Review of Brother Bear (2003) by Abbey C — 08 Sep 2012

In Brother Bear, Kenai and his brothers return home for Kenai to get his sacred totem, which is the bear of love, but Kenai doesnâ(TM)t like this because he thinks that bears steal. Then of course a bear steals some salmon; Kenai and his brothers end up getting into a fight with the bear and Sitka, Kenaiâ(TM)s older brother, then dies while fighting this bear. Kenai becomes very upset and kills the bear out of anger. Then the spirit of Sitka comes to Kenai and turns him into a bear as punishment because that is not the way. The Spirits were very upset with Kenai and Sitkaâ(TM)s spirit tells Kenai that in order to be human again he has to go to the salmon run. On his journey Kenai, befriends a little bear by the name of Koda, which is ironic since he despises bears. Kenai and Koda become best friends almost brothers even, as they go on this journey while being chased by Kenaiâ(TM)s other brother, Denahi. Denahi thinks that Kenai was killed by the bear also and is trying to kill him, not knowing the bear he is hunting is his brother. Once they reach salmon run, Koda tells the story of how he lost his mother and Kenai realizes that he is the one who killed Kodaâ(TM)s mother. He tells Koda and of course he gets upset and goes away. Kenai then runs into his brother and Denahi is trying to kill Kenai, but Koda steals Denahiâ(TM)s spear. Sitkaâ(TM)s spirit shows up and turns Kenai back into a human, but Kenai asked to be turned back into a bear and thatâ(TM)s how he lives happily ever after.

This movie is full of the ways of an indigenous religion. First, we have the brothers in the tribe returning for a sacred ceremony of manhood for Kenai. Then Kenai kills a bear, which is against indigenous ways and is punished by the spirits. While on his quest to become human again her learns that animals have feelings and families just like humans do. He also learns a lesson in brotherhood. Koda shows him in the end that you donâ(TM)t have to kill to show love because Koda could have easily tried to kill Denahi but he didnâ(TM)t, he just wouldnâ(TM)t let Denahi kill Kenai. That is showing respect for all living things, in my opinion. All in all I would have to say that this story was lesson for all who watched it because you learn respect for all things living, not just human beings. We are all here to help each other in some way, show respect.