BROTHER BEAR (2003)

After a heartening return to form in hand-drawn animation on LILO & STITCH/'02*, Disney blew whatever goodwill they‘d generated on what proved to be the studio’s penultimate example of old-school Disney animation.  A misbegotten idea before a single pencil was sharpened, this rather disagreeable faux Inuit fable works too hard for that ol’ LION KING vibe as a beloved older brother, rather than a father, dies in an act of protection, to set up the action.  Squabbling sibling boys rather than squabbling sibling Royals lead to the sacrifice, and a bear, rather than a stampede, is blamed.  Real guilt belongs to the kid brother, a handsome lad only just gifted with his Life Totem, a carved bear of love.  And now he only wishes to take revenge on a bear he blames for his older brother’s death.  So, of course, a mystical aurora borealis event turns him into a bear after the act, forcing him to walk a mile in . . . bear shoes?  Bear feet?  Lessons in the balance between man and nature; life & the spirit world; friendship & jealousy; mud & snow; anodyne stuff.  With ‘adorable’ comic relief characters proving more annoying than charming.  There’s the kiddie companion (a young bear, natch, a scratchy-voiced horror in his only film role); those Canadian gagsters Dave Thomas & Rick Moranis doing their Hockey Night in Canada dumb & dumber act as a couple of moose (note a pair of randy rams to see what might have been); Phil Collins’ pop songs when the producers think we’ve had our fill of traditional (Inuit?) music; sweetened  special effects (CGI?) that stick out from the visual style.  No wonder co-directors Aaron Blaise & Robert Walker (deceased in 2015) had no follow up feature over the last twenty years.  Even more, wonder why Disney bothered with a straight-to-video BROTHER BEAR 2 after this disappointment.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK:  *As mentioned above, with less than two-thirds the budget, LILO & STITCH showed what could still be done in classic Disney style.  It's currently in development for Live-Action remake.  (Boo!)  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/07/lilo-stitch-2002.html