Brother Bear (2003) Review

Thanks to the reincarnation of SCTV stalwarts The McKenzie Brothers as a pair of moose, Disney's latest animated feature is more like Brother Beer.

Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas in Brother Bear (2003) (Courtesy of IMDB)

With Martin Short on stage at the Pantages, Andrea Martin relegated to the small screen and John Candy long gone, the current king and queen of the SCTV alumni circuit in Hollywood are most definitely Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara.

Levy continues to hone his hip to be square act to perfection in films such as the American Pie series and Bringing Down the House, while O'Hara is always a delight, usually as a put upon wife or friend in everything from Best In Show to Orange County.

But for a pure 100% proof shot of SCTV series nostalgia, nothing else this year will compare to the sight in Brother Bear of Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as Rutt and Tuke, a pair of bumbling moose. Although the quintessential hosers are also lending their voices to the brand new TV series The Animated Adventures Of Bob and Doug McKenzie, their kibitzing in this, Disney's 43rd animated feature, will definitely be a tough act for them to follow.

Joaquin Phoenix (Signs, Gladiator) plays Kenai, the youngest of three Inuit brothers who is devastated after one his siblings is downed by a Grizzly Bear. When he sets out on a vengeful quest for the Grizzly, Kenai manages instead to upset the balance of the spiritual world and become magically transformed into a bear himself. His subsequent adventures in the company of a baby cub, Koda (Jeremy Suarez), reveal just how complicated the responsibilities of brotherly love can be.

At a packed Saturday matinee preview screening of Brother Bear, the mommies and daddies were generally busting a gut over the shenanigans of Rutt and Tuke, while the kids around them were busy being mesmerized by the gorgeous, hand-drawn imagery. In many ways, the film belongs to the same class as Disney's 2000 offering The Emperor's New Groove, in that its overall entertainment value is destined to connect first and foremost with the adults in the audience.

When I asked my four-year-old son what he thought of Brother Bear after the October 18th screening, he replied, "Finding Nemo was better." He's right. Pixar's latest computer-generated masterpiece, which is set to come out on DVD a few days after Brother Bear expands to a nationwide release on November 1st, reinforces the sense that all the great animated film storylines now come out of northern California, not Hollywood.

Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Suarez in Brother Bear (2003) (Courtesy of IMDB)

As a piece of animation history, Brother Bear could very well be the last major studio animated picture to be hand drawn by an army of animators rather than hand programmed by an army of software wizards. Although every last frame of its 85 minute running time looks gorgeous, the success of the Toy Story series, A Bug's Life and Monsters Inc.

has all but sounded the death knell for the old school cell block. As computer technology improves and the costs of production for these films comes down, the only real question will be whether any of the other studios besides Disney can find someone as brilliant as John Lasseter to partner with.

Maybe 66-year-old director Carroll Ballard should try his hand at an animated film commingling man and beast. After all, he is one of the masters of the genre in live action form, having guided Jeff Daniels in Fly Away Home, Charles Martin Smith in Never Cry Wolf and Mickey Rooney in The Black Stallion. The middle film, released by Disney in 1983, still ranks to this day as one of the best ever representations - animated or live action - of humans trying to decipher North American wildlife.

Next to Thomas and Moranis, the most welcome voice in Brother Bear is the unmistakable falsetto of former Genesis drummer Phil Collins, who contributes the bulk of the film's soundtrack alongside single songs by Tina Turner and The Bulgarian Women's Choir. Much like Canadian singer Bryan Adams' contributions to Spirit, Collins and his compact melodies are a wonderful complement to the film's soaring moments, leaving little doubt that "On My Way" will be one of five compositions nominated for Best Song at next February's Academy Awards.

For SCTV fans, the verdict on Brother Bear is quite simply, "Beauty, Eh?" For those never quite taken by Guy Caballero's wacky Canadian TV station and its cavalcade of characters, the film is closer to Atlantis: The Lost Empire than The Lion King. All in all, it's certainly not the worse way to spend a couple of hours with your kid(s) on the weekend.