Pixar's Brave - Good movie or bad?

[Battenberg]

I liked it, certainly more enjoyable than a lot of other rubbish that comes out although if you're ranking it based on other Pixar films I can see why it wouldn't climb too high. My favourite Pixar film is probably Finding Nemo (or possibly Wall-E) and I wouldn't say Brave ever really reaches the same heights in story or comedy. It is, however, still a great film for a younger generation and that's what Pixar films are meant to be. It is plenty of fun to watch even if it doesn't have the same artistic touch to the story present in other films and sure when you read into and critically analyse it in detail it may not hold up so well but animated films for children aren't meant to be reviewed and enjoyed by the same audience as other films and it's kind of unfair to expect every children's film to also be an adult masterpiece.

 

[Crispee]

I thought it was ok, the setting and plot was disappointing because Pixar usually subvert audience expectations but Brave was literally just a Disney Princess film with no self awareness. It was reasonable ok to watch though, not something I'd watch over and over like Toy Story, but it fills time.

I'm a big Pixar fan but the only reason I even bothered with Brave was for no other reason than because her hair looked incredible, and it is incredible in the film. Pixar's newest rendering and dynamics technology is better than ever before, and if nothing else, that should be applauded, even if the thing it's being used for could be better.

I think Brave is to Pixar what The Dark Knight Rises is to Nolan's Batman Trilogy. Not a bad film by any means, but measured against what came before it, the huge drop in quality from 'Excellent' to merely 'Alright' is something that can be difficult to look past.

 

[Robert Marrs]

Its ok to watch but I expect more from pixar honestly. It felt more like an overused empowerment movie. Pixar is at their best when they create something imaginative as opposed to rehashing the same story that has been told a million times. We need more Wall-E and Toy Story movies. Leave the brave type stuff to disney or something.

 

[Dragonbums]

I personally thought it was a great movie.

I think what killed it for the general public was the trailer advertisements, that basically said it amounted to a stereotypical "princess" movie (when it was anything but) and the fact that John Lassiter fired the original director ( a woman who based the movie off of the rocky relationship with her daughter) and put some other dude on the script.

Personally that last one pisses me off more because this is the SECOND time he has done that to my knowledge. The first one I heard was Chris Sanders when they asked him to do Bolt. He conceptualized everything, and even planned out the initial plot. Ended up getting fired for making the movie "too quirky" (I mean this is Chris Sanders here what the fuck did you expect?)

At least with Brave the new director kept very true to the old ones original point (which makes me wonder why she got booted in the first place.)

The same could not be said for Bolt. Which turned out very different than what Sanders originally planned.

 

[Dragonbums]

Apparently the Creator/Director left during production as well.

From what I've heard she was booted out.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Depressingly average film given its pedigree. Not particularly funny, not particularly dramatic, not particularly anything. It's just...there.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Animation was stunning with the little details. There could have been more points in the movie where Pixar could have shown off how good the animation was, but whatever, it was still great.

For a story so filled with cliches, it added a lot of things fresh and original. Of course there was going to be a monologue about being yourself and hilarity with sneaking the bears in a castle, but everything with the witch was surprisingly different. The witch changes Mordu into a bear, the bear form of Mordu attacks Merida's father and sparks his hatred of bears, then Merida's mother is turned into a bear by the same witch and Merida's father thinks it might be the same bear that took his leg. And I like that some of the side characters - the other clans who want Merida to be married to their sons - weren't stereotypically thick or evil people, they were quirky people in their own way and... otherwise had no input on the plot. Whatever, they were side characters for a reason.

It was good. If the story hadn't been such an enormous princess, mother-daughter, forced marriage, growing up clichefest that it was, it would've been so much better.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Personally, I thought it was fantastic. Sure, the tomboy princess rebelling against an arranged marriage has been done many times before, but personally I felt that the movie was less about that and more about the strained relationship between a mother and her daughter. And how often do you see an animated movie, Disney or otherwise, that not only lets the mother live past the first act, but makes her a constant main character? And a bear to boot? For all this talk of Brave being cliched, I felt it was wonderfully refreshing.

 

[tzimize]

I enjoyed it, it's not Pixar's best film but it's still a good movie.
It was also really refreshing to see an independent female protagonist, where not everything she does is motivated by the pursuit of a love interest.

Mostly this. I enjoy the movie, but it fails to bring me to that awe-inspired wonder that a lot of other pixar and other animations have brought me.

Of relatively other recent successes I enjoy for example Tangled, How to train your dragon (one of my ALL time favorite animations) and rise of the guardians more. Or Croods. Oh man I loved Croods.

I just felt the story or execution of Brave to be a bit...meh. Its fun, but there really is a LOT of quality animation these days. So in comparison to awesomeness it just seems a bit meh.

