Bear brothers

Movie
German title	Bear brothers
Original title	Brother Bear
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2003
length	85 minutes
Age rating	FSK 0 JMK 0
Rod
Director	Aaron Blaise , Robert Walker
script	Steve Bencich , Ron Friedman
production	Chuck Williams
music	Mark Mancina (music), Phil Collins (songs)
camera	Robh Ruppel
cut	Tim Mertens
synchronization
chronology
Successor  → Bear Brothers 2

Bear Brothers (Original title: Brother Bear ) is an American cartoon film by the directors Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker and the 44th full-length cartoon from Walt Disney Studios from 2003 . The sequel Bear Brothers 2 was released in 2006.

action

End of the ice age in North America. Kenai lives with his two older brothers Sitka and Denahi in an Inuit tribe and, as is tradition in the tribe, will soon receive his wooden totem that will accompany him for the rest of his life. But Kenai is dissatisfied with his symbol, the totem of love, a bear. His brothers had all been given a “more masculine” totem. Denahi laughs at Kenai, but Sitka tries to explain to him that he has a very valuable and powerful totem. Kenai cannot understand what a bear might have to do with him, as this totem stands for "love" and Kenai feels less like a man as a result.

When a bear runs away with a basket full of fish caught by the brothers, Kenai is blamed for failing to listen to his brothers and for having brought the basket to safety with a rope on a tree. Kenai therefore sets out to follow the bear's trail. His brother Sitka is worried about him and follows him. A little later there is a fight between Kenai and the bear. In a seemingly hopeless situation, Sitka arrives just in time and saves him from the bear by sacrificing his life. Determined to avenge his brother, Kenai goes on a hunt for the bear that Kenai believes is responsible for the death of Sitka. After Kenai finally kills the bear, strange colored lights appear: the great spirits intervene and transform Kenai into a grizzly bear to show him what tolerance and friendship mean. As a bear, Kenai meets the two elks Benny and Björn as well as little Koda, who is looking for his mother and who is on the way to catch salmon every year. He doesn't leave Kenai's side anymore and sees him as his big brother. Kenai takes advantage of Koda to get back to the mountain where the spirits watch. Because only there, he thinks, can he be transformed back. But Kenai soon discovers brotherly feelings for Koda himself and protects him from danger. The two hike in the direction of the mountain, always pursued by the third brother Denahi, who in turn prepares to avenge Kenai, who was believed to be dead.

Together, Kenai and Koda meet a group of bears near the mountain that are catching salmon on a river. Kenai finally learns that bears are not beasts, but he also learns that Koda's mother is the bear he previously killed himself. Kenai confesses the terrible truth to Koda. Eventually they both set off for the mountain, but are drawn into a fight with Denahi, who cannot recognize his brother who has been turned into a bear. Shortly before he can kill Kenai, the ghosts appear, including Sitka in the form of an eagle, and transform Kenai back because Kenai is now ready to sacrifice his life and pay his debt. He is reconciled with his brother, while Koda can briefly see his mother's ghost again. Kenai decides to become a bear again because he thinks he is needed by Koda and owes it to him - but he is always welcome in the shape of the bear among the people of his tribe.

Characters

Kenai

Kenai is the youngest of the three brothers. He wants to grow up on the spot and is looking for dangerous adventures. He often gets his brothers into trouble and yet they always stick together. For example, he wants to avenge his dead brother Sitka.

Sitka

He is the oldest of the siblings, the leader. His totem is an eagle and that is how he guides his brothers through life. He takes the place of the dead parents and is Denahi's and Kenai's role model. In the course of the film he dies, which triggers the whole story.

Denahi

The middle of the brothers is a little excluded from the other two. But after Sitka's death and Kenai's disappearance, he too shows courage, travels after the bear and swears vengeance for his two brothers.

Koda

Koda is a little bear cub who lost its mother. He is on his way to the annual salmon catch and helps Kenai out of a bear trap. Together they go on the long journey and become best friends.

Benny and Björn

The moose who immigrated from Scandinavia meet Kenai shortly after his transformation. They don't believe him that he was human before and that he was changed. The humorous and somewhat stupid moose brothers appear several times in the film.

Tanana

Tanana is the shaman of the Inuit tribe. She comes into contact with the spirits to get the tribal members their totems. Kenai also gets his totem from her. After he has been transformed into a bear, she appears unexpectedly and advises him to speak to the spirits on the mountain where the lights touch the earth. Shortly afterwards she disappeared without telling Denahi anything about it.

Trivia

• The two moose are actually called Tuke and Rutt in the original . The names were changed to Benny and Björn for German dubbing . Obviously a humorous reference to the first names of the two male members of the former Swedish pop group ABBA .

• The directors Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker wanted an unusually naturalistic look for their film that reproduces nature like a realistic painting. Therefore, in the run-up to production, there were trips to the national parks of America, including the Yosemite , Sequoia and Yellowstone parks. The team was also inspired by the paintings by Albert Bierstadt , some of which Disney's managing director Michael Eisner lent to his illustrators.

