[url]http://pancakesailship.tumblr.com/post/25638094266/brave-possible-spoilers[/url]
Some spoilers.
I went to the midnight showing. For a brief review, I quite enjoyed and I was enchanted with the art of it all, but it just didn’t ring with that usual Pixar charm. I know, I hate using the argument that Pixar MUST ALWAYS LIVE UP TO OUR RIDICULOUS EXPECTATIONS.
It’s purely sentimental. I grew up with Pixar; we all did. And personally, they’ve always been so amazing to me. And I know it’s not just me getting older and expecting something more realistic because movies like Wall-E, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, etc., never cease to amaze me and give me chills every time I watch them, no matter how many times I re-watch them. Pixar’s been losing touch. Somehow. To see them fail two times in a row to reach into that part of my heart where their past films safely call home merely kills me a little inside.
I saw the midnight showing last night. It’s enjoyable, but I wouldn’t rank it as one of Pixar’s best. The pacing is a bit off. It takes a while for the plot to actually get going, and it ends sort of abruptly. I was actually surprised by how short it was (and it’s about as long as Finding Nemo–the pacing just feels so weird for a lot of it). You can kinda tell this one had production problems. Tone wise, it still feels just like a Pixar movie and there’s a lot of funny/whimsical/heartwarming stuff. I especially liked the way they handled the witch character, and I kinda wish there was more of her. It’s certainly a fairytale movie, but as to be expected from Pixar, it’s really weird. The trailers did a good job of hiding what the main plot actually is, but by now most of you know the twist. And it’s a nice step out of Pixar’s usual comfort zone. I’ve heard some people calling it “too Dreamworks-like” but I don’t think that’s true at all. There’s some similarities to How To Train Your Dragon (medieval northern Europe and a complicated parent/child relationship) but it’s way more of a fairytale thing than that, and I’d say the movie feels like a Pixar movie throughout, with the main noticeable difference being that a lot of the comedy is physical rather than dialog based. But that’s not surprising, given what the plot ends up being. There’s also a lot of intense action, and I liked all of that stuff.
It’s pretty good. I think most Pixar fans will like it. But I don’t think it’s among the ranks of The Incredibles, Toy Story 3, Up, and Finding Nemo. It’s better than, say, A Bug’s Life or Cars for sure. And in true recent Pixar fashion, it’s pretty out there, even for a fairytale/princess movie. I’m curious about how well it does. I kept thinking that it’ll be box office smash just because it’s a Pixar movie, but it seems like every time I talk about Brave, not many people know what it is…
But here’s the real question on everybody’s mind: Did anybody catch the Pizza Planet truck?
I’m gonna make a counter argument here. While Brave will probably be remembered as one of the “weaker” Pixar movies, remember it was pretty much made by the Pixar B-team. Lasseter, Stanton, Docter, etc. didn’t have much to do with it, and I think we can still expect great things from the new Peter Docter and Lee Unkrich movies that are in the pipeline. Don’t give up on them just yet. And hey, admit it, Brave was loads better than Cars 2.
I went to the midnight premiere this morning. While the plot could have stronger, there is a lot to enjoy in this movie. I loved it.
I very highly enjoyed the film! 
The first act had me nervous, because it didn’t feel very much like a Pixar movie to me. The first act really was all about getting comfortable with the characters and observing the relationships one has with another; but what made me nervous, was how many Scottish stereotype jokes and ‘bonk your head’ jokes they had to throw into the movie. All the slapstick humor is… Nothing we’ve never seen in a Pixar movie, honestly, it’s just supercharged to the point where it can be a bit overwhelming to some. The first act also felt a bit like something more along the lines of a Disney Animation film.
Alas, the first act ended, and that’s when everyone made a pleasant turn of events. It’s whimsical, but not quite in terms of concept of Up or Ratatouille, and I’m sure that’s why some critics complain (The comparison game), but still it got to the point where I was like “Okay, this is the Pixar I know and love!” It had some very tense and heartfelt moments that you would expect a Pixar film to have. I got to love all the characters, including the dad beyond the dumb broad type he projected himself as earlier in the film - later on you see what he stands for.
Anyways, Brave I would say is another hit for Pixar. Maybe for some of you, it’s going to be compared to Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up for not being as risking, but I think it’s no fair to dock what is otherwise a wonderfully great Pixar movie with a worthwhile story to behold.
Just came back from seeing, and wow the theater was pack with alot of kids. Alot of girls, but many of them had brothers.