 

[DementedSheep]

It?s good enough, I like the music. I can sympathise with Merida and the situation with her and her mother pulls at my heartstrings. I even can get her not really comprehending how important the marriage is but she is too much of ***** and just plain stupid at the start. I'm probably way to caught up on this point but there is be careful what you wish for/ watch your wording but her wish is just so ridiculously broad. Seriously? She asks for change without specifying what change AT ALL?!
Overall I just had the feeling it could have been executed better.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I was looking forward to seeing animated Scotland done well. Instead, I got an animated version of Braveheart, complete with every single goddamn scottish stereotype imaginable. Bagpipes, mooning, kilts and woad paint, it's an insane mishmash of concepts and ideas centuries apart from each other, all thrown together to make Hollywood scotland. I rather expected better from Pixar.

If I wanted to see Scotland done right, I'd watch The Illusionist again, and it shows off Edinburgh with barely any dialogue. The whole setting breathed life by itself without any of the damn cliches.

I can spend time rambling on about a horrible representation of a fascinating country because there was barely a coherent plot to talk about in the film. Everything was so vague, so rushed, and so sloppily put together that I can't even begin to try and piece things together.

So, Billy Connolly united the clans to hold off an invasion. But from whom? I assume it was Vikings or Normans, but the film never specifies. And the clans need to stand together or they'll tear each other apart. But why? Again, this is so vague? What is so important about keeping a united Scotland poised against external threats when these enemies of the country don't factor into the movie at all? Merida's whole speech about the youth choosing for themselves and rekindling the Clans allegiences falls flat because there is no immediate danger from our undetermined enemy. It felt like it was cut from an earlier draft of the script and they needed to jam in in there somewhere.

 

[The Madman]

Thoroughly alright. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, was neither offended by it nor enthused. I do not regret the time I spent watching it, but neither do I have the urge to ever watch it again.

In summary; Meh

 

[kickyourass]

I can't really bring myself to call it bad, but it's easily one of Pixar's least good movies. There are things about it I liked, even loved, I love the idea of the defiant princess doing her defiant princess thing and it epically biting her in the ass. I also love the idea of the hero also being the cause of all the problems in the movie. Merida herself is a pretty decent character if a bit cliched, but I can see her being polished into something pretty awesome and of the stuff with her and her mother was pretty well executed.

There were just a bunch of things that just kill it, for example when the mother is turned into a bear almost ALL of the drama in the movie comes from the fact that because of Merida's mistake her mother could turn into a rabid bear and possibly be killed by her father. That's some pretty heavy stuff, but then the three little brothers also get turned into bears and that is played purely for laughs. For not one moment does anyone seem to care or feel the need to point out that a similar fate might befall three small children.

There was also a lot of points that barely felt connected with eachother, all the crap with the princes and the clans and the parts with Merida and her mom almost feel like they they were planning two different movies then decided to make them one movie.

They still do 'ok' with it all but it still should have been much better, because I think the basic ideas behind everything is pretty solid they just didn't put it together quite right.

 

[Laser Priest]

Not much for middle grounds there, eh?

I am okay with it. It was enjoyable, but it wasn't much more than that. The animation was pretty good, but nothing special for Pixar. It was definitely much less imaginative in its animation than their other works. I mean, just compare the character designs and colour schemes of Brave to something like Up (which currently holds the spot as my favourite of Pixar's films).

The story wasn't particularly bad, but it definitely wasn't good. We had a princess displeased with her princess-y life, she does something rebellious and sees that it harms others and then in the end there's some sort of compromise that allows her to be happy without totally screwing over her parents. Overall, it's pretty standard. The mother turning into a bear and losing her humanity over time was an interesting idea, but it seemed like they couldn't decide whether to play that element seriously or for comedy, so it just kind of jerked between them.

I see where a lot of the hate for the film comes from, even if I don't hate it myself. It was enjoyable enough that I see no reason to hate it. It certainly is average-at-best from a critical standpoint, but as a family film, it's certainly nothing awful.

And hey, it's not Cars. That's certainly a plus.

I haven't seen Monsters University, but Cars 2 and Brave certainly haven't done Pixar any favours.

 

[Laser Priest]

Doubleposts sure are great

 

[StriderShinryu]

I really enjoyed it. It was a good looking film that felt like a classic, maybe not in terms of quality but just in terms of the overall feel of the characters and storytelling. It never felt like it was trying too hard, which is an issue I often have with Pixar's work even when I otherwise enjoy it. Plus, I loved Merida as a character.

Is it Pixar's best movie ever? No, but it's quite possibly the only Pixar movie I've seen that I actually want to see again.

 

[Seanfall]

I liked it, if only because it was as step in the right direction as far as the 'princess' thing is concerned. Was it perfect? no not at all, but it was good for what it was. As I said a step in the right direction if a shaky one. Merdia is strong and independent. And not in a parody kind of way, the animation and voice acting is great as always story takes a few odd turns and missteps here and there. But overall...not a bad movie just an okay one.

 

[Camaranth]

A resounding Meh.

I think it had to do with the expectations for the film. I went in with an expectation about a young girl rebelling, I suppose I was expecting a scottish Mulan, which the first half of the film played to. Then there was this sudden shift and it became, daughter tries to get back at mum and makes things a lot worse and now has to fix it with 3 other plots that felt unconnected and disjointed.

I should probably watch it again with adjusted expectations and see how it does but I just haven't felt like it.