Is "Bear" really Disney's next Feature?

[blackshirt]

Just got back from Nemo, which was fabulous. Ellen really steals the show. There were many, many trailers beforehand, but the absolute worst had to be for "Brother Bear". Is this really what Disney is spending millions to produce. From the previews, this looks to be a cheap, quick, and Cinderella II produced feature. I was astounded to see the number of ripoffs from the Lion King. Is Disney animation really in this sorry state? I know it was only a trailer and the release date is in November, but the trailer reminded me of Country Bears in that I have absolutely no interest in watching this film. God help us if Pixar bolts.

 

[d-r]

we didn't get that trailor, we only got the incredibles. I hate to hear that because I was hoping bear would be good.

 

[919Florida]

Here is a link to a Brother bear site. That way you can judge for yourself what you think. Take a look. Phill Collins is singing in it.
BROTHER BEAR WEBSITE

 

[Jaypd]

While in Disney last week I took the animation tour at MGM and the feature film they were working on was Brother Bear.

I thought it looked pretty good from what they showed us. And the music sounded great.....I happen to like Phil Collins.

I will go and see this when it comes out.

 

[d-r]

is the trailor they showed with finding nemo in y'alls theaters the same one that is on the treasure planet dvd?

 

[lenshanem]

I also saw the Brother Bear and Invincibles trailors. I, too felt a tinge of disappointment when i saw the brother Bear trailor.
I loved the music in Tarzan so at least the music shoudl be good.

 

[CasualObserver]

It gets back to a film that will better appeal to the core animation audience - Children 11 and under (or so) and their parents. They return back to Anthropomorphized animals that speak. Its quite a departure from the previous Disney offerings (Lilo & Stitch excluded).

My opinion is that Dreamworks' Sinbad will flop in the Atlantis/Treasure Planet style. It's trying to get boys into animation and they simply just won't go in the numbers necessary to support a feature project.

I think Brother bear will be a success, to what extent I have absolutely no idea. I don't think it will tank like the last several Disney projects (Lilo & Stitch excluded). When you write, you always write to your target audience. This looks like, from the preview, like they are developing the project for the animation target audience. Whether they deliver a film with heart and a truly good story is still to be discovered in November.


Casual Observer

 

[Planogirl]

My opinion is that Dreamworks' Sinbad will flop in the Atlantis/Treasure Planet style. It's trying to get boys into animation and they simply just won't go in the numbers necessary to support a feature project.

I'm not sure about Sinbad. Their trailer does show a strong female character but I wonder how aware audiences will be of this? I liked what I saw of it but then I liked Spirit so what do I know.

I hope that Brother Bear is good! Disney really needs this one IMO.

 

[hopemax]

I've read reviews from a few people who have seen Sindad, and they've all said it's a really boring movie, and that leads to a quick death.

Brother Bear...The trailer left me feeling basically unimpressed. This is another movie that feels "manufactured" to me. Many of the shots were too reminescient of Lion King, the PC message felt a little too forced, I don't want more Phil Collins music, and I didn't feel a connection to the little bear or the . The moose had me laughing uncontrollably in the trailers, but but MacKenzie Moose, doesn't exactly leave me with the thought "Hey, Disney created 2 more really great characters," haven't Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas played these roles before? I want something that feels new, so unless the reviews are really, really postitive our November movie budget will be spent at Matrix: Revolutions and Master and Commander.

 

[Another Voice]

The concern with Brother Bear is that is was supposed to be a Summer 2004 release. It was moved up to November for reasons that have the Disney grapevine filled with bad thoughts. Everyone wants more time to work on their movie, but in animation speeding up the schedule is extremely difficult and never makes for a better movie. The same thing happened when Treasure Planet ran into Eisner problems so Lilo and Stitch was moved up. Even though it's an excellent film, Lilo still had a few rough edges (and having to re-animate the climax because of 9/11 didn't help the time pressure either).

There's very little buzzing around about Brother – certainly nowhere near the excitement over Lilo. This may because Florida has learned their lesson that keeping quite means they get ignored which means they can do good work – or – it can mean a lack of enthusiasm about the project. The future of the animation department in Florida is rather hazy after Brother is released. It's always hard to get people to work hard when all it means is a faster unemployment check.

I think Sinbad is, frankly, not all that good. Action/adventure is close to impossible to pull off in animation. All the animators who try it seem to have grown up on cheesy Saturday morning stuff. They think simply making things bigger is supposed to make things more exciting. It doesn't. Animation is far more character driven live action and so spectacle doesn't work. It's a lesson people thought had Jeffery Katzenberg had learned.


