On November 1, 2023, Disney’s Brother Bear celebrated it’s 20th Anniversary of the movies release. Brother Bear was Disney’s 44th Animated Classic feature film and introduced several new loveable characters to the Walt Disney Company animation family including Koda, Kenai, Rutt and Tuke.
New Brother Bear Pins
To celebrate the films 20th Anniversary, Disney has released a Limited Release pin and an open edition 2 pin set. The Brother Bear Limited Release pin comes on a special card designed for the movie’s anniversary. The Kenai and Koda on the pin are moveable and Rutt and Tuke are on each side in the background. Limited Release pins are not limited to a particular number of pieces but are only available for a select period of time. This Limited Release pin is $29.99
The open edition pin set comes on a standard Disney Collection white card and includes a Kenai and a Koda pin. The 2 pin set is $19.99.
Both pins were released at the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort and can be found in most of the resort retail pin shops.
About the Film
Brother Bear takes place in North America and follows an impulsive boy named Kenai as he is magically transformed into a bear to learn some valuable life lessons by walking in another being’s shoes. The film begins with Kenai, the youngest of three brothers, attending a ceremony to receive his tribal totem necklace in the shape of his Great Spirit animal. The totem necklace is a long running tradition of the tribe to determine what a young man must achieve in order to become a man.
Kenai is outraged to learn that his Great Spirit animal totem is the bear of love. He believes that bears are thieves and his point is proven when a brown bear steals his and his brothers’ basket of salmon during the ceremony. Kenai and his brothers then hunt down the brown bear and begin to fight. Unfortunately, the battle ends on top of a glacier where Sitka, Kenai’s oldest brother, gives his life to save his two younger brothers by dislodging the glacier. When the glacier falls, Sitka also falls to his death but the brown bear survives.
After Sitka’s funeral, an enraged Kenai hunts down the brown bear who he blames for Sitka’s death. He chases the bear to a rocky cliff where he ends up killing the bear. It is then that the Great Spirits in the form of a bald eagle arrive and transform Kenai into a bear. After Kenai has been transformed, Denahi, the middle brother, arrives and believes that Kenai was killed by the bear, not know that the bear is actually Kenai. Denahi then vows to avenge Kenai and begins to hunt down the bear that is actually his brother.
In order to be human again, Kenai must travel to a mountain where the lights touch the Earth. Along the way, Kenai meets a lovable bear cub named Koda who knows the mountain where the lights touch the Earth. Koda wants to go to the annual salmon run which is near the mountain so the two begin their journey together and begin to form a brother-like relationship.
Vowing to avenge Kenai, the two bears are hunted down during their journey by Denahi but manage to escape him.
Eventually, Kenai and Koda reach the annual salmon run where they meet other bears including the leader of the group named Tug. As the bears share stories, Koda tells a story about his mother recently fighting human hunters on a glacier which reminds Kenai of his and his brothers’ fight with the bear that led to Sitka’s death. It is then that Kenai realizes that the bear he killed was actually Koda’s mother.
Horrified of what he had done, Kenai runs away in a fit of guilt, but Koda follows after him. When confronted by Koda, Kenai confesses the truth to him. Koda then runs away, grief-stricken that Kenai was responsible for his mother’s death.
Kenai leaves to go to the nearby mountain where the lights touch the Earth so he can become human again. Once he reaches the mountain, he is confronted by Denahi and the two begin to fight. Their battle is interrupted by Koda, but Kenai sacrifices himself to save Koda out of the love that he has formed with the young bear cub. Kenai’s sacrifice prompts Sitka to appear and turn him back into a human. Denahi is surprised to see that the bear he had been hunting was actually his brother Kenai.
Koda is heartbroken that he has lost his newly found brother and it is then that Kenai realizes just how much the young bear cub needs him. So he asks Sitka to transform him back into a bear. Sitka complies and Kenai is transformed back into a bear. Koda is briefly reunited with the spirit of his mother before she and Sitka return to the spirit world. In the end, Kenai lives as a bear and gains his title as a man, through being a bear.
Watch the Movie
Have you seen Disney’s Brother Bear? The feature film is available to watch on Disney+ and available for purchase on Blu-ray and DVD on Amazon.
And will you be purchasing these Brother Bear pins? If so, which do you like more – the limited release pin or the open edition pin set?
Let me know if you have seen Brother Bear and and if you will be purchasing these new pins? I would love to hear from you so please send me a message.
