cartoonbrew.com/feature-film … brave.html
First, Newt gets canceled. Then Cars 2 switches directors. Now Brave, too, the one feature that seemingly wasn’t having any bumps. What is going on here?
I wasn’t very fond of One Man Band (my least favorite Pixar short), so I’m a little less excited for Brave now, honestly.
I’m really not sure what to make of this. I thought having their first female director was really cool, but by this point I’ll just be happy if the movie even comes into existence. Well, I trust Pixar, despite all the strange shakeups lately…
As long as the movie is good that’s all that matters.
Examples were given about good that’s come out of Pixar when director swaps have taken place and I’m not even skeptical. This kind of reminds me of Unkrich rising up for TS3. Completely different situation but my point is this is someone from in the company aaaaannd I’m not worried. Where’s even more assuring is this is a entirely new project and it’s not like we’re trusting some outsider with a franchise where we have a lot of expectations already.
However I am sad to hear she’s actually leaving. Disappointing. that is the real bad news.
Honestly, when I heard about this, I was really shocked, bitter and confused. Brenda was supposed to be Pixar’s first female director, and I’m extremely disappointed hearing that she was kicked off the director’s chair, not to mention the fact that she’s even leaving the studio. I know Pixar probably had a reason for doing what they did, but recently their decisions have been really making me skeptical. :\
I’m still going to go see the movie when it comes out of course, but as of now I’m not really interested in following this movie anymore.
Well, this doesn’t bother me in the least. I just have this relieved feeling that the film won’t have a Feminist feel I get from a lot of female-directed films. Mulan, Cinderella, and tons of movies featuring a heroine were very successfully made by men. This doesn’t scre me in the least. 
Looking at Andrews’ resume the only thing that’s scary is his lack of directing experience. He’s a storyboard artist. Brave will basically be his big break. Which is exciting but scary. I’m sure he feels the same way x] But this will either be TERRIFIC AND FRESH, or just won’t really make the mark. Either way we can trust Pixar won’t put out anything that isn’t grade A, right?
The whole female director thing is a non-point, in my opinion. I don’t care whether the director of Brave is a girl, guy, black, white, or even some sort of animal- as long as they’re qualified and able to do the job well, and as long as they deserve the spot of director, it’s okay. Brenda Chapman seems to have more experience than Andrews, and I’m sad that she’s leaving Pixar entirely, but if Andrews can do just as good a job, if not better, then that’s okay too.
There must’ve been some pretty strong reasons behind all of this, and it reminds me of when Ratatouille was originally heading down the wrong path, and then Brad Bird took over and turned it around, so it’s probably a good thing in the long run.
This doesn’t really matter to me. I’m still just as excited for Brave as I was before I heard the news.
As much as I’m looking forward to Brave, I’m not too happy with this. I think a woman should have the chance to direct a Pixar movie. I guess not this time though. Oh well.
And if it isn’t for the best we will never know. Oh well. Let’s just hope it comes out great no matter who could have done better.
And I agree, gender of the director really holds nothing for me either.
This is very true. It doesn’t really matter to me whether male or female helms the film (though, as I mentioned, female director WOULD be real cool). It’s still going to be great. I’m just super upset about Brenda leaving the studio. 
I was surprised to hear about Chapman, and even a little saddened that she won’t be finishing her creation and may have left the company entirely. Pixar do have a history of making big changes to films halfway through production though, so I’m not too worried.
Still… they can’t be too far off of the animating stage, can they? If they are making changes to the movie, then they don’t have a lot of time if they want to keep to the July 2012 release date. Then again, there might not be any problem with the movie- Brenda Chapman may have left for other reasons, so Andrews may just be finishing the job that was already being done well.
I’m still interested in this movie!
I know you guys won’t like this. But somebody posted something on Cartoon Brew, and Flloyd Norman backed him up. I thought it was interesting.
What crap.
They fucked Brenda over. Period.
They took a look at her movie and couldn’t fit it into any box they had, and so they took it away from her and gave it to someone else.
A movie that SHE concieved, She nurtured, and she worked hard to make a reality.
Then, they trumpet it to the heavens that “Pixar has a FEMALE director!!! Huzzah!”
So what happened? She made a movie that didn’t fit into the “Pixar mold”, and these guys are afraid of failure, so they make a few changes. One of those changes is that Brenda is no longer directing.
The Pixar powers that be smugly tell everybody that it’s all about the story and that it’s a director’s studio.
Sure it is.
Hypocrites in Hawaiian shirts and Razor scooters.
I remembering reading some where about a month ago (actually it was a post in the comment section about an article non Pixar related) about how Pixar was starting to become like other animation studios. That fun director driven studio atmosphere was changing. I know you can’t believe everything people post, but it does make me think.
The more good movies you make, the more pressure there is to make another good movie and to keep that winning streak up. Back when Pixar released their first few films, there was very little pressure on them as expectations weren’t high and no-one knew what to expect. Now everyone’s eagerly awaiting their next big hit, and they don’t want to let anyone down, so in their desperation to ensure that they stay ‘perfect’, they’re willing to stop people from exercising their creativity massively, like Brenda Chapman. At least, that’s what it sounds like to me.
I can understand why Pixar have done this, why they’re worried about their reputation, etc. It’s just a shame, really. Of course, those sources may not be true, but there’s no denying that Pixar has a lot of pressure on them now.
“Right on, Mr. Sanford. Finally, somebody has the stones to speak up.”
The implications of that comment are frightening. Everything I know is a lie?
Well there goes my hopes and dreams.
…which is not exactly “Brave”, if you ask me - pun fully intended.
To me this almost sounds like Brenda Chapman was aiming for the Pixar equivalent of Isao Takahata’s My Neighbors, the Yamadas, which was very unusual for a Studio Ghibli film, with its episodic structure, watercolor look and character design that matched the comic it’s based on.
When I saw it at a film festival, several people were leaving after a couple of minutes, because they were disappointed this wasn’t a Princess Mononoke II or something. It just didn’t match their expectations of what a Ghibli film was supposed to be like.
After films like WALL-E and Up, which dared to be different, and successfully so, I wonder why there is supposed to be such a sudden “play it safe” attitude.
Totoro- Love your username 
Anyway, I’m a bit worried about the stuff going on at Pixar lately. Admittedly, if they hadn’t announced their upcoming films so early we might have not even heard about most of the changes they’ve been making, but still…
Does anybody know for certain why Chapman’s not directing anymore? I’m not fond of the idea of giving director’s projects to other people, but there have been some good movies made that way (Ratatouille). Hmmm… I hope the change was made with good reason, not because they’re afraid of risk taking or something stupid. Otherwise I’ll be quite disappointed.
EDIT I just saw this article, and thought it might be of interest-
artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/ … -replaced/
The last paragraph intrigues me-
So apparently she’s still with Pixar at the moment.
…So is she working for Pixar still or not? I hope so. I hate reading conflicting statements 