Anyway I love it! Its does have a different feel to it, most of the slapstick stuff was with the men and the brothers, which was funny but at times it does go overboard with it. Though the strongest laughs I heard came from the brief nudity scenes. Which I admit were kinda funny, considering I was really worried about those. Since Pixar has never done that before. Also there is plenty of action in the movie, which boys will love. Although some young girls behind me got really scared with the demon bear Mor’du.
Now to the plot, which was alright. It could have been stronger, but even so, it doesn’t deserve the beating its getting with the critics. And another problem is that I felt that it was to fast in some ways. Brave needed to be longer, the pacing was a bit rushed. Because the film is slow in the first act, but after the transformation the pacing seems to just double. And after the final fight scene the film is over before you know it. And on a random note, I just loved Merida’s hair! Seriously its so beautifully animated! And her horse as well.
But overall, this would have been a great film for Disney Animation, instead of Pixar. I believe it would have been better received. But still its a good film, I don’t see this as a failure for Pixar in anyway.
Aside from some of the jokes, I really, really, liked it.
The ANIMATION- Where do I begin??? So gorgeous.
The Story- Loved it. The relationships with the characters felt so realistic.
The Music- I love the songs!
The Humor-Some stuff was funny, but there’s several jokes I really didn’t like.
And La Luna as so great! The animation was so pretty and I love the concept of it.
Overall, I thought the movie was quite good, if flawed. I went in not knowing what to expect; expectations here were high (but they were like that before Cars 2 as well, so…yeah) but the reviews were more “meh.” In the end, though, I was pleasantly surprised! I was really annoyed that people were criticizing it for being “Disney-ish”. First of all, is every fantasy/fairy tale movie Disney now? Does Disney have a monopoly on princesses? Thanks for letting me know. 
Also, just because Disney owns Pixar doesn’t mean you can blame everything on them. Pixar releasing something less than stellar in Cars 2? Blame Disney! Pixar has a movie with gasp PRINCESSES? (Oh Lord have mercy 
) Blame Disney!
The Good
-Merida and Elinor’s relationship was surprisingly complex. Neither was completely in the right or wrong, which pleased me greatly. It would have been easy to have us sympathize solely with Merida, but they wen’t a more intelligent route. Funny thing was, I had a fight with my mom on the way home from the theater and Brave actually helped me understand a little more.
-The animation (duh). But really, you could really feel the atmosphere and magic of the setting!
-The humor, even the adult humor, was consistent without getting distracting, and with the exception of a few silly gags was tasteful.
-The twist with [spoil]the prince being Mon’du[/spoil] actually surprised me!
-The mythology and Scottish culture was invasive and just plain gorgeous (I’ve always loved Celtic culture…its the Scots-Irish in me, I guess.)
- DAT SOUNDTRACK.
The bad
-There were parts that were a little underdeveloped. The story of the princes, the witch and some of the mythology (like the will-o-the-wisps, but more on that later) called for a little more attention than was given. The mother spent a surprisingly little time as a bear and I think their re-developing relationship could have been given more time. - There were some plot elements that were just so… convenient. The will-o-the-wisps, as I said, were underdeveloped as a mythical creature (one of my favorites, in fact, though the versions I read about are more dangerous than helpful) and just seemed to pop up to get characters from point A to point B. Her brothers, too, seemed to come and go to the plot’s convenience.
-I couldn’t help but have Brother Bear popping up in my mind as I watched this. There were some moments ([spoil]Like her father finding Elinor’s tattered clothes as assuming her transformed form to be the killer[/spoil]) that almost seemed lifted right from it.
Those are my two cents. Overall, I really liked it, but I still think it could have been just a tad better.
I finally had a chance to watch it yesterday, I personally was very pleased with the film. The merchandise did give away much of the plot but there’s so much charm to the characters and the surrounding landscape that I was still captivated throughout the entire film. I would give this film a B+. I found certain messages contradictory: One of the main messages is following your own destiny and being brave to do so, Merida later apologizes and blames herself for her mother’s misfortune. The other message is following tradition for the sake of the kingdom. Merida is not forced to marry at her present age but still must marry one of the suitors eventually.
I said it before, this movie reminds me a lot of Brother Bear and now after watching it Mulan too. It’s not very unique as other Pixar films but there are some touching moments that young and old would enjoy.
I’m going to have a review up within the next couple of days!
Awesome enjoy the movie! 
I saw it earlier.
Very much enjoyed the movie! Brave is both a wee patch of new ground for Pixar and a return to form after Cars 2. Pixar has already proven itself with awesome moments of sharp insight and humanistic depth in its films, so it’s good to see them linger on some more subtle, organic nuances of the human experience that are not necessarily spelled out in big letters. The whole betrothal element was well resolved…all for princess power, say, “Aye!” On the technical front, the design and lighting are lush and gorgeous throughout, easily justifying the price of admission. It’s a great-looking film. Only complaint: a little too much body-grossness with various male characters, but…in the grand scheme, it ranks smack dab in the middle of the Pixar films for overall appeal. Hooray!
