History WesternAnimation / BrotherBear

* BittersweetEnding: At least from some points of view.

The 44th film in the DisneyAnimatedCanon, and the second-to-last traditionally animated theatrical film produced by Disney for five years, until 2009's ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog.'' It was also the last movie produced by their Florida studio, which closed completely. ''HomeOnTheRange'' succeeded ''BrotherBear'', which actually DID end their traditional animation department until 2009.

Was followed by a DirectToVideo sequel, [[{{Sequelitis}} appropriately enough]] called ''Brother Bear 2''.

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler: Sitka's spirit coming to transform Kenai into a human as Denahi tries to kill him counts, although Kenai did call out for his brother to save him]].

* DVDCommentary: Not by the filmmakers but by [[ThoseTwoGuys Rutt and Tuke]], which earns some funny moments during the movie like one of them asking for a pizza. Not only that, but the two moose also share some nonsensical conversations like at one point when [[spoiler:Kenai turns back into a human]] and they start talking about moose turning into lions in TheLionKing.

-->'''Tuke:''' What's happening?
-->'''Rutt:''' Well, all the little girls decided to form a baseball team, and Walter Matthau is gonna be the coach.
-->'''Tuke:''' What? You're lying; that's [[TheBadNewsBears a whole other movie]]!
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: All three of the brothers (not counting [[spoiler:Koda, even if Kenai becomes his foster brother in the end]]), particularly Sitka and Kenai himself.
* [=~Everything's Worse With Bears~=]: Inverted, of course. Here, the bears are the good guys and even represent "love".
** That's actually what the bear totem represents in several Native American belief systems. It may have something to do with why we use the phrase MamaBear.
* FlashbackCut: Happens to Kenai while Koda tells his story at the salmon run, [[spoiler:and he learns that the bear he killed was Koda's mother.]]

* InterspeciesRomance: In the sequel, Kenai, as a bear, falls for his childhood friend, Nita, who is human. At the end of the movie, she [[spoiler:becomes a bear so they can be together.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: Not anything spoken but actions. The scene of the bear advancing on Kenai, who raises his spear in self defense at the last second with a sharp turn, is repeated later [[spoiler:with Denahi raising his spear to strike bear-Kenai.]]

** Sitka dying was basically Denahi's fault, as he insulted Kenai and made him run off and get attacked by [[spoiler: Koda's mom]].

* NoCartoonFish with a CarnivoreConfusion chaser: This movie has a musical number about how bears aren't the monsters they seem to be, which depicts them joyfully killing fish and playing with their corpses. And this was released the same year as FindingNemo! On top of that, there's a very nasty subversion of both tropes in the post-credits scene. Enjoy the FridgeLogic.

** The sequence is the ''only scene'' from a hand-drawn animated film to make ''TheOnion AV Club's'' list of (essentially) [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/our-favorite-film-scenes-of-the-00s,35888/ Crowning Moments Of Awesome]] in films from the 2000's.

* PopStarComposer: Like Disney's earlier ''{{Disney/Tarzan}}'' film, this one has songs by Phil Collins.

--> '''Koda''': "First of all, his name's Bucky, not Binky! Second, it wasn't a pine cone, it was a pine nut. And, it was HUGE, even bigger than your FAT HEAD!"

Was followed by a DirectToVideo sequel, appropriately enough called ''Brother Bear 2''.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Bears do not work that way!
** According to the DVD, Disney did do research but decided to go for fantastical portrayal of the bears for dramatic and thematic purposes.
*** They did incorporate a lot of bear cub-like movements onto Koda, and it shows.

* TheVoiceless: Sitka, after his death and becoming a spirit.

* VictoriousChildhoodFriend: Kenai and Nita, as the Great Spirits intended.

* YoungestChildWins: How come nobody realized that the main character of this movie is the ''youngest'' brother?

* FurryFandom: Ohhh, did they ever latch onto this one, especially the [[DaydreamBeliever therians]].

* AccentAdaptation: In the Finnish dub of BrotherBear, the two moose characters speaking with a Canadian accent in the original speak in a South-Western Finnish dialect, because that sounds equally funny to Finns as the "hoser speak" did in the original. Funny about this is that BrotherBear takes place in the north, so a Northern Finnish dialect would have been more appropriate, as that is rather funny too to some people.
* AesopAmnesia: A more [[TearJerker Tear Jerking]] in universe example. Upon Sitka's death, Denahi attempts to follow his guidance in reverence and tries to be more wise. However, when Kenai doesn't listen to his warnings against revenge and seemingly gets killed as well, Denahi is overcome with guilt and grief and, forgoing all attempts at wisdom, goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge instead, becoming the very thing he warned Kenai against being.

* BetterThanItSounds

* BilingualBonus: The foreign bear who starts ranting in another language is Croatian, and he's basically saying "I almost froze while I was crossing a huge icy passage. It was something I only barely survived. BARELY!" Later he comments "These (two) are going to make me sick."

* BittersweetEnding, at least from some points of view
* CanadaEh: The Moose brothers

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Quite a few.
** But the crowner is arguably "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tATrLBT9Odw Transformation"]]
** Not to mention that Phil Collins also worked on the music!
* DeusExMachina, though at least there is a set-up for it.

