Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Brunovn00 — 28 Mar 2020

This is one of the examples of a "forgettable, mediocre Disney flick". Yes, I know it's for kids and the story needs to be kept simple, but that doesn't mean that you have to do a pretty by-the-numbers, formulaic, cookie-cutter story. The characters are underdeveloped and not fleshed out at all. The comedy was pretty bad and all because of the stupid moose characters. They are so unnecessary and added just for "comedic" relief. I didn't laugh once the entire movie. Did I cry at least? No, because the emotional moments felt pretty cheesy and didn't feel natural at all. Was I amazed by the music? Not at all. The score itself it's fine, I guess. It's pretty forgettable and just "serviceable". The songs are also pretty forgettable and just obnoxious. There was a moment in the movie were the characters were talking about something important that had the potential to be a powerful and devastating scene but then SAD PHIL COLINS SONG started playing. I was just like "Turn it off I want to hear the damn conversation!!". It is so obvious that they included Phil Colins songs to earn another Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (Well that didn't happen, so it was pointless. It's no coincidence that Phil Colins, as of 2020, hasn't composed songs for a Disney movie again). So this movie didn't make me feel anything. I'm not talking too much about the animation because at least the movie looks good and many backgrounds look great and highly detailed, but that doesn't make it a great movie or anything. Like I said, the story was fine, I guess, but the ending was so lame. I just didn't see why a certain character changed his motivation so easily. It felt so unrealistic and forced.

Overall, this wasn't a terrible movie, but it's certainly one of Disney's weakest films. Don't be like "Oh it's fine because it's for kids" because there are better kids movies. Also I don't think children would enjoy this too much(? I personally didn't enjoy it as a kid but now that I see animation with different eyes I decided to give it a chance and I just watched it and I barely remember things about this movie. It's so forgettable and dull. It doesn't have relatable or charismatic characters, the comedy it's pretty lame, the emotional moments are lame, I don't know, I just don't see how can this movie be enjoyable for kids. I think they'll get bored too. Also I've seen that the people that, strangely, like this movie laud the "message" but I just don't see what this movie tried to say. Brotherhood? Maturity? How? None of those themes are communicated in a logical way or according to the character actions and the overall story. I don't know, this movie left me nothing.