‘Brother Bear’ is a heartwarming family movie
PHOTO PROVIDED From left, Koda and Kenai, the main characters of “Brother Bear” are pictured in a still from the movie.
Disney has so many movies and TV shows these days it’s easy to forget some of them. For me, that includes 2003’s “Brother Bear.”
It makes it much worse, by the way, that I forget about this movie because my roommate’s dog is even named after one of the characters.
My little tangent aside, I recently sat down and watched “Brother Bear” — which I don’t believe I’ve seen since at least high school.
“Brother Bear” centers around Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix), the youngest of his brothers Sitka (D.B. Sweeney) and Denahi (Jason Raize) who are growing up with their tribe in post-Ice Age Alaska.
Kenai, a stubborn and eager-to-prove himself young man, finds himself on a unique spirit journey after the loss of Sitka due to his own rash actions.
After losing Sitka to what he believed was a monstrous bear attack, he seeks out vengeance, against Denahi’s advice, and kills the bear. However, he doesn’t find any catharsis in this.
Instead, Sitka’s spirit transforms Kenai into a bear — which leads Denahi to believe he lost both his brothers to the beast.
The tribe’s Shaman explains to a confused Kenai that Sitka turned him into a bear to teach him a lesson of some kind. To talk to him, she said he had to go to the mountain where the light touches the earth.
During his trek to find this mountain, Kenai runs into Koda (Jeremy Suarez), an energetic cub who got separated from his mother on their journey to Salmon Run — a place where all bears come together before winter.
Kenai reluctantly agrees to help Koda get to the run in exchange for directions to the mountain.
During their journey, the lesson Sitka intended for Kenai to learn slowly begins to come to fruition. All thanks to the relationship he develops with little Koda, who wants to get to Salmon Run to see his mom again.
However, the pair must avoid Denahi, who is now set down a path of vengeance, and Kenai’s own secrets on what happened to Koda’s mom.
“Brother Bear” is an extremely heartbreaking, but heartwarming story that I don’t think gets enough credit.
It isn’t the flashiest of Disney films, but it’s still one that has a lot of heart and an important message of understanding and the strength one can find in family.
Kenai’s journey literally puts him in the shoes of someone he thought was terrible, and forces him to see a perspective he might otherwise never have seen. That’s something we all should keep in mind, ensuring we try and understand another’s perspective before we rush to conclusions.
The movie’s message aside, it also has music written and performed by THE Phil Collins of “Tarzan” fame. (He’s done a lot of other stuff but personally that movie had a huge impact on me so it’s what I think of when I see his name.) Anytime Phil is involved in a movie he’s guaranteed to offer some heartwarming, and heart wrenching, tracks to a great storyline.
Overall, “Brother Bear” really is a great movie for the whole family. Adults will find its message touching, while the little ones will be happy to go along with Koda and Kenai on their journey.
“Brother Bear” is rated G and available on Disney Plus.
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Laura Jameson is Managing Editor of The Express.




