Bear with me (I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.)
Much as I might like to see 2-D animation get a boost, I’m not optimistic that Brother Bear is the film to do it. Granting that I haven’t seen it and don’t plan to, so I may be wrong about this. But it sure looks like one of those films that even if you haven’t seen it, you’ve seen it. But like I say, maybe I’m wrong and this weekend box office grosses will prove me wrong. I’ll keep a light on in the window for traditional animation anyway–I rented the new Looney Toons DVD set this week and so far it’s gorgeous, although there are one or two annoying errors in the supplemental material (my favorite: in the commentary track for a ‘toon which features caricatures of Al Jolson, Jack Benny and other celebs of the day, Bing Crosby is identified as Bill Cosby. That’s an easy mistake to make…). Anyway, USA Today has an article on the uphill clmb faced by 2-D at the moment.