Brave Review

"The ancients spoke of it. It is the heart of this fierce land. it is carried in the wind. Born of our legends and when we are put to the test, it is the one thing that we must always be."
-Billy Connelly "Brave"

Released in 2012 under the direction of Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman and distributed by Disney on a budget of $185 million, "Brave" (formerly titled "The Bear and the Bow") is an animated fantasy film created by the beloved animation company Pixar, the company responsible for "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," "Ratatouille," "Wall-E,"and the deepest Pixar could have possibly gone, "Up." Last year, Pixar released "Cars 2," a sequel to the cash cow known as "Cars," while it was a financial success for Disney, it left critics cold with it's lack of depth, overabundant slapstick humor and alienated adults from it's juvenile tone (well, it did for me). There was promise and hope that Pixar's newest film would bring back the same emotional challenge that "Up" and "Toy Story 3" brought that left adults just as emotionally invested as adults. So does"Brave" do so or is it marking a decline in their efforts to be for adults just to appeal to kids?

Plot:
A long time ago in the magical Kingdom in Scotland called DunBroch where Christianity is never mentioned (after "Snow White and The Huntsman,"I was practically expecting religion!), a curly red headed princess named Merida (v. Kelly Macdonald), daughter of King Fergus (v. Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (v. Emma Thompson), is set to betroth one of the sons of the Lords of the Scottish factions, Macintosh (v. Craig Ferguson though I'm certain he's a PC user), MacGuffin (v. Kevin McKidd and no, he does not serve as the film's macguffin) and Dingwall (v. Robbie Coltrane who may be more of a Dingbat). Because Merida opposes the forced marriage, she creates a conflict with the factions and runs away from home, discovering a woodcarving witch (v. Julie Walters) who makes a deal with her for a spell to change her fate and her mother's opinion on the ordeal. The result, however, does not work to as Merida expected as he mother turns into a b…a bear?…Really? A bear? That's what all the trailers have been building up to? A Pixar version of "Brother Bear?"

So yeah, sorry to spoil it all for you, but this was apparently what all this was building up to. I don't even get it, why a bear? Going back to the film's original title "The Bear and The Bow," at least that told you what to expect, with something like "Brave," I'm expecting something where the main character has a fear of something and must find bravery inside her to overcome her fear. Here? She climbs a f*cking mountain just to drink from a waterfall Does that suggest any need to overcome fear and hence find a need to be "brave?" Not at all.
I find the humor in "Brave" to be a little too low-brow for Pixar. I know they have pushed buttons before but good Lord, this film has scottish ass! SCOTTISH ASS DAMMIT! Good God, I would expect that out of Dreamworks, but Pixar? Oh and to rub in the low brow humor, the movie has a small baby bear jumping into a woman's cleavage. If I could bitch slap somebody, it would be the Pixar company. At times, the comedy defiantly feels like jokes Pixar would make, others, such as cleavage diving….no, just no….
Pacing, so I've heard, is a problem with this film. I disagree. Sure, there are it's quiet moments, but I find these moments set up mood, character interaction and let the audience take the time to admit the work done on the landscapes. But the story overall? Let me tell ya, I saw this film with a 10 year-old and and a 13 year-old and BOTH of them leaned over to me practically predicting what would happen next. If kids younger than me and lacking the film training I've taken can predict the ending, you're really falling short. If there is anything that pulls the film down, it's the comedy aspect, which seems to outweigh the more subtle moments of the movie, which is probably why critics pan it's pacing, hence why I found myself bored near the end since the film was constantly throwing comedy when they could have used those moments to be more dramatic and emotional.

Characters:

Kelly McDonald: For someone who's in their 20's, I was really convinced she was a teenaged girl. For someone who's being marketed as "Pixar's first strong female lead" I find her to be more whiney than being strong. So she can fire a bow and arrow? We already saw Jennifer Lawrence do that early in the year and everyone praised her for being a "strong female lead character." My point is, this is nothing new. We've already seen this character for the last 20-30 years and the fact that people are STILL being impressed with seeing strong female characters, it says a lot about the continuous thriving sexism in the film industry. People, we got over racism in film since the 60's with blaxplotation and Sidney Poitier, now, seeing strong black characters or token supporting characters is as common as rain in Seattle or wind in Chicago or Spike Lee making a film that has people pissed off about ethnic stereotypes. wait….My point is, this is NOT the first strong female lead character. Belle beat Merida to the punch 21 years ago, Chihiro, a girl even younger than Merida, got to the punch 11 years ago. If the only thing we can remember about her is that she's a "strong female lead character" and nothing else about her, that doesn't speak about her characteristically, just by label. With that out of the way, allow me to say what I thought of her.
She's pretty much the spoiled whiney brat that wants "something more than this provincial life." and she shoots arrows, gives a bad attitude, she argues with her mom that ends up turning her into……a bear…..f*ck man….to me, she's more interesting when she and her mom actually start to get along, using little dialogue between the two since one cannot communicate verbally with the other. This mother/daughter relationship, was the only thing I could buy into because it felt real, her being this "badass" is not. She just felt whiney than realistic.

