neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Brother Bear
	Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Suarez, Jason Raize, Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, D.B. Sweeney, Joan Copeland, Michael Clarke Duncan, Harold Gould 2003		The death-knell for 2-D animation is premature if the wonderful "Lilo & Stitch" is considered. But "Brother Bear," a feature foray into mediocrity and appropriation by Disney's 'toon crew, won't dispel the perception that 3-D computer animation has trumped the old ways. A witless morality play/tall tale for kids, "Brother Bear" took years to produce. Yet, it's the cartoon equivalent of fast food, Happy Meal tie-in toys aside. Set 10,000 years ago in a radiant, pastel-daubed abstraction of the Pacific Northwest, the film introduces Kenai (voice of Joaquin Phoenix), an egotistical young man from a native tribe. As a lesson, Kenai is turned into a bear by mystical forces and must go on a journey of self-discovery with cute bear cub Koda. They meet a prattling moose duo, voiced by a reunited Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas in a take-off on their knuckleheaded Bob & Doug McKenzie brother act from "SCTV." They all hitchhike on mastodons, recalling "Ice Age." The designs and ethnic milieu are far too close to those of superior Disney movies "Pocahontas" and "Mulan." (An old shaman woman looks like the wise tree spirit from "Pocahontas.") The songs by Phil Collins (one sung by Tina Turner) are boring and obvious. Can you bear it? Oh, brother.