Trivia for
Brother Bear (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• The moose characters, Rutt and Tuke, played by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas respectively, are essentially animal versions of their most famous roles as the goofy Canadians, Bob and Doug McKenzie of SCTV fame.
  
  
• Disney/Pixar prepared a special trailer for Brother Bear to show before Finding Nemo (2003) during its initial theatrical release. The moose characters, Tuke and Rutt, suggest that, "If you see only one movie this year, see this one." Tuke then reminds Rutt that "for those who see only one movie this year, it's a little late now". Both the moose then encourage everyone who are "only going to see one movie this year" to leave the theater. As the scene fades to black, Rutt says, "I see some of them leaving." Tuke then replies that maybe they're going to "go find that Nemo guy".
  
  
• In the various vignettes during the end credits, Kenai is shown drawing a crude stick figure on a rock while little Koda appears to be finishing an Impressionist painting that is identical to "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", painted by Georges Seurat from 1884-1886.
  
  
• The first time that an animated film changes aspect ratio during the course of the film. Using a trick similar to that in The Horse Whisperer (1998), this film shifts from a 1.75:1 aspect ratio to the CinemaScope ratio of 2.35:1 after Kenai is transformed into a bear. The orignal theatrical release was printed on anamorphic film, which has the first twenty-four minutes of the film pillarboxed at 1.75:1 within the 2.35:1 frame).
  
  
• The final film to be fully produced at Disney's Orlando, Florida animation facility at the Walt Disney World Disney-MGM Theme Park (after Mulan (1998) and Lilo & Stitch (2002)), whose closure was announced soon after the release of this film.
  
  
• Originally, Kenai was supposed to have an older bear named Grizz guide him through the woods and become like a brother to him. He didn't work out, and was replaced by Koda.
  
  
• The lines, "I don't care that you and Binky found the world's biggest pine cone ever" and "First of all, it's not Binky, it's Bucky, and it wasn't a pine cone it was a pine nut" said by Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) and Koda (Jeremy Suarez) was an accidental improvisation because Phoenix messed up his line and Suarez corrected it.
  
  
• The painterly background styling is inspired by the landscapes of Albert Bierstadt. Then-Disney CEO 'Michael Eisner', a collector of Bierstadt's work, lent the animators some of his own paintings to study.
  
  
• In the German version Tuke and Rutt are called Benny and Björn after the two male members of the Swedish pop group ABBA. In the weeks before the theatrical release in Germany they appeared in short funny clips telling the audience to switch off cell phones during the movie.
  
  
• An idea to do an animated television series spin-off for the Rutt and Tuke characters was eventually scrapped by Disney.
  
  
• Phil Collins performed "On my way", "No way out", and "Welcome" in Italian, French, Spanish and German. In the French version of the movie, "Look through my eyes" is also sung in French by Collins. In the Japanese version of the movie, "No way out" is performed by Collins in Japanese.
  
  
• At the end of the "I love... dew" conversation between Tuke and Rutt, the plants they decide they want to eat are essentially the ingredients for beer (another reference to the McKenzie Brothers from "SCTV").
  
  
• The only one of the major animated Disney movies (which do not include "Dinosaur") to include the black and orange Disney Pictures logo in its initial release. The black and orange logo was first used in 2000 and only lasted until 2006 when an elaborate CGI logo was unveiled during the opening of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
  
  
• The caribou stampede at the beginning of the film mirrors that of the wildebeest stampede from Disney's previous animated film of 1994, "The Lion King."
  
  
• it was the third and final Disney animated feature produced primarily by the Feature Animation studio at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida; the studio was shut down in March 2004, not long after the release of this film in favor of computer animated features.
  
  
• The first feature since The Horse Whisperer (1998) to do a Widescreen shift.
  
  

• SPOILER: The cliff where Kenai kills Koda's mother then changes into a bear is shaped like a bear's head.
  
  
• SPOILER: Sitka's spirit can be seen throughout the movie after Kenai was changed into a bear. 1: After Kenai wakes up after being changed into a bear, an eagle sitting on a tree branch watches him then flies off. 2: When Kenai and Koda were about to go through the "lava path" an eagle is seen sitting on a tree branch on the left side of the screen, watching the two bears walk off. 3: an eagle meets up with Denahi on the mountains. 4: During Kenai's ceremony at the end of the film, just before the screen goes black an eagle is sitting on a tree branch watching the ceremony then flies off.
  
  

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