Is "Bear" really Disney's next Feature?

[Razor Roman]

I have been really looking forward to Brother Bear for a while now, but I did say "Wow, Disney really needs to cut a new trailer for this movie."

I think that the way the trailer looks right now, it looks like "XYZ Animation Studios Presents: THE BEAR KING. A story about a BEAR who's father dies. He then becomes friends with too MOOSE named PIMON and TUMBAA. Yeah that's the ticket. And his evil uncle, a bear named SCARE, who has a SCAR on his face, tried to kill the BEAR KING, too. Yeah that's the ticket."

The trailer makes it look like they recycled the script from The Lion King, and the backgrounds from Pocahontas, and the music from Tarzan, and threw it in the Disney Cartoon-O-Matic computer (because, as we know, people don't really draw that stuff anymore! ;-) )

The trailer may work for the core audience, the people with little kids at Finding Nemo, but most of the grown ups that went to the movie by themselves will not see Brother Bear based on that trailer.

 

[jcemom]

My kids aren't interested in Bear...(DS 10 and DS 9). They saw the trailer for Sinbad before Holes, and they have no interest in it either. And I would have thought they are in Sinbad's "target audience." (Must admit, I thought Sinbad looked boring...though Bear I MIGHT consider seeing....)

 

[lodgelady]

The way I see it the trailers for BB, spy kids 3D, and simbad all look like more quality than what else is out there (ie Hey Arnold) which I would say is a glorified Saturday morning show, not a film at all.

I guess my kids and I are just unsophisticated, but we are happy that there are going to be so many family movies released this summer. We love escaping the heat in a matinee seat together.

 

[PatriciaH]

DH and I are really looking forward to Brother Bear. We have no kids by the way.

 

[raidermatt]

I'm not getting the Lion King references, but maybe I'm just slow...

Plot/script-wise, it appears to be somewhat similar to The Emporer's New Groove, not The Lion King. Yes, there are two comedic sidekicks, but The Lion King is hardly the only movie to feature that.

From the trailers, the plot is an Indian boy (or young man) is turned into a bear by the Spirits to "teach him a lesson". Yeah, there seems to be some "circle of life"/"one with nature" themes, like the Lion King, but the story elements look much more similar to Groove, though it appears to be done with less humor and PERHAPS more heart.

Just to be clear, I haven't seen enough to be convinced its a winner, just that some of the criticism seems premature and perhaps mis-directed.

 

[rexmundi]

I think Razor Roman hit the nail on the head. Perhaps it is a mistake to run the trailer in Nemo. The juxtaposition of a sloppy "old school" animated cliche with the brilliant CG animation and compelling story of Nemo makes Disney look really pathetic. I thought the Bear trailer was awful. Phil Collins? Come on. The songs sound EXACTLY like Tarzan (and every Phil Collins song since 1986, BTW). The story looks dopey: "A young bear's journey from Moscow to Minsk." Yuck. I'll see Nemo ten times before seeing Bear once.

 

[rwodonnell]

Originally posted by rexmundi
I think Razor Roman hit the nail on the head. Perhaps it is a mistake to run the trailer in Nemo. The juxtaposition of a sloppy "old school" animated cliche with the brilliant CG animation and compelling story of Nemo makes Disney look really pathetic. I thought the Bear trailer was awful. Phil Collins? Come on. The songs sound EXACTLY like Tarzan (and every Phil Collins song since 1986, BTW). The story looks dopey: "A young bear's journey from Moscow to Minsk." Yuck. I'll see Nemo ten times before seeing Bear once.

Good grief... I have to agree with those saying all this negativity is just a tad premature. Complaining about the music? At least it has some, and I bet it will be good, Phil Collins did very well with the Tarzan music in my opinion. Nemo had no recognizable songs, something that is a big flaw in my opinion. (I liked Nemo, but not as much as Monsters Inc or Toy Story because of that problem I think.) As far as the story sounding dopey, no more so than a fish traveling across the ocean to rescue his son. It's not like either story is so unique and mind-blowing, but if I had to choose which story line seems more unique, I would say Brother Bear. Wait until you see more than 2 minutes before you slam it.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

We saw the trailer and my daughter loved it. She loves anything with animals. I personally will see it because there are so few movies out there that are age appropriate for her. We are cruising in December 6th, so maybe they will show it on board and we won't waste another 8.50 in the theaters to see it

 

[AKemel]

We saw Finding Nemo, and I have a question. Do “Stay together” and “Swim together” sound similar and can journeys of a dinosaur and a fish that have occurred millions of years apart still be very similar?

 

[wtg2000]

"A young bear's journey from Moscow to Minsk."

Is that what it really said? Remember the Seinfeld episode where everyone was renting 'Rochelle, Rochelle', a young woman's journey from Milan to Minsk?

 

[jenfur]

I agree that all of this complaining is a little premature. I didn't like the first Nemo trailer I saw, but now I am dying to see it (Sunday).

I think when you try to compare most "fairytale" type fare, you can always find comparisons because they all have a basic moral and come on there are only so many. You can find similarities in anything- Take Jasmine and Ariel, both are dying to get out of their places in life one dresses like a commoner and runs away, another sprouts legs and skips sea. Shame on Disney for rehashing thesame old bit!

