Late last night, I was wide awake for some unknown reason and decided to watch one of my DVDs. I decided on one that was still in its wrapper - Disney's "Brother Bear." I had seen portions of it during one of my sub assignments and had wanted to see it in its entirety and last night I did so. I found it to be a very good movie with valuable lessons about unconditional love, personal transformation, and walking in another's shoes before making judgements.
The creators of this film wanted to do something on the scale of "The Lion King," but desired a different location for their story to take place. They decided on North America and began their research, finding inspiration from Native American philosophy. Native Americans have long understood the connection between man and nature and when researching for the film, researchers found many references to transformation from man to animal.
In the film, the main character, Kenai, looks forward to becoming a man but he is told by his tribe's shaman that he must learn to live by his totem - the bear of love. Being young, Kenai is impulsive and overestimates how much he really knows about life. He's bold, brash, and still carefree. His actions soon cause the death of his eldest brother, Sitka. Kenai has aggravated a mother bear and in a desperate attempt to save his brothers, Sitka sacrifices his own life by breaking off a piece of a large shelf of ice and snow that he and the bear are standing on, causing the piece to collapse into the river below. The middle brother, Denahi, blames Kenai, so Kenai decides to take matters into his own hands to avenge Sitka's death by pursuing the bear. Eventually, he finds the bear that he believes to be a killer and a thief; he never tries to see life from the perspective of the bear. At the end of his chase, he kills the bear, and this is where his journey of transformation takes place. Kenai must atone for his actions by being transformed into a bear, meeting the dead bear's cub, Koda, and making the journey with Koda to the "lights that touch the mountain." He walks in the mother bear's shoes and comes to understand the world that she lived in. In the end, Kenai does learn about love, forgiveness, brotherhood, and living in harmony with nature, but the final transformation of Kenai is unexpected.
This movie has an original storyline, as well as important lessons to teach for the viewers who are willing to pay attention. If you like movies with positive messages, this is a good one to watch.
The creators of this film wanted to do something on the scale of "The Lion King," but desired a different location for their story to take place. They decided on North America and began their research, finding inspiration from Native American philosophy. Native Americans have long understood the connection between man and nature and when researching for the film, researchers found many references to transformation from man to animal.
In the film, the main character, Kenai, looks forward to becoming a man but he is told by his tribe's shaman that he must learn to live by his totem - the bear of love. Being young, Kenai is impulsive and overestimates how much he really knows about life. He's bold, brash, and still carefree. His actions soon cause the death of his eldest brother, Sitka. Kenai has aggravated a mother bear and in a desperate attempt to save his brothers, Sitka sacrifices his own life by breaking off a piece of a large shelf of ice and snow that he and the bear are standing on, causing the piece to collapse into the river below. The middle brother, Denahi, blames Kenai, so Kenai decides to take matters into his own hands to avenge Sitka's death by pursuing the bear. Eventually, he finds the bear that he believes to be a killer and a thief; he never tries to see life from the perspective of the bear. At the end of his chase, he kills the bear, and this is where his journey of transformation takes place. Kenai must atone for his actions by being transformed into a bear, meeting the dead bear's cub, Koda, and making the journey with Koda to the "lights that touch the mountain." He walks in the mother bear's shoes and comes to understand the world that she lived in. In the end, Kenai does learn about love, forgiveness, brotherhood, and living in harmony with nature, but the final transformation of Kenai is unexpected.
This movie has an original storyline, as well as important lessons to teach for the viewers who are willing to pay attention. If you like movies with positive messages, this is a good one to watch.
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