Pixar's Brave...

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

...was very disappointing.

I don't get it. Pixar's usually really good at giving a worthwhile movie viewing experience through uncliched story-telling (for the most part) and amazing writing, but Brave was the furthest thing away from that. I'd heard that Brave was actually the first movie to actually start development after Disney bought them back in 2006. If it's true, then it definitely shows. Actually, Tangled was better than this movie by a pretty big margin.

The story was just so cliched and everything was predictable. I even knew that the

Spoiler

Wil-o-wisps would appear yet again at the end of the movie to lead her to the final battle scene, even though they already appeared too many times without explanation.

It wasn't an epic like the trailers made me believe and had a large amount of plot-holes. The story had a boring "message" that was just a generic (warning: a lot of spoilers in there)

Spoiler

"be careful what you wish for" with the main character not liking something about her life, making a wish to change it but *GASP!* the person who granted the wish granted it in the douchiest way possible! So they go on an adventure to change it back, it doesn't look like it worked, the main character is saaad, aaaand at the last minute while she's crying THE WISH IS REVERTED WOHOOOO!! And everyone is better because of this whole adventure! Also for the climax there was a fight scene with a monster-like bear.

. It actually managed to bore my entire family. I didn't even think that was possible, since they like most movies.

Is pixar losing its touch after all this time? I could forgive Cars 2, but I'm a little worried after this one. They couldn't not know this was so generic during movie production and generally, I see pixar as the kind of movie studio that actually cares about that sort of thing and would normally change it to enhance the movie watching experience. This movie says otherwise and I can't like it just because pixar made it. Everyone's seen this sort of movie and pixar just added another one with nothing really new to the pile. I'm obviously a very long time pixar fan and have seen every single one of their movies, so to me, seeing such a deliberately cliched attempt at a movie from pixar of all studios is kind of saddening. Maybe next year when Monsters University comes out (although, truthfully, I'm starting to lose faith).

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

I mean, sure, Cars 2 and even Cars were pretty lackluster (although, Cars was sort of decent), but are you really going to lose faith in them just because Cars 2 and Brave were just mediocre? It's not like they had some huge monumental screw-up and everything before these was spectacular.

Yeah, Brave wasn't the best. It was barely decent. And it certainly wasn't the Pixar that we know and love, giving us an instant-classic, but out of a studio that's done thirteen movies, one of which everyone agrees is bad, two of which most people think are just decent, and the other ten of which have all been fantastic hits? That's a damn good track record.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

It's not just that the movie itself was mediocre, it's that they knowingly put out a very cliched movie.

You don't usually go from putting out movies that you've put a lot of thought into to releasing a movie like brave unless you've lowered your standards or have changed your idea of what should go into a movie, right?

That's why I'm a little less faithful.

 

[Vault101]

the problemw with being a studio like PIXAR is "good" somtimes isnt good enough

 

[Vault101]

It's not just that the movie itself was mediocre, it's that they knowingly put out a very cliched movie.

You don't usually go from putting out movies that you've put a lot of thought into to releasing a movie like brave unless you've lowered your standards or have changed your idea of what should go into a movie, right?

That's why I'm a little less faithful.

oh please, Brave was far from bad

and honestly you can't be "amazing" evertime...plus

cars....remember?

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

the problemw with being a studio like PIXAR is "good" somtimes isnt good enough

I do want to be clear, though, I didn't not like it just because it wasn't "pixar good" but because it really wasn't good. I'd dislike this movie, even if it came from any other studio. It was just.... generic. Nothing new at all. I can't even say watching the movie itself was a new experience, because its storyline was the same one I'd experienced in so many other movies.

 

[Keoul]

After so many movies they're gunna run out of ideas, that or they're making something big, and brave was just to keep you guys occupied for a while like an entree before a main meal. Personally I don't mind a few bad movies if it's overshadowed by the amazing ones.

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

After so many movies they're gunna run out of ideas, that or they're making something big, and brave was just to keep you guys occupied for a while like an entree before a main meal. Personally I don't mind a few bad movies if it's overshadowed by the amazing ones.

That would be consolation, but Wreck-it Ralph is actually not Pixar, but Disney's in-house animation studio. The same one that did Tangled.

Pixar's next movie is actually Monsters University.

 

[Keoul]

That would be consolation, but Wreck-it Ralph is actually not Pixar, but Disney's in-house animation studio. The same one that did Tangled.

Pixar's next movie is actually Monsters University.

oops my bad, I could have sworn disney owned pixar...

 

[Shia-Neko-Chan]

That would be consolation, but Wreck-it Ralph is actually not Pixar, but Disney's in-house animation studio. The same one that did Tangled.

Pixar's next movie is actually Monsters University.

oops my bad, I could have sworn disney owned pixar...

Oh, they do, it's just that they also have an in-house animation studio that isn't Pixar that also does (pretty good) 3d movies.

 

[Keoul]

Oh, they do, it's just that they also have an in-house animation studio that isn't Pixar that also does (pretty good) 3d movies.

oooh, thanks for clearing that up.
I still find it weird they're making a sequel to monsters inc though, that's such an old movie, I actually have it on video! VIDEO! maybe pixar really is just out of ideas these days :L

 

[shogunblade]

It's not just that the movie itself was mediocre, it's that they knowingly put out a very cliched movie.

