Last weekend the 2012 addition to the Pixar film family, Brave, opened in theaters across the US. I have been very excited about Brave. In the previews and promos I have seen over the last several months, I was glad to see that Pixar was stretching itself, Brave doesn’t look like a Pixar film and I thought that might be a good thing but I was mistaken.
When I see a Pixar film I expect quirky, yet deep characters, a story line that sucks me in and isn’t ridiculously predictable, and beautiful scenery that makes me feel I am in the movie, not just watching it. Unfortunately for me, Brave didn’t deliver on all of those accounts.
I have been in love with Merida, the main character since I met her last summer in my sneak peek. Merida is the most dimensional character in the film but she is never fully developed and I found myself not really feeling anything for her as the film moved on. King Fergus, Merida’s loving and bumbling father shows some moments of being a caring and understanding father who wants to make his daughter happy and see her dreams come true.More often than not though, he is just a fun-loving, competitive male who may be King but he doesn’t rule the roost. Queen Elinor, Merida’s strong and purposeful mother is also rather one dimensional and seems to care more about her place in life and in the kingdom than she does about helping her daughter follow her passion. The triplets are just in the movie for comic relief. For as much pressure that is put on Merida to grow up and be the princess she is supposed to be, the princes are left to wreak havoc with little care of their misbehavior by either parent.
The scenery in Brave is beautiful and I feel the Pixar team did a great job bringing us into the Scottish highlands and into the DunBroch castle. Merida is especially well animated and her curly red hair appears life-like, especially as it moves in the wind as she rides her horse, Angus.
The story started strong in Act 1 but by Act 2 the plot didn’t thicken, it fell off and became very predictable and more like a Disney fairy tale and less like a Pixar film. I’m sure that this is because none of the well known Pixar writers were involved in the script for Brave. This is where I feel Brave missed the mark. IF Brave were a Disney animated fairy tale, with a better score and a singing princess, it probably would have worked…but it isn’t. It is a PG rated Pixar film which the kids will enjoy but, unlike all of the other Pixar movies the parents won’t care to see it again.
As I was leaving the theatre I asked several people their opinion of the movie and here is a general breakdown of their responses.
Children: I loved it, I love Merida
Teens: It was a beautiful movie but the story was boring, I liked Merida’s hair, I want to go to Scotland now
Adults: Boring, Too Brother Bear-ish, No story line, This is the first Pixar film I won’t be buying on DVD.
To sum it all up, Brave is a good movie, it just isn’t great. It doesn’t live up to the Pixar name and thus it let me down. If this movie had been released by a different company it may have been acceptable, but it wasn’t.
Have you seen Brave? What are your thoughts? Please let me know what you thought of the movie in the comments.
I thought that it was a good movie. Not great just good. Story was way to predictable and i thought that they could have done way more.