I don't know why this movie got bad reviews. I think it is an adorable children's movie with funny moments and real-life moral dilemmas and situations. It is relatable, whilst at the same time, goes off in a way that is more make-believe.

This movie is about Kenai, a man who resents all bears, after his brothers get into a fight with one, and is sadly killed. I don't like Kenai's attitude towards bears at the beginning of the movie. After all, the bear was just protecting itself, just like any human would. Kenai is then turned into a bear to see what it's like to be in a bears "shoes". He sees life from a new and different perspective and realizes that not it really wasn't the bears fault. On his journey, he meets an adorable bear cub, Koda, who is trying to find his way home. Meanwhile, Kenai's other brother worries that he has been killed by the bears, until he comes face-to-face with bear Kenai.

Overall, I give this movie an 8 out of 10.

I think most of us have been pretty spoiled by all the wonderful Disney cartoons over the years. As a result of so many "home runs", lesser Disney toons (and that is definitely a category I would place this film in) appear dull and listless by comparison. If I had never seen BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, LITTLE MERMAID or PINOCCHIO, I might have loved BROTHER BEAR. But BROTHER BEAR comes up short compared to all these great Disney films on so many levels. The quality of the animation is decent but a definite step down, the story dull and preachy and the film offered no excitement or novelty. It's just another "love the Earth" film with a heavy-handed message. As for the songs....where there even songs? I don't recall any and I certainly didn't leave the theater humming any. Overall, this is just a time-passer and a film that looked more like it should have been released direct to video.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy Brother Bear as much as I did. It is by far one of the better post-Tarzan Disney movies, along with Emperor's New Groove and Lilo and Stitch. I do think it is very underrated, apart from a couple of minor flaws there is hardly anything wrong with it. So what makes Brother Bear a delight? Well for one thing, the animation is simply gorgeous. Beautiful colours, stunning backgrounds and next to flawless character movement. Out of the post-Tarzan Disney movies, Brother Bear gets my vote as the most beautiful visually.

Another pro was the awesome soundtrack. The orchestral music is lovely, and Phil Colins's songs are every bit as catchy, fun and memorable as the ones he did for Tarzan. The film also has a heartwarming story, concentrating on the friendship between Kenai and Koda and there is a nice moral. There is also a lot of symbolism, that was incorporated into the narrative very well. The characterisations are strong, with Joaquin Pheonix superb as the voice of Kenai, and Koda(voiced by Jeremy Suarez) is a simply adorable character. Plus the MacKenzie Moose, voiced by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis were hilarious. There are some funny parts in the script, but quintessentially it is a heartwarming one, maybe even some tearjerkers.

I have very little to complain about this movie. Though had this movie been a tad longer, we could have had some more development in the secondary characters. My only other qualm was although the songs in general were awesome, the song sung by Tina Turner at the beginning wasn't quite in the same league. Other than that, this is a great underrated movie, not Disney's best, but you know what, it is well worth the look. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox