Brother Bear

Brother Bear, Disney's latest assembly-line cartoon about an orphan hero learning generic life-affirming lessons (set to the bland light-rock melodies of Phil Collins), is so overloaded with musical montage sequences of Northwest nature and lip-service touches of ancient Native American culture that there's hardly any room left for character development. Joaquin Phoenix provides the voice of Kenai, a sullen Indian teenager transformed into a grizzly by spirits; in order to get his human form back, he must journey to a mountain that pierces the nightly display of the aurora borealis. Along the way he befriends a lost cub and a pair of goofy moose with the comical Canadian-doofus voices of Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas ("Beauty, eh?"), whose hilarious presence is almost enough to save the film from the intrusive (and awful) music. But after every song about "precious moments you'll never forget," etc., Brother Bear has to recover that rhythm and its comedy footing. Sure to be popular thanks to the Disney imprimatur, this isn't necessarily a bad movie so much as a product of minimal inspiration. Optional. [Note: DVD extras on this double-disc set include both widescreen and full screen versions, audio commentary by “Rutt” and “Tuke” (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, respectively)--available with optional visuals (moose silhouettes), the 45-minute “making of” documentary “Paths of Discovery,” 11 minutes of deleted scenes with filmmaker intros (one scene introduces new character “Muri the Squirrel”), a 10-minute “Art Review” segment with commentary by production designer Robh Ruppel and animator Byron Howard, three-minutes of “Koda's Outtakes,” the music video “Look Through My Eyes” by Phil Collins, a sing-along for “On My Way,” the never-before-heard tune “Fishing Song” with an intro by Collins, the “Transformation Song” Inuit performance by the Bulgarian Women's Choir with original lyrics by Collins, the games “Bone Puzzle” and “Find Your Totem,” three minutes of “Bear Legends” Native American tales, the three-minute sound effects featurette “Making Noise: The Art of Foley,” and trailers. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for one of Disney's less-than-stellar efforts.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Mar. 12, 2013—Walt Disney, 3 discs, 158 min., G, $39.99—Making their first appearance on Blu-ray, 2003's Brother Bear and 2006's Brother Bear 2 feature excellent transfers and DTS-HD 5.1 soundtracks, as well as bonus DVD copies of the films. Extras for Brother Bear include audio commentary by “Rutt” and “Tuke” (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) a “making-of” featurette (45 min.), deleted scenes (12 min.), an “Art Review” (10 min.), “Koda's Outtakes” (3 min.), “Bear Legends: Native American Tales” (3 min.), “Making Noise: The Art of Foley” on sound effects (3 min.), the music video “Look Through My Eyes” by Phil Collins, a sing-along for “On My Way,” the never-before-heard “Fishing Song” with an intro by Collins, the “Transformation Song” Inuit performance by the Bulgarian Women's Choir with original lyrics by Collins, and trailers. Extras for Brother Bear 2 include a soundtrack featurette (8 min.). Bottom line: a lesser Disney animated film and its solid sequel make a fine two-fer on Blu-ray.]