DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Brother Bear 2
By Jeff Swindoll Aug 27, 2006, 17:12 GMT
The bonds of true friendship and love are powerful enough to persist through even the most extreme circumstances, but can even the strongest bond endure when a young man and a young woman are split apart by the spirits? ...more
The Moose are on the Loose again, this time joined by some female SCTV members. This time Kenai and Koda have to deal with a girl called Nita as well, Sister Bear if you will.
Kenai (Patrick Dempsey taking over for Joaquin Phoenix) and Koda (Jeremy Suarez) are happily living their lives as brothers in bear-dom. However, spring is in the air and the other bears are feeling frisky. Everyone (including a vocal cameo from Michael Clarke Duncan as Tug) is pairing off, but the boys are only interested in making it to the berry patch before everyone else.
So we think, until Kenai has a dream about a girl he knew in his youth that he saved from drowning and gave her his amulet. Fast forward to the present day again and Nita (Mandy Moore), the girl from Kenai’s dream, is getting married. Her aunts (Wendie Malick and Kathy Najimy) are fussing over her for the big day. She walks down the aisle and is about to say “I do” when a lightning bolt hits a rock and it falls and splits the ground between her and her groom. She consults the medicine woman Innoko (Wanda Sykes) who tells her that she offended the spirits because she’s really betrothed to another, Kenai.
To please the spirits she has to find Kenai, return to the waterfall where he saved her, and they must burn the amulet together and break their bond. Innoko calls on the spirits and they give Nita the ability to communicate in the language of bears. Meanwhile, back in the forest Tuke (Dave Thomas) and Rutt (Rick Moranis) are trying to score some beautiful moose babes, eh. Well, they’re not going about it the right way and Anda (Andrea Martin) and Kata (Catherine O’Hara) want nothing to do with them.
Nita has found Kenai and Koda and they’ve agreed to go to the falls and break the bond, but Kenai has also agreed to help Tuke and Rutt with their lady problems. As you can guess, Kenai’s assistance is not all it’s cracked up to be. However, Nita gets things sorted out and at least one of our moose brothers is getting in with the ladies. Hey, what about the other brother, eh?
Kenai, Koda, and Nita set out on their journey and soon Koda is jealous of Nita and Kenai’s rekindled affections. The journey requires crossing a river, which is Nita’s greatest fear since she nearly drowned as a child (nearly that is thanks to Kenai). So will she overcome her fear and will they decide to break the bond between them? (eh?)
Brother Bear 2 is a pretty good sequel. As with most Disney direct to video sequels, it doesn’t come close to eclipsing the original. Disney seems to be improving in this sequel game because the later ones I’ve watched (Bambi 2) actually are not too bad. Some of the earlier ones were just awful, in my humble opinion.
However, it was an entertaining 73 minutes and you may even have a tear on your cheek by the finale. What was fun for me was the virtual SCTV reunion with Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, and Catherine O’Hara. Maybe if there’s a third movie they can add Eugene Levy and Joe Flaherty, eh? Frankly, the kids will enjoy it and it’s a pleasant enough time killer for the adults as well.
Brother Bear 2 is presented in family-friendly (Is 2.35:1 unfriendly towards families, eh?) widescreen (1.78:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The Disney Fast Play system is also on this disc (if you don’t select the main menu it will play the show and the video based special features – virtual babysitter in other words).
Special features include the 8 minute “Behind the Music of Brother Bear 2.” It has interviews with singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge, senior vice president of Disney animation Matt Walker, producer Jim Ballantine, producer Susan Kirch, director Benjamin Gluck, music supervisor Steven Gizicki, singer Josh Kelly, and score composer Dave Metzger. Next is the “Trample Off, Eh?” game which features Rutt and Tuke. Finally there are trailers for other Disney movies (but no trailer for Brother Bear 2).
Brother Bear 2 was pretty good as sequels go and I always enjoy those mooses, um…meeses? Whatever, eh? If you liked the first one then this second one shouldn’t make you wish a sequel wasn’t made (who thought Cinderella 2 was a good idea?). It is definitely a good choice for family night DVD rental.
Brother Bear 2 is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a September 18th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
