re:mote voices

brother bear - i just caught the trailer for the latest disney film, brother bear. can i say cliched? actually, i think i'll go one further, formulaic! the plot looks like a rehash of recent works, with bears instead of whatever other convenient puppet went before. the plot revolves around an indian boy transformed into a bear, who makes a wonderful discovery about what it means to be a bear, and how that contrasts from the way man treats the bear. or some such.

there was a recent film where there was an emperor transformed into a lama, i'd make an obvious comparison to that. then of course there is the fact the character meets a bear cub and has to guide him back to his family - did anyone see ice age? it was moralistic shit as well. of course the disney formula includes all the feel good/important moral stuff, but wouldn't be complete without the songs. so everyone will be glad to know that brother bear has 5 tracks by phil collins - because that is how to sell a film! of course there is also an opening for a couple of really funny characters that will keep the audience in stitches, and that role is filled by a couple of moose/deer, who appear to be like every other disney funny character for the last 20 years. from the trailer it is also clear that they have managed to work in one of those stampede shots that they made such a big deal about with the lion king, and have managed to work into every film since.

oh sure, disney is for kids. but surely we can demand something more? especially when disney are supposed to be the best animation company in the world? well obviously the fact that i saw this trailer in front of a studio ghibli film, we can dismiss that theory straight off. personally i would like to see disney move on, get out of its rut, innovate a little! but hey, don't get me started on freaky friday!