Review of Brother Bear 2

Introduction

Apparently Disney have stopped making traditionally animated features, investing their efforts into 3D CG animation. Now, I`m not particularly a fan of the rat, but this strikes even me as shocking. It`s like Ford no longer making cars, or Roget no longer bringing out his Thesaurus. It strikes me as wrong on nearly every level, although it is probably a sign of the times, an indication that audiences want gag laden CG spectaculars, instead of pen and ink and schmaltz. Not to worry though, as while the 2D animated feature may be as extinct as the dodo, the market for the straight to DVD sequel is still alive and kicking, and those pencil wielding animators aren`t quite redundant yet. I`ve only seen a couple of these sequels, and they`ve always struck me as terribly inferior in every way. They usually comprise woeful stories, second-rate songs and a d-list cast filling in for the higher echelon A-listers that only do features. Aladdin II was a pale shadow of the original, and The Jungle Book II was excruciatingly bad. Now Brother Bear 2 arrives, sequel to one of Disney`s final traditionally animated features, and while I haven`t seen the original, I wasn`t expecting good things from the follow up.

10000 years ago, Kenai was a hunter, who went after a bear in order to avenge his brother. To teach him an eco-friendly lesson, the spirits turned him into a bear. Eventually, he liked it so much, he remained a bear to be with his bear friends, and they all lived happily ever after, in harmony with nature.

Well not quite, as we learn at the start of the sequel, as when Kenai was a young boy, he gave an amulet to a girl named Nita, who he saved from the ice. Now that Nita is all grown up, she is due to be married. It`s just that the spirits aren`t having any of it, and it transpires that a bond still exists between her and Kenai. For her to be able to marry, she will have to find Kenai, and travel with him to where he gave her that amulet, and then on the moment of the Spring Equinox, the amulet must be burnt to break the bond. The only problem is that Kenai is a bear. Fortunately a magic spell will allow her to speak Bear for the duration. But as in all such films, true love threatens to blossom, and spoil all her well-laid plans.

Video

With "PROPERTY OF WALT DISNEY PICTURES" at the top of the frame, and "DO NOT DUPLICATE" at the bottom for the duration of the movie, I`m going to take a wild guess and say that this is not the final release version.

As such, any comment I make about the image quality would be speculation at best. I could tell you it is an excellent anamorphic transfer, looking absolutely beautiful (whenever I`m not distracted by cold dead hand of Walt Disney tightening on his wallet), but all that could be undone by a screw up in the final master. The letters I get when something like that happens. So the marks for the transfer remain blank.

Audio

Judging by the disc, you should get DD 5.1 soundtracks in English, Norwegian and Danish, with subtitles to match. But once again, this isn`t the final release version, so I can`t really say for sure. Just because this version has a nice vibrant surround track that makes splendid use of the soundstage to convey the effects, ambience and music, doesn`t mean that the final release version won`t be in mono, or will have an Arabic dub instead. In fact given current animation tendencies to regionalise films, who knows if Julian Clary won`t replace Michael Clarke Duncan`s performance as Tug for the UK release? I can`t say, as I don`t have the final release disc to go on here.

Features

There are extra goodies with this disc, Rutt and Tuke, the Canadian moose (apparently the plural of moose is moose, not meese!) host a quiz, and there is an 8-minute Behind The Music featurette featuring Melissa Etheridge.

The disc begins with an anti-piracy ad featuring the most horrendously pirated disc I have ever seen, it`s worse than some pirate videos. They should ask for their money back. There are also previews for The Little Mermaid, The Wild, Cars, Cinderella III and Disney`s Gold collection. Fortunately these are all skippable.

Conclusion

Wow! The days of quick and easy cash-ins with TV style animation are well and truly gone. Brother Bear 2 looks divine, and the animation is theatrical quality all the way through. It`s a joy to watch. Then there is the music. If it`s a choice between Phil Collins and Melissa Etheridge, well that`s one vote in the sequel`s favour straight away. When it comes to audio-visual quality, Brother Bear 2 is top-notch.

As for the story… It`s Disney by numbers. All clichés are present and correct. You can do anything if you put your mind to it, your loved ones remain in your heart even after they have left this mortal coil, self sacrifice is to be applauded, a shared moment of laughter between a boy and a girl will fade away into a mutual gaze that signifies lurve, and be sure to buy the merchandising on the way out of the theatre thank you very much. It`s anthropomorphism hell, as various wild animals have human attributes applied to them, although the comedy moose are bound to be an attraction to children of all ages.

The comic relief is important in a film like this, as the main theme is love. It`s spring fever and all the animals of the forest, as well as the humans are looking for that special someone. Of course, Kenai is too manly (bearly?) for that sort of thing, and prefers to spend time with his little furry friend Koda. But once Nita is on the scene, all bets are off, and little Koda begins to feel sidelined. The mushy stuff is broken up by the romantic complications of a moose`s life and this serves to keep the pace of the film lively. One annoyance is that despite the film being set 10000 years in the past, all the characters have the accents and sensibilities of 21st Century America. There`s plenty of girl power, and the Shaman sounds more like Whoopi Goldberg than any genuine mystic. Just feel that attitude girlfriend (snaps fingers and moves head from side to side)!

I`m a cynic me, and I could feel my emotions being manipulated by the filmmakers. It was with a weary resignation that I felt that obligatory lump in my throat at the film`s sugarcoated climax. But I`m nowhere near the target audience, and Disney really are the masters at this sort of thing. They put all their know-how and experience into making another Disney classic, and there is no reason why this film won`t be as memorable as the film that spawned it. For those of a less disparaging persuasion, I`m sure this film will serve as splendid entertainment, and it is ideal for getting the little ones out of your hair for 70 minutes.

Just make sure that you sit the little tykes down and explain to them, that if they ever hug a bear, they will have to mop up their own entrails, as you most certainly won`t do it for them.

Brother Bear 2 may not be my particular wheel of cheese, but as a family film, it showcases what Disney does best. It`s just a shame that they won`t be doing it in the cinemas any more.