First off, the movie is a visual treat. From the characters—the design of Merida, Fergus, and Dingwall is stupendous—to the backgrounds, to facets as arcane as CG hair simulation, Brave is this year's most beautiful animated feature.
But does the story reach the emotional heights of Up or Toy Story 3? As with Cars 2, the answer is no. But it comes close. The ancient Scottish setting and, towards the end, Merida's relationship with her mother, does a lot to make that happen.
The film is much less dark than expected. I thought the marketing was hiding the tale's scarier parts; it wasn't. The action, though, is loud and intense, earning the movie its PG rating. (You'll have to watch to find out what the "rude humor" the MPAA refers to is all about.)Although, as a fairy tale, Brave isn't as original as, say, a cultured sewer rat cooking at a fine Parisian restaurant, it never fails to entertain its target audience, which is everybody. Go see it this weekend.
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23 comments:
Such a high bar set for themselves, Cars 2 and Brave only help to show just how high it is and it is absurdly high. Cars 2 was still a good film as I expect Brave will be but to ask Pixar to reach such awesome heights of emotion like Up or invention like Ratatouille is just… well, it's getting less and less likely everytime.
I reckon they might be able to but it's not going to happen for a while and the irritating part is that the only reason is for thinking that is because expectations for their work is just that high.
Very, very glad to hear you liked it, Mike! Some of the reviews had me mildly worried, but the prevailing consensus seems to be that it's not their best, but still pretty damn good. And that's good enough for me!
I wonder why critics are giving this film mixed reviews. They say the plot is predictable and straightforward but that's exactly the same thing you can say for finding nemo and yet that film was 12/10 for me. Brave might have been more acclaimed had this came out before the vastly underrated Cars 2. Brave is to mothers as Finding Nemo is to fathers.
I TRULY hope that i'm not just being a Pixar Fanatic and saying "oh it's only there high standards that's making everyone reluctant with the ratings". But so far I haven't disagreed with your reviews.
I'm also happy to read that you liked it, although, it's true: everyone has higher expectations from a studio that made so many marvelous masterpieces. Still, critics should be more objective: they should not judge a movie by what they wanted/expected it to be but by what it really is. So, in the end, I really hope 'Brave' gets a higher percentage than 'Mad 3' at Rotten Tomatoes.
Mike,I've always trusted your reviews for Pixar, Disney and even now Dreamworks, but there's something I need to ask. Is this movie better than Cars or Cars 2? I know its a hot button issue but I rally want to see this with a group of friends who were slightly disappointed with last years film, and I just want to know if it's at least better.
Thanks in advance
I've never ranked Pixar movies (except to say that Toy Story 2 is the best computer-animated movie ever) but I can say that Brave will appeal more to older viewers than Cars 2 did.
Mike: I was just watching Toy Story 2 last night!
I have to say that I completely agree with you. It's complete and utter brilliance. Although, I just say the trilogy as a whole is the best computer-animated movie ever. ; )
Strange, but this is the first Pixar movie I´m *really* looking forward to - maybe it´s just my strange taste... (you should know that I like Cars better than Finding Nemo...)
Hey, I just watched it today, it was certainly better than the Cars movie, and I liked it a lot. But it was not as good as the other Pixar movies, but it had it's moments. And La Luna was awesome too.
Hehe. Sorry, Mike. I missed this particular post. I liked your review. It has prepared me to not expect that much emotion from Brave, though you say it comes close. Looking forward to watch it!
Someone has to talk reason here. Brave was terrible. At one point I leaned over to my friend and commented that it was worse than Cars 2. Upon reflection, I recanted that statement, but it's not really much better. and being better than Cars 2 is not much of an accomplishment anyway.
What was wrong with it?
Well, there is no middle act for one thing. There is a set-up followed by a nonsense chase around the castle, a fishing scene, and a terrible resolution. And the thing is that middle acts are where you tell the story. As a writer, I like to actually tell a story in my stories. Brave had no story whatsoever. Kind of like Cars 2 when you think about it.
The main character is a selfish little brat (I would replace "brat" with a different, stronger b-word but this is a family site) who I couldn't have cared less for. She is not strong at all. She is simply self-centered. She is also set up as this great archer but when it comes down to it, that has absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Yes, it is a device for her to "shoot for her own hand" but it's just that, a device. When push comes to shove, her archery skills have nothing to do with the story.
Why did the triplets get turned into bears? For comedy relief? There wasn't any. They didn't do anything as bears that they couldn't have done as kids. Oh, well I guess Disney can sell a few more toys this way.
King Fergus was stupid. I don't mean as a character. I just mean that he was stupid. He was unbelievable as a character. No king is going to act like he did when civil war is threatening. He was one of the most aggravating characters I've seen in a movie in a long time.
