| Disney's
Brother Bear, the Movie This
2D, cell animation cartoon feature film is visually pleasing
and blends just the right amount of drama and comedy. Set in
post-Ice Age Pacific Northwest, a young Inuit man named
Kenai is given a totem from the village shaman, a carved
bear which symbolized love. Kenai would have preferred an
eagle like the one given to his older brother, Sitka. Later
that day, Kenai hunts down a bear who has made off with his
fish, and his two brothers come to his rescue. The grizzly
kills his older brother, Sitka, in the confrontation, and
Kenai is determined to seek revenge. He hunts down and kills
the bear, at which point the Great Spirits in the sky turn
Kenai into a bear. Of course, his younger brother presumes
that the bear killed Kenai and chases the bear (who is
Kenai).
On
Kenai's hunt for Sitka at an unknown mountain, and a
simultaneous flee from Denahi (his younger brother), the
human-turned-bear meets two moose named Rutt and Tuke,
voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas doing their hilarious
McKenzie Brothers routine.
|
Brother Bear
Buy this Poster at AllPosters.com
|
Kenai becomes
ensnared in a hunters' trap and is rescued by Koda, an
enthusiastic bear cub who insists he knows where the mountain is.
Kenai reluctantly takes Koda along on the journey, and slowly but
surely, warms up to the chatty little cub. The animation, largely
hand-drawn, is lush and pleasing.
| Brother
Bear is
available on both DVD and VHS. The 2-disc DVD set "extras"
include outtakes, deleted scenes, two interactive games, a Phil
Collins music video, two sing-along-songs, and assorted
featurettes. |
|
|
|
Disney's
Brother Bear CD-ROM takes
children on a 3-D platform game adventure that allows them to play
as Kenai, Koda, as well as wolves, eagles, and crows. The game
does some hand-holding at the beginning, training younger children
and acquainting them with the controls. Children grab honeycombs,
swat bushes, collect fish and acorns to renew vitality, and avoid
itchy plants. The game features an option that allows kids to jump
automatically, which is certainly helpful for younger children in
the target audience. The game becomes increasingly challenging,
although largely "doable". Pay attention to the minimum
requirements, as this game gave us technical problems on two test computers.
|
|
|
