Pixar Review: "Brave"

Brave
Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson
Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman

Pixar has arguably set the bar for animation films to date. They are also one of the world's top animation studios, alongside Studio Ghibli; the superiority of one over the other is a matter of debate. As a result, each new entry to pixar's library is especially seen with a more critical eye. I'd love to work at pixar, but I definitely don't envy the pressure I assume they feel with each new release. After their slew of early hits, including Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Monsters Inc., critics and audiences alike have fell in love with their characters, stories, and journeys.

Each Pixar film, aside from sequels, has shifted focus on different things. Ratatouille focused on cuisine, rats, and friendship; Up delved into the emotional journey of losing a spouse; WALL-E showcased the beauty of silent animation and the excesses of human wastefulness. Last year's Cars 2 was seen as a drop in Pixar's standard. I considered it to be a very enjoyable film, despite being lower on Pixar's ranking; I feel the mixing of the Cars universe with a solid spy story was very nice, but I'm also partial and more forgiving to spy stories.

Brave seemed a bit weird from the previews. Most of Pixar's previews don't make the films look appealing, aside from the excellent teaser for Toy Story 3, and the hilarious teaser for next year's Monster University, which I'll get into in a bit. The teasers for Brave made the film look a little silly, with childish humor. The animation looked nice, but the story wasn't given away too much, aside from a hint at the involvement of magic. Needless to say, I expected something good from Pixar despite this, and even though I was dubious as to whether the film would truly meet expectations, it did, and surpassed them in some ways.

Brave is a fairy tale, straight and simple. Apparently they wanted to create a story in the vein of Hans Christen Andersen and the Grimm Brothers, and I'd say they succeeded. Merida, a princess of one of the four ruling clans in Scotland, is a headstrong redhead who yearns to ride horses and shoot arrows, but is bound by the expectations of her mother, who is training her to be a princess. She's taken aback when marriage proposals from the other three clans' leaders come her way. She rebels, and finds a witch to change her mom's mind. Unfortunately, the witch turned her mom into a bear, and the rest of the story follows her attempts and correcting her mistake, and rebuilding the ties between her, her family, and her society.

The story was very good. I have yet to read reviews in detail, but the snippets I've seen so far point out the change in tone. And it's true; we go from a typical ruling clan society, to suddenly dealing with magic and transfiguration (thanks for the term, Minerva). I personally liked the shift to something a big more fantastical, as it made the film more unique. The film felt like a fairy tale, something old and classic suddenly discovered and made into a film. Despite kids turning into bears and magical brooms, the main goal of the story, I feel, was to discuss growing up, living your own life vs fulfilling the expectations of others, and facing your fate.

The supporting characters were pretty good overall. They're not at the level of Toy Story's supporting cast, but they're enjoyable, especially the triplets. They looked rather silly in the previews, but they were mischievious in just the right doses to bring solid humor to the film. Some of the clan leaders had a bit of sillier humor, almost aiming more towards kids, but it didn't detract too much from the film.

The music also felt very apt for the tone of the film. Composed by one of my new favorite film composers, Patrick Doyle (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), it fits the Scottish theme well, and as is seemingly his style, it's a more subtle score that brings out the beauty of the film without overshadowing it.

The animation was beautiful, especially the landscape scenes. My favorite is probably near the beginning, when Merida is seen near that fire waterfall. You can really see how far animation has progressed through Pixar's history. I have to go back and see The Incredibles, but I expect the facial features, hair, and other aspects of human animation are much more improved compared to that film, which looked pretty darn good itself. I loved Merida's wild, red hair.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I didn't like some aspects of the humor, and I was taken aback at first with the transfiguration, but in the end, the story shone through and it stuck out as an original film amidst a lot of the other animated offerings this summer (including an Ice Age sequel and a Madagascar sequel). And, as with most Pixar films, there were a few unexplainable emotional moments, especially at the end of the film. Ah, I so enjoy watching Pixar films.

And for a Pixar first (I think), there was an end credits scene, short and simple, but tying into an earlier part of the plot. I'm glad I waited until the end! It's also nice seeing the movie with kids in the audiences. Their comments are so funny and innocent, it really adds a nice atmosphere to the film.

This film also showcases one of Pixar's strengths. Up to now, they have been very original. Disney is close behind, as their two recent films (Bolt and Tangled) were very good, and Wreck-It Ralph looks creative and interesting. Dreamworks, however, is very hit-or-miss, and even when they hit it, they're usually based on prior works. Shrek incorporates many elements of existing fairy tale characters, and How To Train Your Dragon, a fantastic film, was based on a book. Pixar, instead of just updating an existing fairy tale (like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin) crafted an original story, set in an older location. That was a risky move, but I think it really paid off, and will help this film stand the test of time. A wholly worthy addition to Pixar's growing library of classics, in my opinion.

The short prior to the film, La Luna, was creative and pleasant to watch. It told the story of a boy and his two caretakers, who's job is to clean up the moon. We see how each man is trying to shape the boy after themselves, but in the end, he chooses his own style. It was creative, nicely animated, and showcases the beauty of wordless animation. It doesn't have the emotional impact of Partly Cloudy, though. I'm glad we got an original short this time, and not a third Toy Story short, even though it's fun to revisit that world.

The worst part about seeing a new Pixar film is having to wait another year for the next one. But next year looks to be fun! We got a preview of Monsters University, the prequel to Monsters Inc. It was a short preview, showing Sully playing a funny trick on Mike. It's akin to the short but hilarious Toy Story 3 teaser with the film title creation. And it's maddeningly annoying, because I want to see it sooner than a year from now! Cars 2 is debatable, but Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 showed that when Pixar makes a sequel, they do it when they have a good story in mind, and they've said as much, from what I recall reading. I'm hoping Monster University will explore the universe of Monsters Inc. much more than we saw the first time around, with some solid humor as well. School is in session next summer!