Brother Bear tells the story of three Inuit brothers. The youngest, Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix), is just becoming a man. At the ceremony, he is upset to find that his totem is the Bear of Love. He wants to be a warrior and he doesn’t even like bears. When the oldest brother, Sitka (D.B. Sweeney) dies saving the younger two from a bear, Kenai decides to go kill the bear for revenge. The other brother tries to stop him, but fails. To help Kenai understand how nature is all connected, even to man, the spirit of Sitka changes him into a bear. The only human who knows what’s going on is Tanana (Joan Copeland), the tribe shaman. She tells him that he will have to learn what he did wrong and take it up with his brother’s spirit where the lights touch the Earth. Of course, Kenai has no clue how to get there or even what he did wrong. He’s also going to have to deal with his brother, Denahi (Jason Raize) hunting him for revenge as he thinks that bear Kenai has become is really the bear that killed Kenai.

Kenai finds that he can now understand all of the animals when they speak. He meets a bear cub who won’t shut up named Koda (Jeremy Suarez). Koda got lost from his home and just wants to go back. It just so happens that his home is right next to where the lights touch the Earth, so Kenai agrees to go with Koda and take him home, reluctantly. This journey, and most importantly its destination, will make Kenai realize what he did wrong and help him understand life and his totem, the Bear of Love.

In Brother Bear 2, Kenai (Patrick Dempsey) and his new bear brother Koda (Jeremy Suarez) are enjoying the spring after the long winter’s hibernation. Spring is the time of love though and now Kenai has to decide if he really is a bear or a man when it comes to matters of the heart. When he was a child, Kenai made a bond with a girl named Nita (Mandy Moore). Now that they are grown up, Nita is getting married. However, the spirits are unhappy with this union and interrupt the ceremony. Nita goes to the shaman and she tells her that the spirits say that she is already "matched up" to Kenai. To undo this bond, Nita has to travel back to where Kenai gave her an amulet. On the eve of the equinox, she has to burn the amulet at that place with Kenai. Considering Kenai is a bear and it’s only three days away, Nita has a lot of work to do!

Kenai, Nita, and Koda travel together. The journey is long and there are a lot of perils on the way. With Kenai and Nita falling in love, Koda finds himself left out in the cold, alone. After all that they have gone through, will Kenai choose to go back to being a human and stay with Nita, abandoning his brother Koda? Considering Nita is supposed to marry another, what will she choose? I think that as a child’s movie, I much prefer Brother Bear to Brother Bear 2. They’re both good, but I prefer the first one more.

There are lots of features on Brother Bear, including a wonderful making-of and plenty of songs. Brother Bear 2 only has one bonus feature, "Behind the Music of Brother Bear 2," but it is quite interesting as the music is truly amazing on both movies, especially with the Blu-ray copy which has the HD sound. Blu-ray has both Brother Bear and Brother Bear 2 on one disc, which is nice because you don’t have to change discs at all, not to mention the digital quality is simply better on Blu-ray. But if you don’t have a Blu-ray player, you can enjoy the movies just as much on DVD in the set. If you’re looking for a cute movie suitable for the whole family, check out the Brother Bear/Brother Bear 2 combo pack today!