Brave

[ericadawn16]

Here's my latest Disney article:
http://www.yourhighwayinthesky.com/2012/10/pre-order-brave-today/

So about Brave...

I had a lot of hopes for this at first. Everyone seemed so excited about having a female director for the first time in Pixar history and it's Scotland and you have a fun voice cast and then it's supposed to be different...

But then, Brenda Chapman dropped out and I started being wishywashy about maybe Pixar just wanted to make a big budget film inspired by Secret of the Kells but without what made it so awesome...

Now that I've seen it, I prefer Secret of the Kells although they are different. Yep, the animation is exquisite and her hair alone is amazing. Even not seeing it in 3D, I can agree on that.

However, I feel like the story is disjointed. It's fine not to have a love interest, although a bit anachronistic, but was there going to be more about gender relations? Eleanor did come off a bit like a bitch but she's a queen and reminded me a lot of the bosses I've had. Male bosses tend to be more relaxed. They know as long as they do a good job, they'll be fine. Female bosses all have the understanding that they have to DO BETTER than a male boss as though a man will come and steal their job away from them at any second. I had an African-American female boss at one job and I always had the sense from her that she had to double or triple as good as anyone else to prove that she had her own merits and her job wasn't just because she was a woman or a person of color. In Eleanor's case, a man could come and literally steal her kingdom through war so it's a very real fear.

I felt like maybe there was more gender exploration before Chapman quit and maybe that was part of the creative differences they had. Did anyone else feel like Merida was almost always crying? I mean I know she was a teenager and all, but I almost felt like she and Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker should have a whining/crying competition together. I always get annoyed when characters do what they want without thinking about the consequences to others, like Ariel making the deal with Ursula just so she could meet a boy.

Although I like when Pixar explores issues like abandonment and growing older, I also like my humor. Brave was lacking with it...I know, they have Craig Ferguson in the cast, how is that even possible? Maybe part of my problem is that there were a lot of parts where I cringed and almost didn't want to watch what came next, like the father going after the bear. I also felt like there was a bit of bait and switch with her brothers who were used to bring in the young boys but weren't in it that much. Any time that the writers had written themselves into a corner, here were the triplets as a Deus ex machina to make it all okay again or propel the plot.

I would love for a flashback in some Hawkeye story/comic/animated series/tv/film where Hawkeye is in the circus and shooting arrows off a horse. Yes, I did watch with Tumblr in mind and what if Merida was actually the secret love child of Clint and Natasha but then...it didn't work as well as Clint being undercover in The Bourne Legacy.

I did like the twist with the bear. I know there was a lot of flak over this being like Brother Bear again and it was a little annoying but then, it is a classic fairy tale/myth occurrence to turn into an animal.

Hehe, Julie Walters is a witch again...and there's also Hagrid, Professor Trelawney and Helena Ravenclaw.

The music was awesome. I'm so glad the wood carving issue was addressed after the credits because I kept waiting for the delivery to happen during the movie. You know, for a non-Japanese film, I'm not sure I've ever seen this much nudity in an animated film...

Comments

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

I was looking forward to this movie, but not so much now after your review. I guess it was too much to ask for to have an awesome movie with a girl as the hero *sigh*

[lil-1337.livejournal.com]

I need to see this movie one of these days.

Clint shooting arrows off the back of a moving horse would be amazing!

[shadowkeeper.livejournal.com]

Secret of the Kells! That movie has some of the the most gorgeous animation designs. It's like the entire movie looked like stained glass.

But on Brave, I actually kind of really liked that movie. Maybe because I've never enjoyed a Pixar movie until Brave (i know it's weird but they do nothing for me and I even remember being bored by Toy Story as a child and I had no standards back then), and that one felt kind of more like a Disney movie than anything, so I latched onto it.
Maybe I enjoyed it because I had absolutely no expectations whatsoever and only went to see it because it advertised a female protagonist. But yeah, Kells was pretty fantastic.

[i-llbedammned.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't notice Merida crying all that much. She seemed more angry or determined most of the time. When she was crying it seemed very appropriate for her to be crying.

To me I can accept characters of a young age, like Merida, doing what they want with no thought as to consequences because of their age whereas people like Anakin have no excuse.

I liked the mother being the bear. It was a new twist.

The soundtrack worked very well.