** According to the DVD, Disney did do research, but decided to go for fantastical portrayal of the bears for dramatic and thematic purposes.

* DisContinuity: There are many, many Disney fans who like to cite this as the last hand-drawn feature prior to ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Technically, they aren't wrong (as stated above), but if you watch [[HomeOnTheRange the film that technically comes between them in the Canon]], you understand why.

* DVDCommentary: Not by the filmmakers, but by [[ThoseTwoGuys Rutt and Tuke]], which earns some funny moments during the movie, like one of them asking for a pizza. Not only that, but the two mooses also share some nonsensical conversations, like at one point when [[spoiler:Kenai turns back into a human]] and they start talking about mooses turning into lions in TheLionKing.

-->'''Tuke:''' What? You're lying, that's [[TheBadNewsBears a whole other movie]]!

* [=~Everything's Worse With Bears~=]: Inverted, of course. Here, the bears are the good guys, and even represent "love."

* FlashbackCut: Happens to Kenai while Koda tells his story at the salmon run [[spoiler:and he learns that the bear he killed was Koda's mother.]]
* FriendOrIdolDecision: [[spoiler: Kenai can either change back into a human, or be with Koda. He decides to stick with Koda.]]

* ImplacableMan: Denahi, in revenge mode. At one point he ''jumps nearly clear over a ravine'' to get to Kenai. When he doesn't make it all the way, he tries to ''climb up a sheer cliff'' using only a dagger for support. He's a pretty decent tracker, it seems like, because he's ''always'' following them.

* MeaningfulEcho: Not anything spoken, but actions. The scene of the bear advancing on Kenai, who raises his spear in self defense at the last second with a sharp turn, is repeated later [[spoiler:with Denahi raising his spear to strike bear-Kenai.]]

** Sitka dying was basically Denahi's fault, as he insulted Kenai and made him run off and get attacked by [[spoiler: Koda's mom]]
** In the DVDCommentary Rutt and Tuke comment that if Kenai had bothered to tie up the basket with the fish properly, it's possible that most of the movie would never have happened.
* NoCartoonFish with a CarnivoreConfusion chaser: This movie has a musical number about how bears aren?t the monsters they seem to be, which depicts them joyfully killing fish and playing with their corpses. And this was released the same year as FindingNemo! On top of that there's a very nasty subversion of both tropes in the post-credits scene. Enjoy the FridgeLogic.

* [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Inuit Language Chanting]]: "Transformation." Also, [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome completely awesome.]]

* SceneryPorn: If you do not want to visit northern California after watching this, you are a strange person.
** What about ''Alaska''...?
*** Or [[CanadaEh Canada, eh?]]

* TearJerker: The "No Way Out" scene where Kenai has to tell Koda [[spoiler:that he killed his mother.]]
** [[spoiler: Koda responds with a LittleNo before he darts off in disbelief.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: Rutt and Tuke, the moose brothers. ([[HeyItsThatVoice Voiced by Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas]], who play the ultimate ThoseTwoGuys Bob & Doug Mackenzie.)
* TongueOnTheFlagpole: Koda relates a story to Kenai wherein some bear licked an iceberg and got his tongue stuck to it. It then floated away, so to save him "They had to, like, rip his tongue off, so now, he hath t'talk like dis alla time..."
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: One has to wonder if it was the Great Spirits' intentions from the start for Kenai and Nita to fall in love (or perhaps fall back in love) during their journey, as well as [[spoiler: Nita's transformation at the end of the film. They did seem prepared for it]]. Spirits apparently don't just work in mysterious ways. They work in sneaky ways too.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway -- what our hero thinks in the beginning
* YoungestChildWins: How come nobody realized that the main character of this movie is the ''younger'' brother?

* InvoluntaryShapeshifting

* [[spoiler: Koda responds with a LittleNo before he darts off in disbelief.]]

* Running Gag: It is repeated many times in the movie that Kenai has a big head.

** You know, if Kenai had bothered to tie up the basket with the fish properly, it's possible that most of the movie would never have happened.

* AesopAmnesia: A more [[TearJerker Tear Jerking]] in universe example. Upon Sitka's death, Denahi attempts to follow his guidance in reverence and tries to be more wise. However, when Kenai doesn't listen to his warnings against revenge and seemingly gets killed, Denahi is overcome with guilt and grief and, forgoing all attempts at wisdom, goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge instead.

* AntiVillain: Denahi goes a [[Understatement little]] nuts after losing both his brothers.

* AesopAmnesia: An in universe example. Upon Sitka's death, Denahi attempts to follow his guidance in reverence and tries to be more wise. However, when Kenai doesn't listen to his warnings against revenge and seemingly gets killed, Denahi is overcome with guilt and grief and, forgoing all attempts at wisdom, goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge instead.

* AntiVillain: Denahi goes... a little nuts after losing both his brothers.

* {{Expy}}
** Please elaborate.

* PopStarComposer: Like Disney's earlier ''{{Film/Tarzan}}'' film, this one has songs by Phil Collins.