This perpetuates a series of whoopsy-daisy misunderstandings that only serve to reinforce the notion that the earth gods are vengeful. Kenai’s granny is connected enough to the rave in the sky to know that the boy has been turned into a bear but seemingly forgets to tell the boy’s brother, Denahi (Jason Raize), about the transformation. More dangerous are the implications of everyone’s vested interest in that spirit world and vice versa. Forget that the Eden-like afterlife of the film is a soulless light show in the sky. In order to make this story as accessible as possible for its young audience, this terrible, dorky Disney toon reduces the spirit world of the film’s so-called Native Americans.

Later, Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) is magically transformed into a furrier, cuter incarnation of the same scary bear that killed his brother, and for the rest of Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker’s animated feature Brother Bear he has to learn to get “in touch with his totem.” When his granny gives him a “love” totem, his older brothers dutifully bust his balls. In a time when wooly mammoths still existed, a Native American teenager (no, he’s not Cro Magnon) anxiously awaits the initiation ceremony that will usher him into manhood.

Brother bear and aladdin