Brother Bear

To a Grizzly, Humans Are the Hairy Monsters

The fine line separating good-hearted family movies from inspirational films that drum in moral values is breached in "Brother Bear," a plush, Disney animated film that would like to think of itself as "The Lion King Plus." Set in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the Ice Age, it traffics in the same sort of cosmic mumbo-jumbo its forerunner. Cobbling together ancient cross-cultural myths of initiation and human beings who turn into animals, it tells the story of Kenai (the voice of Joaquin Phoenix), a hot-headed Indian boy on the verge of manhood who is transformed into a bear so he can learn compassion for all creatures great and small. This self-serious movie is beautiful to look at but light on humor. The soundtrack features six songs by Phil Collins. — Stephen Holden
Lees de Review van de New York Times van Brother Bear (Engels)
By Stephen Holden. Published 2003-10-24, Updated 2016-03-30 07:21:36