Saw it on Friday at a packed 11pm show, with some kids too, perhaps a majority of young ladies. Mid-evening shows were sold out! This continued on Saturday as it seems to be moving to a $65M+ weekend, a bit better than Wall-E. It’s TM score at this hour has settled down to 74%, on par with Cars. If this was Pixar’s ‘B’ team being given its chance, there is your reason.
The short. La Luna. It was beautiful (edited from the first time I saw it, where I found it “good”), not One Man Band or Presto quality, but very satisfying and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I feel that it’s the best short since Presto and nearly matches its quality. People clapped and talked about it on the way out of the theater.
Crowd report. Expectations were high, despite reviews in the two major area papers and USA Today that the story wasn’t quite up to snuff with Pixar standards, 3 stars out of 4, etc… These papers were all saying ‘go see it anyways’. The previews, as mentioned here, were not overwhelming, and yes, somewhat cheesy. But as has always been the case with Pixar, they take care not to really spoil the movie experience by revealing everything, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Still, Up’s was breathtaking and Cars2 preview was bland, this was in between. So the 11pm show was nearly sold out too. People were getting and laughing at more jokes than I was, and this was happening frequently. Men were laughing too. They walked out at 1 am with the attitude that they were going to tell their friends positive things and I didn’t see any yawning. Some people stayed to the end to watch thru the credits, but only a few. There was a dedication to Steve Jobs. No one yelled or clapped in appreciation when the main Direction/Production scrolled, as does often happen because these were not names they had ever heard of, and Exec Prod credits to Lassiter et al didn’t quite cut it. There were some Pixar fans there, but the town I saw it in was in a somewhat bland area of the Silicon Valley, and not in the area where I live, which is chock full of Dreamworks North employees. There usually are real solid Pixar fans that clap en masse, and they weren’t at this location.
Crowd Report Part II. On the 2nd Saturday the theater was half full. There was a lot of group laughing at the same gags. Fifty people stayed to the very end of credits since I was viewing in my local theater, I would imagine that 100 had been there the week before, since it’s Apple territory.
Review. The trade papers and local rags got it right, about the story not being Pixar’s usual, so a ‘B to B+’. And yes, animation quality, obviously rated an ‘A’. And yes, characterization quality ‘A’. And yes, the environment and the research that went into the canvass, an ‘A’. The music meshes very nicely with the drama. What Draik said earlier, the [spoil]shadow[/spoil] gags were perhaps the funniest and most clever of devices. There were a lot of violent smack scenes (ala Warner Bros.) to satisfy the males and this was ok, but not like Pixar, altho they are famous for their chase scenes and there are chase scenes galore, much of the violence was gratuitous. As someone mentioned, there could have been more haunting moments, with the castles and the [spoil]witch, who was evil ‘neutral’, meaning she wasn’t ‘bad’[/spoil], and I liked her character and the [spoil]answering machine[/spoil] cauldron. This is a personal story, like in Up, don’t expect the world, Scotland or the kingdom to be saved. Other reviewers here dumped on the movie’s pace, and that wasn’t a problem for me. There was a point halfway thru where I said to myself “They haven’t dropped the ball yet with the story, even part of the way”. But the ending wasn’t as satisfying as I would like. There aren’t two full, enmeshed stories here as in Nemo, but there is a back story (a fairy tale within a fairy tale) that enmeshes itself into the conclusion. Btw, when that [spoil]stone fell on the bad bear[/spoil] it was annoyingly anticipated, in several parts and for like several minutes. It fell sorta flat, literally and figuratively. The queen said that she had been [spoil]changed by the ordeal, and the princess said she was too and now loved her mother and cried, but she doesn’t really backpedal and let us know what about her mother she is now ready to accept. Edit: on 2nd viewing, Merida and her mother agreed to listen to each other. “You can change your Fate by listening to your heart” seems to have been the message.[/spoil]
HowToTrainYourDragon vs. Brave. We know that the DW movie is a good bit better, but let me tell you where Pixar exceeded their competition: music, animation quality, characterization and character animation. Kids didn’t grow into idiotic adults with annoying accents in Pixar’s movie. But DW showed that all kids talked like American kids and were smart. When you grew older you got stupid. That’s an 80’s sitcom idea and it’s annoying and very unoriginal. Also in HTTYD, the gargantuan dragon at the end was just too big, while Pixar settled for a non-magical creature, a bear, lacking stratospheric dimensions.