You don't usually go from putting out movies that you've put a lot of thought into to releasing a movie like brave unless you've lowered your standards or have changed your idea of what should go into a movie, right?

That's why I'm a little less faithful.

I just watched the movie on Friday (4th O' July Weekend and all that), and it was just fine. In my humble opinion, with the exception of Cars 2 being the only movie I haven't seen from Pixar yet (And I mean the only one so far), I was pleasantly surprised.

However, you have mentioned one thing that needs to be addressed, and if you knew this bit of trivia, then perhaps you have rediculously high standards, and if you didn't know this bit of trivia, then perhaps it could make a better viewing experience for you the next time you watch it.

From IMDB on Brave's Trivia Section:

Originally 80% of the film took place in snow. When director Brenda Chapman left the project so did much of the white stuff.

It took six years to make this film. Mark Andrews was initially the consultant, providing the Scottish themes for Brenda Chapman. However, by October 2010, Chapman left after four years of work with Andrews subsequently taking over but still keeping the intended story that Chapman wrote.

Brenda Chapman based Merida on her own daughter while Elinor was loosely based on herself.

If you keyed in on the recurring part that's bold in all the trivia, the name Brenda Chapman shows up about four times. If this tells you anything, it is that Brave was originally intended to be about a Mother and her daughter with Scottish Themes presumably with Snow involved. The story about the Brave Production goes that Brenda worked on the movie, got replaced (read: kicked off) and the film was passed off to other people.

If you want to blame somebody, you have to either Blame Brenda Chapman for the idea, or Pixar for kicking her out. Pixar did what they could with the film, but filled it in with a lot of comedy, which is what they do a lot of the time anyway, while Ms. Chapman's version of the movie seemed to have a different style altogether.

A movie from Disney about a Princess could only be cliched to some degree, but if Chapman had been left to her own devices, the movie could have been a classic, it still would have been cliche to some degree, but it would have been better. As it stands, it's average, nothing more, nothing less.

And if we are going to talk about feeling a bit faithless in Pixar's works, my feelings became low after Finding Nemo and A Bug's Life] then anything else.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Pixars been hit and miss for a while now. I like most of their stuff but ever since cars I just stopped caring.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Are the friend I saw it with and I seriously the only people that fucking loved that movie?

Seriously, everyone else I know gave it a "meh", "decent", or were like you (sans the "losing faith in Pixar" because that's a silly sentiment that gets thrown around on these forums like food during a food fight.)

It's my 2nd favorite behind a tie between Wall-E and Up.

 

[Aris Khandr]

Are the friend I saw it with and I seriously the only people that fucking loved that movie?

Nope. I thought it was wonderful. I have the soundtrack playing on iTunes right now, in fact.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Are the friend I saw it with and I seriously the only people that fucking loved that movie?

Seriously, everyone else I know gave it a "meh", "decent", or were like you (sans the "losing faith in Pixar" because that's a silly sentiment that gets thrown around on these forums like food during a food fight.)

It's my 2nd favorite behind a tie between Wall-E and Up.

The same. I honestly don't get the bashing it's taking. Sure, it may not have been their most original movie, but I loved it anyway.

 

[senordesol]

It was a tried a true story, for sure, but I don't think it was at all 'bad'.

Remember: the target audience for these movies are children, specifically girls in this case. Not every story you tell has to be groundbreaking, but simply told effectively; and -if nothing else- I would call Brave EFFECTIVE story telling.

I alsways felt that Pixar excelled at making movies aimed at children, but that adults could enjoy. But you always have to remember that the adults are a SECONDARY market. They have to service their primary market first and sometimes children's movies do happen to be somewhat 'uncomplicated'.

 

[Margrave Rinstock]

It was not brilliant, surely-but Frankly, I found I liked it far more than not only Cars, but also Ratatouille. I expect them to get back on track with something brilliant by the movie after "Mosters University". Maybe after that, I'll start worrying.

Let's also not forget that Pixar is continues to excel in the field of short movies. Remember that bit at the beginning of Brave, with the sweepers and the moon? Brilliant.

 

[MarsProbe]

Well, I've not seen it yet (looks like it won't be out here for another month) so can't really comment on it. But I wonder, is this Brave the one and the same film I read about in a film magazine years ago that was called "The Bear and the Bow" - it must be, because I remember the fact that they said that film was going to be set in Scotland.

Maybe they should remake it with a present day Scotland setting. Perhaps the centre of Glasgow in the early hours of a saturday morning, just after closing time...

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

This is the slow creep of inevitability. No one, no studio, no writer, no game developer can withstand time. Eventually you keep making things some of it is going to be crap, no matter how good your previous successes were. Either you're bored, distracted, burned out, whatever... All greats are subject to this and PIXAR is no exception. While they made out like bandits in their Disney "buyout", they still will eventually succumb to the Disney "hammer out the old tired formula" ethic. Because it sells, even if it sucks.