There is no antagonist. The evil bear thing is not an antagonist. It's another device that they brought in because they realized there was no action in the movie. If the mother was going to be changed into a bear, it should have been because of a spell provided by one of the three other lords or something. Antagonists help to tell a story because they give the hero something to do. There was nothing for the hero to do in this movie because even when the spell was cast, it wasn't as though anything she accomplished help to break it.
How did Merida get down from that rock she climbed at the beginning? I wish the movie would have ended there with her trapped like the idiot she was for going up there.
How did the triplets get turned back into boys? Mending the stupid tapestry should not have had anything to do with resolving their bear issue.
I give Brave a big fat F. It's Pixar's second-worst movie and I hope I never see anything from it ever again.
That is the longest comment in the history of this site, including the four years it was The Pixar Blog.
I want to read stories that Garrett the Mad has written. They must be awesome!
My biggest problem with Brave was how closely it's plot ran to Brother Bear. I don't just say this because both have people turning into bears (though that is a point of contention for me since Scotland doesn't even have any bears.) I mean that in both Brother Bear and Brave some young person's selfish actions result in a transformation that force the main character to either change their narrow views of the world, or face the permanent effects of the spell. But it gets worse...
The "learning how to be a bear" scenes feel very similar, though that scene is shorter in Brave than in Brother Bear.
The King vs the bear version of the Queen feels very Denahi vs Kenai, with Merida (ie: Koda) stepping in to stop the fight.
Merida has no revelation about wild animals being respected, because there isn't a single (true) wild animal in the whole movie. The magical transformation in Brave isn't done to "mean well" as it is in Brother Bear, it's just a silly accident by a goofy old witch.
I understand that the plot is supposed to be about Merida learning to respect her Mother's point of view while her Mother learns to respect hers. However as soon as The Queen turned into a bear (something suspiciously left out of the advertising campaign,) all I could think of the whole movie was "Brother Bear 3: Mother Bear."
Here's the shortest comment in response to the longest comment:
Wrong.
Well, as a writer you should understand that all stories do NOT need an ultimate hand-rubbing evildoer. The evil bear (Mor'du?) existed to show parallels with Elinor's story as what she could become. It was not simply for an action sequence. It really upped the regret within Merida, and made the audience want her to change her mother back ASAP.
Before you rant about your writing skills, analyze properly. Also, there is no problem with the triplets acting as pure comedy relief. A whole lot of characters in Toy Story are the same.
You people who simply defend everything Pixar does are so pathetic.
Anonymous, no one said anything about an evildoer. Do you even know what an antagonist is? It doesn't mean a "bad guy". It is just a character whose interests oppose those of the protagonist, thus creating STORY. This movie lacked any antagonist. The mother could have been one. The rival lords could have been. The witch could have been. Instead, they went option D, none.
Goodness, you people are sad in your devotion.
Mike, if you have seen brother bear (a movie I loved when I was little) is it very similar to brave? I mean I'm gonna see it anyway but now i'm kinda worried...
My biggest problem with 'Brave' was that it seemed very UN-Pixar, and was instead very much a traditional Disney fairy-tale, therefore lacking Pixar's unique brand of inventiveness!
As a movie and franchise, 'Brave' seemed like it was following the trajectory of 'Rapunzel'.
I agree with the comments about the similarities to 'Brother Bear', one of my favourite, and one of the most beautiful looking, Disney movies.
And I agree with the comments that it wasn't as bad as 'Cars 2', the only Pixar movie missing from my blu-ray/ DVD collection because I refuse to buy it!
Brave, is barely passable by normal film standards, let alone Pixar's.
I could go into detail about all the issues, but they've been covered pretty thoroughly. Ultimately, Brave fails to give a meaningful experience to the audience in any capacity.
I know the film had its share of production issues, but it should have never been released like this. If they can cancel Newt, they should have canceled this.
@explodingboy it's easier just to pretend that fim never happened lol!
It's very weird, and I assure you I am weirded out by it too, but I enjoyed Cars 2, but I did not enjoy Brave. I went into both will no knowledge of the films and no expectations.
Brave never knows what it wants to be. It never says anything with conviction. It's a jumbled mess in narrative, pacing, and characters.
While not a horrible film, it just doesn't even click at the most important levels. There are moments where it's charming and delightful, mostly thanks to the Triplets, incredible animation, and stunning visuals, but that's not enough to make a good and memorable film.
I feel sorry for both Brenda Chapman who had her baby taken away, and Mark Andrews who had to put his name on this. I'm also surprised this film wasn't delayed at the very least. This film is more of a blemish to the Pixar name than Cars 2 to me. No one wanted that film. People were excited about Brave since it was an original premise.
People expectations of Pixar are through the roof, and there's nothing they can do but meet them. While not every film has to be ground breaking or unique, with the Pixar label on it, it had at least better be made extremely well with a solid story, and I just can't say Brave is.
If there is any justice, this film will not win an Oscar. It's just not worthy. So far the best animated film in both critical reviews and IMO is Arrietty.
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