By RUSSELL BAILLIE
Brother Bear is an endangered species — it's probably one of the last hand-drawn cartoon features we'll see from Disney since the company announced it is to concentrate on 3D computer animation after the runaway successes of the Toy Stories, Finding Nemo and both Shreks.
But this also shows
that even if the visuals weren't state of the art, the storytelling and the writing behind it haven't been doing them any favours.
It looks nice enough with its story about a prehistoric Native American boy Kenai who is transformed into the animal of the title by the spirit of his dead brother in an effort to teach him some eco-consciousness.
He gets a buddy bear named Koda and a quest to complete so he can become human again, all to a soundtrack of Phil Collins rehashing the ethno lift muzak he last delivered on Tarzan.
It's sporadically funny but ponderously worthy and while smaller kids might enjoy the furry fun at first, it comes with such a lecture about respecting nature, that be the end they might indeed be feeling a little grizzly themselves.
The DVD features include outtakes, music video, brother bear games, a featurette on Native American bear legends and deleted scenes.
DVD, video rental