Men in Brave. The older men were kinda dumb, like the ones in HTTYD, but the younger men, when given the chance to actually speak, [spoil]sided with Merida[/spoil], which was a nice touch. I mean it was a movie directed for women to offset criticism about previous Pixar films and they made sure that all men weren’t made out to be dunderheads.
The toilet jokes. Well, one comes straight from Braveheart(and after you see Brave you might bet they would have liked this other title if it weren’t already taken). Some of the nakedness followed the story and was inevitable. There fortunately weren’t any fart or poop jokes, be glad of that! Potty jokes are cheap, easy to make, other funny jokes take time, especially to sew into the story. TS3 had two potty jokes and they were gratefully subliminal.
I was disappointed that the writers didn’t take the opportunity to show that the feminine skills the princess’s mother taught her [spoil]could be useful in resolving the main conflict[/spoil], instead of being an entirely unwanted waste of time. There wasn’t any emphasis on [spoil]sewing[/spoil], for instance. I don’t even remember the princess doing that amongst all her swashbuckling bravado! They should have shown it instead of hiding it like some boring female task you don’t want to see. I’ma guy and I can and do sew, and even bought a sewing machine, and you better not try to mess with me. And maybe I’m dense but I just didn’t get the final resolution of the conflict! You know, the [spoil]Fate[/spoil] stuff, I hope to watch it again. Edit: after second time around I seem to have gotten it, but it just didn’t stick out much and failed to impress me much. This is a well tread Western style philosophy of life, perhaps it will appear novel in the Orient.
Rating. 2.75-3 out of 4 stars. Since it seems impossible to avoid comparing to other Pixar films, I would rate this movie a tad less then A Bug’s Life, but since I seem to like this (Bug’s) movie more than most people at this forum do, most of you will like Brave better. Bug’s usually rates at the lower end of Pixar movies, somewhere near Cars.
You might want to stay till the very end of the credits. The movie isn’t quite really over till then…
I’m going to give this an A+. It feels like a different film from Pixar but it’s one that succeeds. It tows the fine line of being an entertaining crowd-pleasing romp to a thoughtful, hearfelt experience. I should have a full in-depth review on my blog soon. 
A+ I would like to read your review.
Overall I really enjoyed the movie. I thought the story was great, the music was great. Everything was great. I wrote a full review on my site:
[url]http://completelyoverrated.com/2012/06/24/review-brave/[/url]
I’m also going to record a podcast discussing the movie later tonight if anybody is interested in hearing that.
We just recorded a PG-13ish (I accidentally said a curse word that starts with “A” and is synonymous with your rear end) podcast talking about Brave!
It’s very odd, but ever since I first heard about ‘Brave,’ I’d been rather indifferent to it. I was getting a vibe from alot of people saying that this was Pixar’s return to form (well, to many, them getting away from doing stuff that had talking cars), but I just kept tempering my enthusiasm. This was mainly out of my hope that by keeping my enthusiasm at a low level, I left the film wide open to energize and elevate me with its story and visuals.
So, being a major Pixar fan among my family and friends, I know alot of them have been waiting for my opinion. Well, the best I can say is, I liked ‘Brave,’ but I didn’t love it.
Visually, I really enjoyed the film.It’s probably one of the first times since “A Bug’s Life” that we’ve really been in such a naturalistic environment (though not at a miniscule level).
And like many, I was very impressed by the work done on Merida’s hair. I couldn’t help but think back to the problems that plagued Pixar in almost a decade ago with Sully’s fur, and then Violet’s long black hair…and here we are doing wild red curles under cloaks and such.
I guess storywise, the balance just wasn’t there (I think this was one of the same issues I had with ‘Cars 2’). There were some decent dramatic moments within ‘Brave,’ but it felt like they relied a little too much on comedy at times. Plus, the panicky servant-woman of the family became little more than a one-trick pony much of the time.
I don’t mean for the story to be really really dark, but there just never came a moment where I really got hit emotionally. Then again, it could be my world-view. I really got involved in the story of ‘Ratatouille,’ mainly out of my feelings of isolation regarding animation/entertainment/Disney that makes me a social outsider to much of my family. Maybe with ‘Brave,’ this could be a film that will work best with young people and their elders, who often are unable to find a common ground to stand on.
I did like King Fergus, whose ways reminded me a little of my Dad - most often, it is the Dad’s who make things a bit more fun as the Mom is a little more serious around the kids (this was one thing I could relate to in my family).
Plus, call me crazy, but did Lord Macintosh have features that resembled Steve Jobs? The arched eyebrows, piercing eyes, and nose seemed very similar.