Brave

[AniNate]

The movie, not the main character. Though she did have some of the metaphorical kind, too.

EDIT: And I don't think Brave is anywhere near the worst offender when it comes to truncated relationship development in fairy tales. One of the big flaws in Beauty and the Beast, imo, is that there's almost no middle ground between Belle fearing the Beast and Belle falling in love with the Beast. He saves her life, and all of a sudden they're falling in love with each other.

Maybe a longer runtime would've served it better, but personally I'm satisfied with what came out.

Edited June 23, 2012 by tribefan695

[Gopher]

I was kidding, tribefan. :)Definitely could have used an extra 10-15 minutes. That was my first thought coming out of the theater last week. The movie gets very jumpy about an hour in.

[AniNate]

Wasn't sure. Normally people use a wink instead of a rolleyes when they're kidding.All in all, whatever flaws this movie has, I don't think they're any harder to forgive than those of Pixar's other greats.

Edited June 23, 2012 by tribefan695

[Gopher]

Nah, the flaws here strike deeper than those in the Rat-WALL-E-Up-TS3 quartet for me. I know you don't like Rat but whatever. I'm done badmouthing a movie that by the end of the day I still like.

[AniNate]

This really will be Pixar's love/hate film, it seems. It's either going to be fit right into Pixar's list of classics or be another sign of their demise. At least the box office seems to be supporting the former right now.

[whoot]

I'll have a better gauge on this after we buy Brave on Bluray, but I think that this will hold up in repeat viewings much better than WALL-E and Up do. I'm just really floored at how low critics have been scoring this. It's like I'm watching the results of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight all over again.

Edited June 23, 2012 by whoot

[AniNate]

...who?

[whoot]

Ugh, not gonna relive it again, sorry. I shall just refer you to google. <_<All you need to know is that it was judged wrongly, almost criminal how bad it was done.

Edited June 23, 2012 by whoot

[fishstick]

All right, I can respect that. But I still think the movie has balls.

No it doesn't, the lead character is a girl.

:wub: :wub:

[Noctis]

Gorgeous film. I'm going to watch it one or two more times to see where it ranks among the Pixar films, but I genuinely enjoyed it. Visuals were absolutely stunning. Merida's relationship with her mother was very well told, and I was surprisingly moved when she started sobbing to her mother when the sun started rising. The triplets and the maid were hilarious.

My biggest qualm (one of the very few) is the ridiculous overuse of the bagpipes. I was appalled at how aggravating it was. Even Eleanor-bear knocking heavy objects during the castle every five seconds hurt my ears.

The critics were definitely too harsh on this. It's beautiful, charming, and heartfelt.

A-

[riczhang]

C-

I know I don't like animation in general, and Brave is no exception. I felt that the movie while gorgeously animated and scored, had an unoriginal plot-line that I felt I had seen many time before. I also feel that the movie fell flat at least for me emotionally, and I watched the entire movie feeling very detached from what was going on on the screen. But with that being said, the audience definitely disagreed with me on all of this. However this is definitely a huge step in the right direction after Cars 2(I just pretend Cars 2 never existed ), but still light-years away from Pixar's one true amazing movie Wall*E. But, now that the trajectory is once again going in the right direction, there's still hope for another Wall*E in the future again.

[riczhang]

DP Edited June 23, 2012 by riczhang

[Webslinger]

This really will be Pixar's love/hate film, it seems. It's either going to be fit right into Pixar's list of classics or be another sign of their demise.

I think it will fall somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Granted, I haven't seen the movie yet, but there doesn't seem to be a particularly wide group of viewers out there who hate it. And while I don't think many viewers will hold it up in the same light as WALL-E or the Toy Story movies, I highly doubt it's going to be the punching bag that Cars 2 has become. If Monsters University doesn't deliver, I think the unnecessary sequels will be seen as Pixar's "demise" and Brave will just be lost in the shuffle, not unlike, say, A Bug's Life already is.

[lilmac]

I enjoyed Brave. There were some intense scenes so if you have younger kids, be aware. It's definitely Pixaresque in quality. Another strong offering by Pixar. They still got it!

[Dr Awesome]

I liked it! Pixar never disappoints! A-

[lab276]

Just... so good. The critics have got this all wrong, this is getting the reception Up deserved and vice versa.A

[Hiccup]

Brave (3D)

9pm showing in 3D

Theater was 40% full or 120/300. The most shocking thing was that the male to female ratio was 100 to 1. Literally there we almost no girls in my showing. Most guys were between 18-25 years old. I thought at first was I in an Abraham Lincoln 3D showing.

Trailers:

The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure - Sarcastic comments

Hotel Transylvania - Silence

The Hobbit - Dead silence from the epic trailer music and feel. Talk after.

