Brother Bear

Two and a half stars. Almost okay, but too flawed to make the grade.

Relatively poor Disney animation about a man who is magically turned into a bear to teach him a lesson about brotherhood and love. In places it's funny, sad, and touching, but mostly it's just very heavy-handed. It's about LOVE, right? LOVE can be just as powerful and important as wisdom and courage. Be one with nature, young man/bear, and all will be well with the world. I know I'm not the film's intended audience (Alex is, and he enjoyed it to the point where he was been pretending to be a little bear all last week), but surely even children can see that this film treads on the wrong side of the line between innocent and naïve.