Emma Thompson: Again, the parts where she's a human are believable to me. The scene where she talks to her husband what she wants to say to her daughter, I buy that. The part where she throws Merida's bow onto the fire only to shortly and quickly take it out upon the realization what she's done and regret it? Perfect, she didn't even need to say "I'm sorry Merida" under her breath, that scene said it all. The part where she becomes….a bear…is where I scratch my head. I guess it makes sense seeing how the woodcarver would carve bear stuff, nevermind, I'm looking too much into that.
Either way, the parts of her reconnecting with her daughter, I buy that, when she acts overly mother; I believe it. It's all the parts with the….bear….that it feels too whimsical…

Billy Connolly: He doesn't carry the story so much as he's just here to serve as comic relief. He's funny, he has his day in the sun moments but he's mostly just there to be a running gag and to hammer home the "communication is key" moral. I'll always remember him as Il Duca (if you get this reference, you win +30 Awesome Points).

Everyone else mostly just serves as comic relief or, in the case of Mor'du, serving as a plot bridge and a last-minute antagonist who has little depth outside of just a metaphorical reflection on broken ties. family ties. The other Scottish Lords are just there to hammer in the "fix the broken ties" theme I mentioned and to continue to provide over-abused comedy. The three little brothers are pretty much the twinkie henchmen from"Despicable Me," small, cute, mischievous and act silly but do so little to propel the plot outside of just doing visual gags. Some characters work, others are just there and don't do anything outside of comedy.

Production:
Being that this is a Pixar film, there's really no point in trying to discuss the visuals since Pixar always brings their A-Game to breathing life to the visuals. I won't deny that the visuals on the landscapes are breathtaking and the lighting effects they make from the candles and torches are well-done, the fur and hair effects are really good, especially from Merida's fiery curled red head and the fur from the….bear….riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight……

Music-wise, well, this is where I'm a bit more critical. Being that this is scotland, of course there will be bagpipes but the songs that are sung at certain points in the film feel out of place and rather thrown in just to tell the audience what to feel, like "Oooooooh Merida is stronger then she looks ooh aaaaaaahhhh" or "ooooohaaaaaaahhhh Merida and Elinor are working on their relationship by going fishing, whooooo." These songs felt like rejected Enya or Loreena McKennitt songs that were so lazy that Pixar just picked them out of the garbage and added them just to bring "authenticity." Other music tracks aren't too bad and they give the feel of the scottish highlands, but it's the songs that really take me out of the movie.

Bottom Line: Really, the only positive thing that this film never ruined was it's visual presentation. But when a company has shown again and again that it make outstanding visuals, what else is there to focus my criticism on but on the story and characters. The story is predictable, the characters have so much potential but the comedy just keeps pushing away any potential for going really ballsy and stays safe. The comedy is amusing but there's only so much I can take before I get tired of it when the story is trying to have depth. This is the same problem I had with "Toy Story 3," it has this really mature and deep idea about growing up and haven to give up the items that defined your childhood and yet it was hard for me to be emotionally invested when they are satirizing prison escape movies. If you want to make a comedy that spoofs other movies, fine, just have a point to it and don't try to throw in this deeper story when the comedy is distracting you. Imagine it like this; you go to a party and there are all these really loud and obnoxious women trying to get your attention and yet you see this one girl in the room that catches your interest and you desperately try to go to her but the obnoxious women keep distracting and trying to pull you away. They keep this up until the girl has to go home and the most interaction you got with her was just her being able to see you but she doesn't know your name or what you do for a living…..not that I know this from experience….but you get my point right?

This really isn't Pixar's worst film, but I can't help but feel disappointed by it. I was hoping for more depth that it really had all the potential to give, but it just never hit that right mark for me.
As for the kids I saw this film with? Surprisingly, to me, it was the youngest one who didn't like it because she told me "I could sorta tell it was gonna be a happy ending." but she said she liked the comedy. The 13 year-old I brought? He agreed with her and said it was equally as funny and even pointed out that this film was a Pixar version of "Brother Bear" (hence why I brought it up earlier; thank you very much for mentioning that Nick). This is a fair movie for kids, it'll entertain them for 2 hours, but that's really all I can recommend the film for, just something for kids.

Final Rating: 3/5

Until next time, I'll keep the fires stoked for when we burn through celluloid.