movie.

It was a piece of politically correct crap, to be honest. The story started with the death of a loved one (of course...isn't that what Disney does best? ) at the hands of a bear. One of the victim's younger brothers decides to avenge his brother's death by killing the bear. After he kills the bear, the "spirits" change him into a bear so he can see life from their perspective. Yet another brother arrives on the scene, sees a bear and his little brother's clothes, and assumes the bear has now killed two members of his family, and decides to kill the bear.

So the bear-man has to run, and decided to go north (towards the northern lights) so the spirits will tell him how to change back to a man. Along the way, he is befriended by a cub, much to his dismay. Their relationship is supposed to provide the "humor" of the movie, along with their interaction with a pair of elk, but the funniest moments were the ones in the previews shown on tv, and even those weren't that great.

The movie ends as the bear-man realizes that the bear he killed was the cub's mother and confesses that to the cub, who runs away from him. He is then confronted by the still-human brother, who is out for blood. It looks like the bear-man is history, but then the cub (of course) saves him from the big bad "monster with a stick" in the nick of time, putting himself in danger instead. The spirits then intervene, the cub is saved, and the bear-man is changed back to his human form. The two brothers and the cub have an encounter with the spirits of the mama bear and the older brother, and then our main character decides the cub needs him, and asks the spirits to turn him back into a bear. The movie ends with the bear-man placing his paw-print on some sacred wall next to the handprints of other members of his Eskimo tribe. Everybody sings and dances together and the movie is over.

I seriously can't find one redeeming thing to say about this movie. I don't even think I would recommend renting it. When Disney gets it right, they come up with some really funny and touching stuff, with recent examples being "Finding Nemo", "Lilo and Stitch", and "The Emperor's New Groove", but when they get it wrong, the movies are stinkers, like this one.

Sally

I haven't heard great reviews of this and don't plan on seeing it. Your review, Sally, makes that decision even easier!
I am just posting to make a little gripe about the movies that come to theaters....why, why, why is it so hard to make an appropriate movie for the toddler set? We took Bryn to see Piglet's Big Movie (or whatever it was) and she really loved it. It was the last time we have taken her to a movie in the theater because there just hasn't been anything worthwhile since then. (I know that Finding Nemo was a hit but I had Bryn watch the trailer at home and it was too scary ). It's too bad because she really had fun experiencing the theater, popcorn, etc.

[SueC]

Well, that makes the decision about viewing this one easy for me, too. My girls don't take the "Disney tragedies" well, and I don't see why they always need to subject children to so much death and tragedy in their movies. I'm on the lookout for nice wholesome movies for children that don't involve the death of a parent or something equally traumatic!!!

My girls don't take the "Disney tragedies" well, and I don't see why they always need to subject children to so much death and tragedy in their movies. I'm on the lookout for nice wholesome movies for children that don't involve the death of a parent or something equally traumatic!!!

Same here! I don't think that the movie creators realize that young kids do NOT need a whole lot of drama, tragedy, and loud scary music to get the general story line.