Brother Bear

In Disney’s latest animated feature, a young Inuit hunter (voice by Joaquin Phoenix) finds himself transformed into a bear. Later, he’s adopted by a pesky little cub (Jeremy Suarez) while he’s on his way to … well, one drawback of this story, credited to five or six writers, is that it’s never really clear what the man-bear is trying to do. The story has no dramatic momentum—it’s patched together from equal parts comedy relief (two moose brothers, voiced by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, recycling their Bob and Doug McKenzie routine) and soft-headed New Age mumbo-jumbo dolled up as ancient wisdom. The painted backgrounds are pretty, but the animation is sketchy and flat-looking; the characters cast no shadows and don’t seem to weigh anything. Phil Collins contributes a handful of bland ear-candy songs.