Trama

When a young Inuit hunter needlessly kills a bear, he is magically changed into a bear himself as punishment with a talkative cub being his only guide to changing back.

Kenai, a man who resents bears after a fight with one kills his older brother, is turned into a bear so he can see life from a different perspective. He is visited by the spirit of his older brother, and is told that, if he wishes to be changed back into a human, he must travel to the place where the lights touch the Earth, in other words, the Northern Lights. Fueled by hope, Kenai sets off on his long journey, and, along the way, encounters a younger bear, Koda, who is a chatterbox and a fun-loving spirit; Koda is trying to find his way back to his home, the Salmon Run, which, coincidentally, is right next to where the lights touch the Earth. Koda and Kenai team up, but are hunted by Kenai's other brother, Denahi, who fears that the bear has killed Kenai as well. Along the way, the two bears meet other friends, including two moose, some rams, and some mammoths, with whom they hitch a ride. However, Kenai discovers that he likes being a bear, and realizes that humans aren't only afraid of bears; through Koda's eyes, the humans are the monsters, with their long spears. With a whole new view on life, Kenai makes a decision that will change his world forever.—fallgeek

Kenai has just lost his older brother, Sitka, to a bear. He sets out to avenge his brother's death, however his idea of revenge causes Sitka to become disappointed in him. As punishment for his actions, Kenai is turned into a bear and he must learn to the adapt into the wild. Kenai soon meets a young bear cub named Koda who is very talkative, the two set off on a journey to find where the Lights Touch the Earth so that Kenai can become a human, they are soon being followed by Denahi, who is the brother of Kenai and Sitka, he believes a bear is responsible for supposedly harming one of his brothers. Kenai's friendship with Koda is put to the test when he is unable to tell him that he was responsible for his mother's demise.—dawsonpersi

A young male is transformed into a bear and meets a young male bear cub. In order to transform back into a human, he must travel a long way with the bear cub. Along the way, they meet new friends and experience new adventures that might change them.—RECB3

Long ago, as the Earth was emerging from the Ice Age, there were three brothers. After a bear takes the life of the oldest brother, impulsive youngest brother Kenai kills the bear in revenge, only to be transformed into a bear himself. Denahi, the middle brother, comes upon this bear and, thinking it killed Kenai, vows revenge. Now brother hunts brother and Kenai's only hope for survival is to befriend his own worst enemy, a grizzly cub named Koda. Koda's main goal is to show Kenai the real meaning of brotherhood.—Anonymous

In a post-ice age Alaska, the local tribes believe all creatures are created through the Great Spirits, who are said to appear in the form of an aurora or the Northern Lights. An elderly Denahi (Jason Raize) tells a story about him and his brothers to the people of his tribe. Denahi says that the story is from an era when the great mammoths still roamed the Earth. The shaman-woman of their village believed that the Northern Lights were the spirits of their ancestors, and they have the power to make changes to the living world.

In their youth, a trio of brothers, Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix), the youngest; Denahi, the middle; and Sitka (D.B. Sweeney), the eldest, return to their tribe for Kenai to receive his totem. Totem is a necklace in the shape of different animals, which is given by Tanana (Joan Copeland), the shaman of the brothers' tribe. The particular animals they represent symbolize what they must achieve to call themselves men. The totem is the big manhood ceremony and Kenai is desperate to be counted as a man of the tribe. The brothers love each other deeply, although Kenai is impatient and takes unnecessary risks, sometimes putting his brothers in danger. Kenai was hoping to get a totem like a Sabre Tooth tiger to represent his bravery and strength.

Unlike Sitka, who gained the eagle of guidance, and Denahi, who gained the wolf of wisdom, Kenai receives the bear of love. Tanana says that Kenai's actions have to be driven by love, and one day he will become a man. Kenai objects to his totem, stating that bears are thieves, and they don't feel or even love. Kenai believes his point is made a fact when a brown bear steals their basket of salmon. Sitka wants Kenai to make a new basket since it is Kenai's fault that he did not tie up the basket on the tree safely, which is why the bear got to it and stole it. Kenai says that it took him 2 weeks to make that basket and goes looking for it with a huge spear.

Kenai searches for the basket and finds it destroyed. He sees the bear, provokes it, his brothers find him, and a fight ends on top of a giant glacier. Once again, this was an example of Kenai taking an unnecessary risk without regards to the consequences. When the bear gets the upper hand, Sitka gives his life to save his brothers by dislodging that portion of the glacier where he and the bear were standing (Kenai was a little distance away trying to drag Denahi out of a crevasse), although the bear survives the fall.