P.S. - There's only going to be one movie in November that people are going to care about...

 

[Planogirl]

P.S. - There's only going to be one movie in November that people are going to care about...

Oh do tell! Which one is that? LOTR is scheduled for December isn't it?

 

[Evil Princess]

Brother Bear didn't look TERRIBLE. I really wish that Disney would go back to the old style of cartoons. I miss great movies like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. I LOVED Lilo and Stitch, but I missed the whole giant cast breaking out into song aspect, although the whole Elvis thing was original.

Sinbad looked horrible. My friend and I were sitting in the theater sulking. That girl in the movie is just plain ugly. Maybe its just me, but I LIKE the whole long hair, pretty dress, princess thing. As a little girl, I would much rather have a female star like that in a cartoon than the one shown in Sinbad. Perhaps I'm behind the times I'm a girlie girl at heart.

 

[Scratch42]

Canadians, EH!

They are reminiscent of Bob and Dave MacKenzie, Hosers, EH!

Scratch

 

[Luv2Roam]

I didn't see the Bear trailer in the theatre. On site it doesn't look bad. And it has a nice cast. A major hit is very doubtful. But I see it along the same lines as Disney's Tarzan.
The store seems very Disney-esque, minus princesses (thank goodness ).
Sinbad seemed okay too. Not sure if we will see it or just wait for DVD release. It reminded me of that other animation -- something about Gold and searching for it. You can see how it impressed me. Looked like the same animators even.

DH was rolling his eyes because I will be dragging him to the theatre to see Spy Kids 3 because it will be in 3D. Otherwise I wouldn't even bother renting that one. But for 3D, I'll see it in the theatre! And sure I expect some cheezy effects. But that goes along with what everyone does with 3D.

 

[meiandrew]

I thought "Bear" looked pretty good. Does anyone know the exact release date? I think the trailor just said November.

This will be our AMC 24 movie for our Thanksgiving trip. I do agree with others that there seemed to be a lot of scenes taken straight from "LK". The "trample" scene as I call it looked exactly like the one from "LK". I think the best part of this movie might be the score. I think they played parts of (2) of the Phil Collins songs during the trailor, and the first one especially sounded very good, and the "Tarzan" score is one of my favorites.

 

[mickeyminnie]

My understanding was they were released on a yearly basis, but maybe I am wrong if it is biannual.

I don't think I would want to put too many movies against Harry Potter, LOTR, and the final Matrix, those are pretty heavily anticipated movies and it will be hard to beat or compete with them.


Never mind I just noticed that Harry is due in 04, I still wouldn't want to go up against the other 2 but it makes the competition a little less stiff for the box office dollar

 

[Cindy B]

I am disappointed in Brother Bear as well. The animation did not look as "good" as others. We saw the Brother Bear commercial in the Treasure Planet DVD, and then the same one was on the Finding Nemo trailer.


It was just not that encouraging to see that this is the New Disney. I did see parallels to Lion King, and Rick Moranis/Dave Thomas... my DH said "Its Strange Brew all over again!" Not likely, but a very humorous comment.


The other trailers were Rugrats go Wild (looked horrible--I was rooting for the Rugrats to fall off the ship and die!)

Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis... ok, what is this the 12th remake of Freaky Friday?


The Incredibles... that one looked pretty funny. The animation looked similiar to the 3-2-1 Penguins video series. My kids even commented on that.

A certain Dog movie...

and Brother Bear... of all the ones shown Brother Bear looked the most passable. I personally love Phil Collins, but listening to the lyrics/sound quality, it didn't seem top notch Phil Collins....

 

[wdwfreak]

Originally posted by Scratch42
Canadians, EH!

They are reminiscent of Bob and Dave MacKenzie, Hosers, EH!

Scratch

According to IMDb, the voices for the moose are provided by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. Pretty clever little touch, IMHO.

 

[mickey1010]

Is the Bear trailer at Nemo the same as the preview on the Treasure Planet DVD?? I saw the preview on the Treasure Planet DVD and I thought it looked good, the type of movie I would like to see Disney get back into making again. I didn't pay really close attention to the animation, but I remembered looking forward to seeing it (If that makes sense!!).

 

[raidermatt]

No, the trailer before Nemo is not the same one as on the TP DVD. The trailer on the DVD contained some pencil animation and live shots of the bear cub as well as some shots of the voiceovers being done. The trailer before Nemo had some of the same scenes, but I believe only had finished animation, showed no "live" shots, and included a few different scenes.

I also took the animation tour a couple of weeks ago, and between that and the trailers, I am cautiously optimistic about the film.