Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Leslie R — 01 Jul 2014

Brother bear is a tale of a Native American named Kenai, he and his brothers Sitka and Denahi are part of a tribe. In this tribe there is a women named Tanana, who speaks of the spirits and the ancestors that influence the lives of all the people in the tribe day by day.

In this particular tribe at one point in time they receive a totem, in which it influences their way to live in the world and the community. For Sitka, his totem is the eagle, which is guidance, for Denahi it is wisdom.

The story begins with Kenai finally knowing his totem will be, at the ritual Tanana gives him the Totem of the Bear, of love. Kenai is disappointed with his totem and finds it dumb rather than man becoming.

Earlier that day they had been hunting fish and told Kenai to tie it to a tree so the bears would not get it. Kenai did not securely tie the basket and the bears got to the fish and ate it. Kenai decides to go after the bear, when he finds the bear he decides to attack it, denahi and sitka follow him.

Sitka sacrifices his life for the life of Kenai and denahi. Shortly after Kenai decides to go after the bear once more to avenge Sitka. Kenai kills the bear, but after killing the bear the ancesteral spirits come to Kenai and Sitka shows that he is disappointed in Kenai.

Kenai is drawn into the spirits and that is when he is turned into the bear. Denahi finally finds Kenai but in the form of the bear, he sees Kenai's clothes on the floor of the mountain and he assumes the bear has killed Kenai.

Kenai escapes before Denahi can kill him but Denahi follows him in hopes of avenging not only the death of Kenai but also Sitka. Along the way Kenai meets Koda, who is a cub that has lost his mother. Koda ends up being the son of the bear that Kenai killed.

In the end Kenai decides to stay a bear and take care of Koda. Denahi uses his gift of wisdom and tells the story of Kenai. "A boy who became a man by becoming a bear". In my book of world religions called "Invitation to world religions" by Jeffrey Brodd and others.

In the Native American chapter it tells of the interrelationships between all things in this world. In Brother bear you see how the bears and the humans are connected, how they feel the exact same way about each other.

While humans are scared of bears, the bears are scared of humans as well. It also talks about the ancestors and how they have roles in every day lives of the living. In Brother bear you truly see that in how Sitka is sending signals and teaching lessons even though he is passed away, he helped Kenai become a man and denahi show his true wisdom.

Brother bear also shows the relationship between the natural world and people. Though the bear did attack Kenai, Sitka and Denahi felt it was still wrong to kill the bear. Overall it was a funny movie and I loved all the characters and the dialogue!