Trivia / Brother Bear

• Approval of God: Co-director Aaron Blaise loved Cas van de Pol's parody "The Ultimate Brother Bear Recap".
• Cast the Expert: Disney went to Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley for advice on the Inuit language. They liked the way he spoke Inuktitut so much, they created a narrator role for him.
• Celebrity Voice Actor:
  • In the European Spanish dub, Rutt and Tuke are played respectively by star comedians José Mota and Josema Yuste, who give many a moment of funny.
  • In the Brazilian dub, Kenai is voiced by Selton Mello (who three years earlier provided the voice of Kuzco in The Emperor's New Groove's Brazilian dub), while Rutt and Tuke are voiced by comedians Luís Fernando Guimarães and Marco Nanini.
  • The Japanese dub features actor and former Shonentai vocalist Noriyuki Higashiyama as Kenai.
• Creator Killer: Brother Bear ended up being a critical disappointment for Walt Disney Feature Animation's Florida studio at Disney-MGM Studios (today Disney's Hollywood Studios). The Floridian studio was shut down a few months after the movie's release as Disney began to turn to computer-animated films.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Co-writer Tab Murphy is proud of the finished film, claming that he loved working on the story and the people behind the movie, and not caring what the critics said for giving a negative reception.
• Cut Song: "The Fishing Song" by Phil Collins, which would have appeared instead of "Welcome".
• DVD Commentary: Not by the filmmakers but by Rutt and Tuke as Animated Actors, 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 Kenai turns back into a human and they start talking about moose turning into lions in The Lion King.
• Fake Nationality: Although, the nationality isn't specified, the human characters are Indigenous but are voiced by mostly white actors.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas were given free rein to improvise, which is appropriate since the characters they were playing were riffs on Bob & Doug McKenzie, whose sketches were also heavily improvised.
• Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's had different Happy Meal tie-ins depending on the region;
  • The US got action figures, including toys of the three brothers (Kenai, Denahi, and Sitka) that could transform from spirit animal to human.
  • In Non-US markets, plushies were sold instead of figures.
  • In Australia, the aforementioned transforming toys from the USA set were included alongside the European plushies of Koda and the Moose brothers.
• Reality Subtext:
  • Kenai loses his brother, kickstarting the plot. His voice actor, Joaquin Phoenix, also lost his brother at an early age.
  • While the film was in production, there was a heightened amount of xenophobia towards Middle Easterns caused by 9/11, which ended up having a major influence on the film's themes.
• Referenced by...: In There's More Than One Way Home, Anna remembers seeing Brother Bear with Jack.
• Refittedfor Sequel: Inverted, the idea of having the protagonist's biological older sibling becoming the main antagonist who opposes the protagonist for most of the movie and portrayed in a sympathetic manner was almost visited again during the development of Frozen (2013) until the song "Let it Go", originally intended to be a Villain Song, was written.
• Release Date Change: The film was originally slated for a spring 2004 release; it was moved to the fall of 2003 so it could be promoted on the Platinum Edition re-release of another animal-based Disney film.
• Swan Song: This sadly was the first and only film credit for Jason Raize, best known for being the original adult Simba on Broadway. He hanged himself three months after the film was released after suffering from health problems.
• Throw It In!: Kenai's error on the name of Koda's friend and what type of pine product they found was a mistake on Joaquin Phoenix's part in the recording sessions. Koda's line afterwards was thrown in to help add to the banter and brotherly relationship.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The character Koda was originally written as an older, Baloo-esque Grizzly Bear named Griz, who would have served as a big brother figure to Kenai. Michael Clarke Duncan was cast, and even recorded some lines before the writers, having realised that Kenai was already the youngest brother with his real family, felt that Kenai himself had to learn to be an older brother. They were still so impressed with Duncan's performance that they wrote the character of Tug for him to play.
  • Denahi was originally going to be Kenai's father instead of his older brother.
  • There were plans for a spin-off TV series that took place between the first and second film, but it never got off the ground.
  • Originally, the story Kenai tells Koda was going to be heard in its entirety. This scene was mostly animated though uncolored, and a shot appeared in the trailer, but the writers decided it was best to let the song tell it.
  • Justin Long auditioned for the voice of Kenai at one point.
• Voices in One Room: Technically they weren't in the same room, but Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas recorded all their lines together via audio hook-up, allowing them to freely improvise and riff off each other.

---