In 1984 one of my very favorite movies was released. It was called "The Bear" and told the story of an orphaned cub and a wounded giant grizzly who join together to escape their most feared enemy‹man. The Bear was set in Canada but filmed in Italy and featured wonderful scenery and incredible interaction between the bears.

        Brother Bear is the newest animated movie from Disney. I was agreeably reminded of "The Bear" while watching Brother Bear, which has a number of additional plot lines, but at heart, an essentially similar theme.

        Brother Bear is a sweet little walk-a-mile-in-your-moccasin morality tale that urges all of us to look at life differently. What would it be like if I was suddenly transformed into my perceived enemy?

        I was amazed at the widening gap in animation. Disney's Brother Bear looks very different from the Pixar Studio animations. Where Finding Nemo is intensely sharp, and the characters look more real than reality, Brother Bear is painted in big colorful strokes and absence of details. It is a pleasure to watch.

        The story takes place in a time long ago, and concerns three Native American brothers, Kenai, Denahi, and Sitka. When Kenai has a run-in with a bear, it costs Sitka his life. From the after-life, Sitka turns Kenai into a bear to give him a dose of empathy, that leads to redemption and eventually love. As a bear, Kenai is soon befriended by Koda, a ridiculously cute little bundle of bear who has become separated from his mother. The two travel together to the salmon run, where all the bears meet and answers can be found.

        Yes it's predictable for the most part, but there was more than one surprise for me, maybe because I wasn't looking too deeply into the plot. I was too busy enjoying the cute. And I was distracted by two moose that seem to be thrown into the mix to ensure there's something for everyone. The moose say funny things in Canadian accents, liberally sprinkled with ³eh.² Unfortunately, the moose are comic relief in a movie that doesn't need it, but they're harmless enough.

        Less fun, however, is Phil Collins' score, which I particularly disliked. At the outset I thought I was in Lion King II and after I acclimatized to the derivative music, I felt irritated that Collins couldn't at least pretend to be culturally sensitive to the characters of the tale.

        Brother Bear plays to your squishier emotions and is an entertaining and heart-warming 86 minutes likely to keep your kids amused and give you something to ponder.

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