- Pixar's foray into the dynasty of
Disney Princesses
By this time (some 17 years since their
first full feature film) the viewing public is generally attuned to
the fact that Pixar has gotten their successful movie formula down to
a perfect science. At least that's what you would say till 2011.
Since then they have made Cars 2. I only recently watched Cars
itself and was pretty shocked at how for a majority of the movie I
just couldn't care about anyone and only grew fond of the characters
just in time for the credits. If the first one was bad, how much
worse must the second be? But fear not! Pixar shouted, we're back to
our regular programming with Brave, a movie about a strong female
princess who doesn't need any Prince Charming to protect her. With
the dud of Cars out of the way Pixar was in shape for the great
resurrection to form.
At least that is certainly what they
wanted. But while Brave was visually stunning (as a majority of their
films are), we expect that and take it for granted from Pixar.
mostly because at the end of the day it isn't the amazement of the
effects that stay with us, it's the strong story and message that a
Pixar movie sends to us that just won't go away. Toy Story 3 and Up
is proof of that, that's for sure. Brave, however, as I suggested, is
visually stunning; the rich colours, Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald)'s fiery
red hair alone is beautiful and lifelike but is there more to this
simply colourful movie?
Brave does have some aspects going for
it, it does have a strong core character set in Merida, a loving but
dumb father (played by Billy Connolly) a stubborn “mother knows
best” arch-type mother (played by Emma Thompson) and three mischievous
brothers who never speak but end up playing a rather important role
nonetheless. As I said earlier visually it is a lush masterpiece
that shows off the beautiful power and wonderment of the forest and
all that live near it with an old Scotland backdrop. I can't really
see how someone could be underwhelmed by the look of the movie: it's
Pixar's definite strong suit and they stay the course with this
movie. The voice acting isn't something to forget either,
performances from Connolly and Craig Ferguson are exceptional. They
aren't really the main attraction in the movie, but to me, they added
more to the dialogue than any other voice.
 |
| You only matter if you have red hair and a bow. |
But all is not
well in Disneyland. There isn't anything new in this story of Brave
as it's certainly more geared toward children who may be viewing one
of their first Disney movies. Adults will not be as entertained by
the story as plot points are foreshadowed and will be obvious long
before they are enacted. The pace is rather jumpy and inconsistent,
moving from urgent to a wonderful jaunt. A
cautionary story told to Merida early in the movie turns into a
sub-story midway through and almost becomes the finale, it seemed
more shoehorned in than an important set piece. Also, a clue given to the heroine takes much too long for her to
figure out, even though it's given to her in plain English, and the
hissy-fit she threw afterwards didn't quite fit the character either.
There were a few of these inconsistencies that took away from the
flow of the movie. I liked how she was a princess that could stand
on her own two feet, don't get me wrong. A lady that can take care of
business is twice as good in my books, she just has moments of
weakness which make her too frail to truly stand with the best.
Another bothersome character trait was all the adult males in the
movie were not just worse than Merida, but downright idiotic. Merida
and her mother are out of place there. No other strong females exist
in the movie and all the males are poor at war, common sense and
basic knowledge. It makes sense that the mother is really the only
other character who has any kind of interest (alongside daughter
Merida), but due to the circumstances in the movie her lines become
rather lacking and leave Merida to herself for the story and plot
advancement.
I love a good story and there is one
deep down, but it falters too often to be truly iconic. I found that
this movie had the potential to be such a smash that I forgot about
all other Pixar movies, and Merida to be the heroine we all wanted
but somehow it ended up falling flat. Similar to many other kids'
movies I feel this is a good movie for children but it lacks that
extra “oompf” that Pixar is usually known to put in for adults.
I gave this movie a 7/10
PS: You should all know how to
cross-stitch, as it might just save the day.
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