Brother Bear is one of those movies that define the term "to little to late". It came at a time when Disney was no longer top dog. A time when Pixar and Dreamworks were at the top of their game and with their state of the art CGI images made traditional 2D hand drawn animation feel obsolete. So by 2003 Pixar was the new king of animation and its grip on the industry was so dominant that some believe if The Lion King had been released in 2003 instead of 1994 it wouldn't have had nearly the impact that it had back then.

So along comes this sweet, cute, family friendly film from Disney called Brother Bear. It was looked upon as Disneys last desperate attempt to keep tradional animation from extinction. Since the change in direction at the start of the century with The Emperors New Groove the studio had only had two hits with Emperor and Lilo and Stich. So the entire future of 2D rested with Brother Bear. This was it. Disneys message to the general audience. Take it or leave it. The film did decent at the box office taking in around $85 million domestic. But Disney didnt want decent. They wanted Pixar type numbers. They didnt get it. Sure they released Home on the Range the next year but everyone could see that film was a poor excuse for a Disney animated feature. Brother Bear in my opinon is the real last Disney animated feature before the five year break. And thats why I call it the end of an era.

I consider Brother Bear the best Disney animated feature of the 00's. I liked all the other ones but they left me empty. Emperor was just comedy. Atlantis was just action. But Brother Bear was all of those and more. Its a film that touches your heart. I love everything about this movie. The animation is Gorgeous. The richness of the colors and the eye peircing views of the sun and the scenery are the cream of the crop. The best animation since The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The relationship between the brothers is very touching. The scene where Sitka sacrifices himself to save his brothers is heart shattering. You feel the emotion. The comedy in the film is perfect. Its not laugh out loud funny but it does make you smile and even giggle a little bit. Another thing I really liked about the film is absolutley no pop culture references. I hate that about animated films these days. Seems all they do now is tell stupid jokes and throw out pop culture references that get old real fast and do nothing but date the film. The music by Phil Collins isnt great but its good enough.

Overall Brother Bear is just a very refreshing film compared to what Pixar and especially Dreamworks has to offer. Its not a masterpeice like Pinnochio or Bambi and dosent quite pack the same emotional punch as The Lion King but its pretty darn close.