After Sitka's funeral, an enraged Kenai blames the bear for Sitka's death and rejects his totem. Kenai wants Denahi to join him in hunting the bear, but Denahi says that killing the bear would be wrong. Denahi says that Sitka's death was not the bear's fault and killing it will not make Kenai a man. Kenai knows that Denahi is blaming him for Sitka's death and goes alone to hunt for the bear.

Kenai hunts down the bear, who tries to avoid Kenai. Kenai chases the bear up onto a rocky cliff, fighting and eventually slaying it. The Spirits, represented by Sitka's spirit in the form of a bald eagle, arrive and transform Kenai into a bear after the dead bear's body evaporates and joins them. Denahi arrives and falsely believes that Kenai was killed (as he finds Kenai's spear and his empty fur coat on the ground) by the bear from earlier. Kenai falls off the cliff and down some rapids but survives. Denahi vows to avenge Kenai.

Kenai awakens as he is healed by Tanana and discovers to his horror that he has become a bear. Tanana says that Sitka and the Great Spirits did this. Tanana does not speak the bear language but advises him to go to a mountain where the lights touch the Earth, to find Sitka and be turned back to a human, but only after he atones for his actions. She vanishes without an explanation.

Kenai quickly discovers that the wildlife can now speak to him, meeting a pair of moose brothers named Rutt and Tuke. Kenai asks about the mountain where the light touches the Earth, but nobody would help him as they are afraid of a bear. He gets caught in a trap but is freed by an outgoing bear cub named Koda (Jeremy Suarez). After they evade Denahi, who is still unaware that the bear he's pursuing is Kenai, Koda reveals to Kenai that his mother is missing. Kenai is not keen to help Koda get to the Salmon run, where the other bears will gather, and he hopes to find his mother there. Kenai agrees when Koda says that next to the salmon run is a mountain where the lights from the sky touch the Earth. They make a deal: Kenai will escort Koda to an annual salmon run, and then the cub will lead Kenai to the mountain nearby.

Along the way, the two eventually form a brother-like relationship and are joined by Rutt and Tuke (who had seen Denahi tracking the bears and had come to warn them) and ride on the backs of a woolly mammoth herd. Kenai does this to avoid leaving track marks for Denahi to follow. Kenai and Koda eventually continue their journey on foot when they are lost on the trail to the Salmon run. As they go through a volcanic field, Kenai and Koda are still hunted by Denahi as he is determined to avenge Kenai. Denahi tries desperately to kill the bear, but Kenai manages to carry Koda across a log bridge over a deep river gorge, which Denahi destroys in an attempt to drown them. Denahi tries to cross over by jumping on the log but ends up falling into the gorge, despite attempts from Kenai to save him. Kenai realizes that to the bears, humans are the monsters.

Eventually, Kenai and Koda reach the salmon run, where a large number of bears live as a family, including the leader Tug (Michael Clarke Duncan). Kenai accepts his new surroundings and is comfortable living with the other bears including old lady bear (Estelle Harris), Foreign Croatian Bear (Darko Cesar), Male lover bear (Greg Proops) and female lover bear (Pauley Perrette) and dozens of others. During story time among the bears, Koda tells a story about his mother recently fighting human hunters on a glacier (while she was protecting Koda from the hunter), reminding Kenai of his and his brothers' fight with the bear that led to Sitka's death, making him realize that the bear he killed was Koda's mother. Horrified of what he has done, Kenai runs away in a fit of guilt, but Koda soon follows him.

Downhearted, Kenai confesses the truth to Koda, who runs away, grief-stricken that Kenai was responsible for his mother's death. An apologetic Kenai leaves to go to the mountain.

Meanwhile, Rutt and Tuke, having had a falling out, reconcile in front of Koda, prompting him to forgive Kenai. On the mountain, Kenai is cornered by Denahi, but their battle is interrupted by Koda, who steals Denahi's spear. Kenai comes to Koda's aid, out of love, prompting Sitka to appear and turn him back into a human, much to Denahi and Koda's surprise. However, upon realizing that Koda needs him because of his own mistake, Kenai asks Sitka to transform him back into a bear with Denahi's support. Sitka complies, and Kenai is transformed back into a bear. Koda is reunited briefly with the spirit of his mother before she and Sitka return to the spirit world.

In the end, Kenai lives with the rest of the bears and gains his title as a man, through being a bear. The elderly Denahi ends the story by imparting to his tribe the lesson that love is the most powerful gift of all.