Wreck-It Ralph - Laughs and lots of talk after

Finding Nemo 3D - Silence

Monsters University - Lots of laughs and talk (Best received trailer)

Short: Silence from audience. Remember that it was 9pm at night and the trailer in the music was fantastic and relaxing. It almost put me to sleep. Not the best short from Pixar but damn that music was f***'ing amazing!

Film: Pixar has graced us with another classic. I really liked it. The story is strong and the animation is breath taking. The score is solid although the bagpipes got sort of annoying. Brave was a perfect mix of comedy and drama. The three little boys stole the show and lots of laughs at their pranks. The crowd ate the movie right up and loved it. I definitely can see strong legs for this. The 3D was decent but not a must see. Critics were so wrong about this. Brave was better than Ratatouille, Cars, Cars 2, and Bug's Life. It was on par with Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Incredibles. Still Up, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Wall*E, and Toy Story 3 were better.

A+

[mattmav45]

Pretty good animated film.

It only narrowly manages to keep everything together after the Mom's transformation. Let me tell ya, the first 10-15 minutes after that were pretty rocky. I was worried that a comedy angle was going to be used for the Mom's predicament, but thankfully once they escape the castle the typical Pixar depth and emotion started to shine through.

Still, while Brave has the Pixar depth and emotion (a welcome return to form after Cars 2), you still can't shake the feeling that something is amiss. Perhaps that while this is an original Pixar film, one can't really shake the feeling that it's been done numerous times before. That being said, it's still a fun film that manages to display more depth than most live action offerings of late. But it's Pixar....outside of Cars 2, what do you really expect?

B+/B

[MovieMan89]

OK, I'll get this out of the way first: this movie is much better than I was expecting based off the critic reviews and overall it is indeed worthy of the Pixar name which was of course my bigger concern. That being said, aside from the Cars movies and A Bug's Life it has more problems than the typical Pixar film, which for me are usually pretty much perfection. 95% of the problems were in the first half I thought, as the second half was pure Pixar magic. I felt like the first half was too generic in its take on the whole "Merida is a free spirit who doesn't want to fulfill her Princess duties", etc. I could sense every quarrel with the mom and every little thing that was coming next. It was all so predictable and rather uninspired I felt. Of course I think some of this had to do with the fact that Pixar basically showed us the whole first half of the movie in previews, as they showed very little of the 2nd half. Also I didn't think Merida or any of the other characters felt that endearing or interesting in the first half. They all seemed fairly archetypal and I didn't really care about them.

The turning point is definitely when Merida seeks out the spell from the Witch. From here on out I loved the movie. Even though I had the "twist" figured out (that the spell turns some of her family into bears) thanks to the previews giving away too much, once the Queen becomes the bear everything in the movies just starts clicking. The Mom is infinitely more likable as a character in bear form, and it was genuinely hilarious to see her act like a snooty high strung queen as a big clumsy bear. I loved the chemistry between Merida and her mom as a bear, as it seemed to really bring out the endearing and charming traits of Merida's personality too. Pretty much all of the wood scenes were brilliant and in some ways they reminded me of the silent portions of Wall-E with Wall-E and Eve, where they really get to know each other and bond. The humor in the second half was great too with the castle sequence where the triplets help Merida and the mom escape, and the guys using their pants to get off the tower had me cracking up! I loved the story about the ancient kingdom and how it tied into the will o the wisps and the King bear at the end, that was a great, subtle, and very Pixar-esque touch. And of course the scenes where Merida gives her speech in the castle hall and the end scene were gorgeously done and legitimately heartfelt.

So I give the second half of the movie a strong A, bordering on A+. I loved it, absolutely classic Pixar. However, I can't ignore the much weaker first half, which I give a weak B- as I felt it was nothing special and I was honestly starting to lose faith in the movie. Oh and also I have to add the animation was simply stunning. Of course you expect the best from Pixar in this department, but some of the environments were just breathtaking. And Merida's hair! Holy crap!! This was also the first Pixar movie I really enjoyed the 3D in, as the 3D in their previous efforts has disappointed me. It was very dimensional and well used, and I would actually recommend it.

So overall Brave gets a B+ from me. I'm very upset the first half brought down what could have easily stood in the pantheon of Pixar's best for me to being one of their overall weaker efforts. But I have to take the movie as a whole, not a half. Here is my current Pixar ranking:

Toy Story 3

Wall-E

Incredibles

Up

Nemo

Ratatouille

Toy Story 2

Toy Story

Monsters Inc

Brave

A Bug's Life

Cars

Cars 2

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I loved this female. I love Merida she is one my favorite characters in Pixar universe. She is so loveable and I felt for her character the whole film. I found this emotional, I was crying several times and it could have been a little bit longer. I loved the animation and the film. This is by far the best film of the year.9/10