3/4  Review - Brother Bear (2003)
After Sitka (D.B. Sweeney) died saving his brothers’ lives from a bear, Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) decided to get revenge for his sibling’s death. Through this, the spirits of the world transformed him into a bear. Now he must learn about lov... (read full)

1.5/4  Brother Bear Quick Review
Some fun but it lacks any fundamental purpose or anything new enough to really make this shine above the other recent animated movies.

5/5 Purchase of Brother Bear DVD set
  by Frank J. Ventura (Michigan)
The order came a lot quicker than expected and was in new condition. The DVDs were still wrapped in the original package. Excellant order.

4/5 World Religions
  by Tia S. Harris
This movie was about a young man named Kenai that is turned into a bear. In the beginning Kenai brother is killed by a bear and he feel that he needs to get revenge and goes after the bear. He manages to catch up with the bear and kills it, after he kills it he is magically turned into a bear himself to learn a lesson about the importance of life. The lesson he was goin to learn is to love and appreciate all not just your own. While a bear he meets a young cub named Koda. He befriends Koda and helps him ge to the Salmon run, where all the other bears are because he has been seperated from his mother. Comes to find out after hearing a story that Koda was telling about the day he was seperated from his mother, that his mother was the bear Kenai had killed. Kenai tell Koda and he doesnt want to believe him. At the end of the movie Kenai is faced with the biggest decision of his life, he can either become human again and be with his other brother that is still alive or he can remain a bear and be with Koda because he was all the little cub has. He stays with the cub and his tribe (his brother) that instead of hunting and killing bears that they should love and appreciate them because they are all one.
This movie relates to my world religions class in many ways. It had multiple different features of indigenous religions in it. It had initiation, No-name, Local, Shamanism, Cyclical view of time, and importance of harmany with biological and ecology of nature and animals. From the beginning of the movie it showed how indigenous sacred ways were defly related to the importance of nature. One example of how it related to my class was the little shaman woman that believed in the Northen light and how the had the ability to change things into other thing. That was a great example of shamanism. Or the the totum ceremony was a really good example of initiation. There was just so much in this movie that related to the chapter in the book that we are reading.

4/5 Brother Bear
  by Mary Vu
Brother Bear by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Erin Blaise and Bob Walker, is set in the beautiful northwest pacific where a small tribal group calls home. The pictures in this film are eye catching with bright scenes and the upbeat music produced by infamous Tina Turner and Phil Collins help to make it a hit flick. Brother Bear is an epic tale about a young Indian boy longing to become a man. A series of mishaps causes him to suddenly be transformed into a bear. In order for young Kenai to to realize what becoming a man really means, he must literally walk in another's shoes, or in this case paws. In the beginning of his transformation, Kenai is horrified by the fact that he has become what he has become something that he has always feared and hated-a bear. He eventually befriends many of the wild animals of his village including some two corky squirrels, some moose with goofy personalities and even other bears. An orphan bear named Koda, however, perhaps becomes Kenai's best friend and is taken under his wing. Though he dislikes him at first, Kenai learns to love Koda and treats him as a member of his family. Through Koda, Kenai learns the meaning of love and true friendship. With Koda's help, Kenai will learn to love what he used to despise and realize that maybe sometimes we fear what we don't know. Throughout this heart warming and comedic film, viewers are able to follow Kenai as he overcomes unexpected obstacles, learning life-long lessons, and even catch a few laughs with his new wild-life friends. With eye catching scenes, exciting new hits from infamous pop stars, and an adventurous plot, Brother is another hit film from Walt Disney Pictures sure to fill the hearts of adults and children of all ages for years to come.
The movie Brother Bear can be correlated in many ways to Primal Religions. In the movie rituals and story telling by the eldest member of the tribe are performed. They are a hunter-gatherer tribe and worship deities which include animals and spirits of the dead. They hold ceremonies for deaths of their kind in order to lift the spirits of the dead to the heavens. When Kenai finally "became a man" in the end of the movie, a sacred dance was done for his initiation. The movie was told by Kenai's older brother in his later years, which emphasizes that these stories are told time and time again, one generation after another. The hand prints and paw prints also hint that every time a boy becomes a man, his life is remembered and its importance is retold. Because only men are initiated lets viewers know that men have a higher authority over women like in some Primal/Indigenous groups.

4/5 Brother Bear Review
  by Geoffrey Williams
I believe this animation provided an insightful look at indigenous people from around the world. I would recommend this movie to anyone regardless of age, just to get a visual representation of the culture for which one may be studying in terms of researching the history of world religions.

5/5 Brother Bear
  by A. Goodnight
Brother Bear Review.
Brother Bear is a story that appears to have taken place in post ice age North America. It involves three brothers, named Keni, Denahi, and Sitka. At the beginning of the story it has come to the point in Keni's life where he is to become a man. This process begins with Keni being presented with a totem by the tribal shaman woman. His totem is that of the "bear of love". However, after the ceremony, they find that a bear has taken the fish the brother caught for the ceremony, so Keni goes off to find the fish. When he does, he is so angered by the broken basket that he attacks the bear who had taken it. During the fight his brothers show up and the oldest, Sitka, is killed in the process. Keni is so enraged by this he sets off to kill the bear that killed his brother. He succeeds, but he is punished for killing the bear by the sprits, by being turning himself into a bear. From this point on, Keni is focused only on getting turned back into a human. To do this he must go to the mountain where the spirits touch the ground. Soon after, he sets off on his journey only to be caught in a hunter's trap. However, he is quickly saved by a bear cub named Koda who is looking for his mother. After saving his life, Keni promised Koda he would go with him to the Salmon Run, which also happened to be very close to the mountain that Keni needed to get to. At first Keni finds the younger bear very annoying; however as their journey progresses, Keni begins to care for the younger bear, This is very important as Keni must protect Koda and himself from his other brother Denahi who is hunting the two of them. After many hang ups the two of them finally make it to the Salmon Run and meet up with the other bears. Unfortunately, that night while all the bears are telling stories about their year, Keni is horrified to find out that the bear he killed was Koda's mother. When Koda finds this out, he runs away and Keni goes looking for him. While doing this he finds himself on top of the mountain, where he is confronted by his human brother Denahi, who tries to kill him again. Koda steps in to try and protect him. When Denahi turns on him Koda, Keni risks his own life to save the younger bear. At this point he is turned back into a human by the sprits. Unfortunately, this would leave Koda all alone in the world and as a result, Keni decided to stay a bear. Keni had followed his totem and had become a man. He returned to his village to participate in the ceremony.
This Movie had many features that were common to many Indigenous Religions. It starts off with a tribal leader passing down a story to a younger generation. The story also incorporated other aspect common to indigenous religions such as native art work and worshiping natural things. In this case they worshiped what are known today as the aurora borealis or the "northern lights". It was also understood that these tribal people should be one with nature. In closing this movie gave an insight into certain indigenous religions in a very entertaining but also insightful way.