My kids love the Tarzan soundtrack and you know, they are really who these movies are made for.

Of course on that note, DH and I saw the TP DVD trailer (we really liked TP, by the way) and we are very interested in going to see it, though the kids weren't because of the pencil drawings.

 

[jenfur]

I also just went and viewed the trailer on the disney website- I like it even more. The song didn't sound like anything on the Tarzan soundtrack other than the voice singing it. I thing the moose humor is great and you are right there is a stampede , but who cares? it doesn't look like little bear's folks died in it and now he has to run away and hang with the moose fellows until he grows up and takes over Pride Tree. I don't see comparing it to Lion King based on a stampede scene and Tarzan based on the vocals on the soundtrack. I am also glad to see more of this type of animation. I like variety. CG look great, but I like more. I would be disappointed if every Disney movie was Pixar type, I think Pixar splitting might not mean absolute disaster for Disney. They CAN do other things. Now, if they ever get seriously into Animeeek: )- I couldn't stomach it, but lots of people like it. I like to think Disney has something for everyone.

 

[FindingNemo]

After readin this thread I thought I was weird as I really like the Brother Bear trailer. It looks funny and engaging. As long as its not another Pocahontas (eeek!) I'm sure to enjoy it. I thought the moose humor was great but found some of the other characters clips funnier.

 

[Snow Brite]

and are looking forward to this film. But we are in Alaska and my kids all said "OHHHHH! Its a Disney movie in ALASKA!". I don't know if it is intentionally supposed to be set here, but the look is right, with the fireweed and other flora and the northern lights looked really pretty (these are hard to capture right).

So, we are excited for it to come out.

Jennifer

 

[*123JOANNA123*]

...I can already see them baying for a Wilderness Lodge character breakfast

It looks a little like 'Spirit' with Bears, but really doesn't seem so bad. I think my kids will like it.

I hated the music though (I'm not a Phil Collins fan). When are Disney going to take a chance and depart from the old tried and tested (Elton John, Randy Newman, Phil Collins)? I really thought the TP soundtrack was a nice departure (John Resnick from the Goo-goo dolls) and what DW did with Shrek was amazing. It's like another poster said (the Cartoon-o-matic)- they have a winning formula with one movie and tend to keep the elements of the recipe the same then just cook it up another way.

 

[wdwguide]

I am having a hard time getting exited for this. The story seems a bit manufactured, and it appears plagued by the same things that have reduced the long-time appeal of most recent Disney features: trying to be "hip" by injecting contemporary humor and pop culture references results in films becoming dated more quickly. Also, it seems like the quality of the animation has gone downhill since Tarzan, with the exception of Treasure Planet (which suffered from a particularly bad case of the "pop culture plague" IMHO).

I hope that Disney will soon start going back and dig through the catalog of classic fairy tales and folk stories again, or cash in on the Harry Potter and LOTR craze by attempting to make a traditional fantasy-adventure feature. The Forgotten Realms seem quite attractive for this sort of venture, being a well-established universe with a large fan base and excellent storytelling opportunities that appeal to people of all ages. An animated feature film based on the Tripods trilogy would also be quite interesting, and I believe that Disney already holds the right to these stories.

 

[ukeeyorelover]

Hiya,

We were in Florida last October..............we went on a tou at MGM Studios..........dont recall the name but the animator was showing us clips of the new movie 'Bear'. He said that it will definitely be the big movie of this summer. The film looks great too.

 

[Laurajean1014]

My son saw the trailer for "Brother Bear," and said.

"Mom, you've gotta take me to that."

Enough said. Disney hit the tree and the target!

 

[goofy370]

I don't think the trailer is all that great, but it is a disney movie, and I know we (my family) will go see it. My DS (5 and 7) are excited to see any movie. They want to see the dreaded spy kids 3D movie. I will give Brother Bear a chance. And we all know that as the movie gets closer to being released a new trailer and new commercials will also be released. Maybe brother bear will be a good movie....

 

[RunAwayDoomBuggy]

ok, my thoughts.. elmo, er, NEMO was great!!

Back on topic, Sinbad? HA! i feel sory for dreamworks, what are they doing? road to elderado, that horse movie, this.. its sad, but, there is good ice cream deals.. hehe.. and Shrek, not too exited about the next one, but shreck 4D does..

ok, disney.. Freaky friday.. lets cross our fingers about another parent trap.. but this seems more funnier than the other bazzilion versions..

and tottaly back on topic, brother bear.. its a to do on my list.. hey, at least its not a technological space animated scifi.. *COU(Stitch,TreasureP.)GH!* sorry.. its a nice old disney fantasy *COU(NonPrincess)GH!!!* movie.. i should see a doctor about that.. and phil collins, nice to see him back.. preatty good, toe tappin' music on 7 cds not for 3, 2, but $80.. er.. Whose line nites.. hehe..

Oh, and the Increadables, now thats the one i fees bad for.. really, its sad pixar is dipping in the super hero pool.. oh, and also, as usual disney, theres another movie by a different company (fox for this matter?) doing the same story.. "a family of super heros try to survive in a suburban life" or somthing..