• The design of the backgrounds was based on the realism of Bambi , leaving out the more lyrical moments. The “belittling” in Bambi should not be found in Bärenbrüder either. Nevertheless, the animals show human traits, which has to do with the message of the film, so that slight comic traits can be found in the characters later in the film. However, this only happens after Kenai became a bear.

• The transformation of the main character not only changes the point of view and perspective portrayed in the film in a figurative sense: the format also changes after the transformation. If the human world is still shown in the 1.85: 1 format that is usual for cartoons, the world is kept from the perspective of the bear Kenai in Cinemascope . In addition, the art direction changes: If the world is still rich in shades of gray from the point of view of the human being Kenai and the sound is relatively dull, the bear Kenai sees everything in a richer color palette and with a stronger sound. In addition, the camera moves much more freely through its surroundings. The artists wanted to emphasize the change of perspective and show that nature and life in general can be more beautiful when the typically human narrow-mindedness disappears. The effect is based on the classic color film The Wizard of Oz , in which dreary Kansas is shown in black and white, while Oz is shown in Technicolor .

• The story is one of the few plots Disney invented for its films. The basic idea came up when one heard old Indian myths, which are about the fact that people were turned into animals by the great spirits in order to teach them a lesson. In 1994 the thought arose that a film could be based on such a story. At the time, people wanted to make it even more dramatic and also include Shakespeare references, but this idea was discarded because this topic was already taken up in The Lion King . The plot was then rewritten several times. It was also very important for the directors Blaise and Walker not to let the story get too cute, despite the many talking animals. They wanted intense, dramatic, and emotional moments that could scare kids too. Because, in their opinion, children can take a lot more than they are given credit for.

synchronization

The German synchronization was commissioned by Berliner Synchron GmbH in Berlin . Michael Nowka wrote the dialogue book and directed the dialogue. The lyrics were translated into German by Leslie Mandoki and Matthias Monka , and Mandoki took over the musical direction.

role	Original speaker	German speaker
Kenai	Joaquin Phoenix	Daniel Brühl
Denahi	Jason Raize	Moritz Bleibtreu
Sitka	DB Sweeney	Gedeon Burkhard
Tanana	Joan Copeland	Barbara Adolph
Koda	Jeremy Suarez	Johannes Bachmann
Good	Michael Clarke Duncan	Ben Hecker
Bjorn	Dave Thomas	Thomas Danneberg
Benny	Rick Moranis	Stefan Gossler
widow	Estelle Harris	Luise Lunow
Bear in love	Greg Proops	Thomas Nero Wolff
Bear in love	Pauley Perette	Sabine Arnhold
Croatian bear	Darko Cesar
Bear lady	Hope Levy	Constanze Harpen
teller	Harold Gould	Dieter Bellmann

Soundtrack

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Brother Bear OST   DE 24 11/10/2003 (21 weeks)

Singles

Look Through My Eyes   DE 51 10/27/2003 (5 weeks) No way out   DE 74 04/05/2004 (5 weeks)

A soundtrack album for the film was released in October 2003. The songs on this album were written by Phil Collins , as was the case with the soundtrack to the 1999 Disney film Tarzan , and Collins collaborated with Mark Mancina on the score . In the original version, Tina Turner sings the song Great Spirits .

Songs (German version)

1. No way out
2. Gods of Eternity ( Gracia Baur )
3. Transformation ( The Bulgarian Women's Choir )
4. I'm on my way (on my way)
5. Welcome
6. No way back
7. Look Through My Eyes
8. transformation
9. On my way
10. Welcome
11. The three brothers
12. Awakening as a bear
13. A wilderness full of beauty and danger

Reviews and feedback

Bear Brothers grossed over $ 85 million in the United States , but Disney called him a flop, despite the fact that outside of the United States, there were good revenues of $ 164 million. This surprised the management, because usually films outside the United States always make about as much as the film itself in the United States. In addition, this result also exceeded the result of Lilo & Stitch , which Disney rated as a great success internally.

Reviews in the United States have been divided, with most reviews claiming the film copied too much from older Disney films. In Europe, the reviews were far more benevolent and celebrated above all the dramaturgy and emotionality, with the reviews differing in terms of humor. Some even talked about the best Disney movie since The Lion King , more widely believed that it was the last good cartoon.

Based on grossing results and reviews outside the United States, Disney gave the go-ahead to the Bear Brothers sequel . In 2006 it was released directly on DVD worldwide.

Awards

• The film was nominated in 2004 for an Oscar in the category " Best Animated Film ".
• ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for Phil Collins
  • Album : Bear Brothers Soundtrack
• BMI Film Music Award for Mark Mancina
• Heartland Award of Excellence

Web links

• Brother Bear in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Bear brothers in the online film database
• Official website for the film
• Bärenbrüder atrotten tomatoes(English)
• Bärenbrüder atMetacritic(English)
• Illustrated review of the corresponding DVD

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Release certificate for bear brothers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2004 (PDF; test number: 96 966 K).
2. ↑ Age rating for bear brothers . Youth Media Commission .
3. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Bear brothers. Retrieved November 24, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Charts DE
5. ↑ Box office results for bear brothers