..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Brother Bear: Special Edition
Directed by Aaron Blaise, Bob Walker

It seems that every great Walt Disney cartoon feature has to be unique to really succeed, and Brother Bear, about a young North American Ice Age tribesman whose soul and intellect are transferred to a bear, isn't quite unique enough. There is too much Tarzan, Lion King and Pocahontas guiding its choices. But it is a very lovely failure. The 2003 film begins with a standard aspect ratio and then shifts to widescreen when the transformation takes place. The beautiful, unblemished animated vistas evoke a purity of spirit that is not meant just to reflect the nature of the characters, but to evoke the ideals of the country the land they inhabit would later become. There are funny animals, voiced by comedians, and there are extensive emotional bonds between the main characters that both drive the narrative and give it a sympathetic closure. The musical score is accomplished and not out of synch with the film's environment. And so, Brother Bear is a very nice little cartoon movie that just doesn't reach the stature of its siblings, and is unlikely to gain much standing with age.

That does not prevent Disney DVD, however, from putting together a superb 2-Disc Special Edition (31553, $30), which not only conveys the film's best attributes but consistently enhances them. The second platter presents the movie as it was shown theatrically. It begins in windowboxed format and then shifts at the appropriate moment to a fully letterboxed image, with aspect ratio of about 2.35:1, the entire presentation carrying an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The presentation of the film on the first platter is also letterboxed, very slightly windowboxed with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 from beginning to end. It, too, is enhanced for 16:9 playback. The color transfer on both presentations looks crisp and precise. At the point where the transformation takes place, hues become deeper and richer, and the DVD handles the shift without distortion.

Both presentations of the 85-minute program have a good 5.1-channel Dolby Digital soundtrack, and the fully letterboxed version has an even more enjoyable DTS track, which has sharper separations and a more solid thrust. Both presentations have an alternate French audio track in 5.1 Dolby, and the partially letterboxed version has an alternate Spanish track in 5.1 Dolby. Both versions have optional English subtitles.

The platter containing the partially letterboxed version is designed to attract kids, while the platter holding the fully letterboxed version contains materials of interest to older viewers. On both, the menus are full of amusing audio clips designed specifically for the DVD. The kiddie platter also contains a very funny 3-minute collection of animated blooper parodies, along with a music video, a sing-along clip, a decent personality game, a simpler matching game, a 3-minute piece on Native American bear legends, a 3-minute piece on making the movie's sound effects and a nice 10-minute montage of the film's developmental artwork, narrated by the animators. Voice actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas supply an amusing commentary track in character (as a pair of laconic mooses), with a secondary option providing periodic animated silhouettes of their characters superimposed upon the film. Are their improvisations consistently funny for the entire 85 minutes? Of course not, but they keep trying, and now and then they score. They have particular fun with the closing credits: "Clean-Up Supervisor." "That was the guy that followed you around all the time." "I don't remember seeing him on the set." "Yeah, that's because he was behind you."

The 'grown up' platter comes with a 45-minute collection of good production featurettes (including a number of references to conflicts the various artists had over the direction of the narrative, the music and other matters), 11 minutes of deleted scenes that contain a few good gags, a deleted song sequence, and another music video.

July 6, 2004

The Review Vault

- by Douglas Pratt

Douglas Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
For a free sample, call (516)594-9304 or go to his website at www.DVDLaser.com