Pixar's Brave Attempt Falls Short of Expectations: Our Review of "Brave" (2012)

Directed By: Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapman

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly

Rating: PG for some scary action and rude humor

Synopsis: Merida (Macdonald) is a free-spirited princess of a Scottish king who loves to ride her horse and shoot her bow-and-arrow, but her mother, Queen Elinor continually tries to mold her into a  “true” princess. When Merida’s parents invite the first-borns of the three other clan leaders against her consent, she runs away and tries to “change her fate.”

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Last night Sarah and I went to the theatre down the street and caught Disney/Pixar’s new film, Brave, which is the first Pixar film to feature a female character in the lead role. The film is about the young Scottish princess, Merida, whose parents are trying to betroth her to one of three suitors from neighboring clans, and she ain’t having it.

Sarah, we talked about this on Thursday in our preview and you were looking forward to it. So now that we’ve had a night to sleep on it, what are your thoughts on Brave?

Sarah: I liked it! I thought that it was sweet and innocent and really was just a fun movie to see. It was BEAUTIFULLY made, which is to be expected from Pixar. The animation was absolutely gorgeous. What did you think?

A: In all honesty I was disappointed. I was really looking forward to seeing it because they hadn’t given away much of what it’s about in the trailers and promotions, doing a good job of keeping what the movie is truly about under wraps, and what they kept under wraps wasn’t really all that special. Or at least it wasn’t anything that people who have seen other Disney movies haven’t seen before.

The biggest strength of Pixar movies has been, and seems to always will be, their storytelling. Whether it be the story of a clownfish being kidnapped and his dad’s quest to find him, or a bunch of toys who come to life when humans are away and what they’re lives are truly like. This one was probably one of the most simple and bland stories Pixar has done. Things happened simply to push the story forward, they didn’t happen organically. The first act was great, where they set up who Merida and her family are and when the suitors show up, but after that it just seemed like a sequence of events that HAD to happen for the progression of the story and that’s something you don’t normally see in a Pixar movie; and I was disappointed by that.

Andrew thinks Brave is great right up until after this particular scene...

S: See I would have to say that it was refreshing not to have a Pixar movie that really, for all intents and purposes, wasn’t too deep. It didn’t take a lot to follow the story and I thought it was a good thing because it wasn’t the norm for Pixar. I thought it was a refreshing change of pace. It focused more on the family unit rather than just a single main character. I thought the simplicity of it made it rather beautiful.

What did you think of Merida as the first female Pixar lead?

A: I liked Merida, or I should say I liked her for most of the movie. I liked that she was this free spirit and really more of a daddy’s girl, in that she was definitely more like her father, King Fergus, who was my favorite part of the film. I liked her spirit, but then when the film got into what it’s really about she disappointed me. There’s a lesson that Merida needs to learn in the film (which is done in a really heavy-handed way) and she just DOES NOT get it. And for the longest time, too.

I think that the simplicity is fine for kids, but for adults like us it was a little frustrating because we’re going “C’mon Merida, it’s not that hard.” That was my main thing with her. That’s what I was disappointed the most in with the film. For Merida to be such a strong character at the beginning of the film, being a great role model for little girls that will see this (as an aside, pair her up with Katniss from The Hunger Games and a ton of girls will want to learn archery now), I was disappointed in how she just couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

S: Yeah, but you mentioned that the moral was a little heavy-handed and obvious TO US, but you have to remember that this is a kids movie first and foremost. It’s not meant for purely for adults. I understand most of the other Pixar films have been super entertaining FOR adults, but these are not primarily adult films.

A: I’d say this that this film, probably the most since Cars or Cars 2…

S: See, I’d argue that Cars 2 is more geared towards adults. The moral of Cars 2 would go right over kids’ heads.

A: Well I’m not saying necessarily the moral but the actions and the comedy with Mater, they kind of pander to children in the Cars films. But like those two, Brave is more GEARED towards kids. You have the preternatural younger brothers, the triplets, who can move through the castle in sneaky ways and pop up here and there and are just very mischievous, and the clan leaders clan who are jokey and flash each other under their kilts. So there’s a lot of juvenile humor, which is fine because we laughed a lot, but I just think grading Brave up against all the other Pixar films, I was let down because I felt that this could have been done so much better storytelling-wise.

Brave is certainly more geared towards kids in its humor than most Pixar films, most notably Merida's three younger brothers

But fair being fair, the animation might be the best of all the Pixar films.

S: It rivals Finding Nemo in the vibrancy of the colors and visuals.

A: Finding Nemo and Wall-E, I’d say.

S: Yeah. BUT, there’s a difference between the two because this one looked much more realistic than any others. All the others still look like cartoons.

A: We saw this in 3D and there were times where they showed a landscape shot and it seriously looked like it could have been film.

S: Close-ups of the horses looked real…

A: The big bad bear that takes Fergus’ leg in the beginning looks real and is quite scary for a kid’s movie. But the hallways scenes in the castle where they only have a torch to light the way? It all just looked great. And obviously Merida’s hair, you could really just watch that the entire time and be transfixed.

S: Yeah, that was a lot like Sully from Monster’s Inc., that detail where you can tell every hair had been drawn in. It was impressive.

A: Agreed. And I want to point out I thought the voice-acting was great. Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) was perfect as Merida. Obviously she’s Scottish in real life, so she was perfect.

S: And they joked on GMA that they got every Scottish-born actor they could find to be in this movie.

A: I recognized Craig Ferguson as one of the clan leaders…

S: Kevin McKidd from Grey’s Anatomy was another of the clan leaders AND his son, and he uses a Northern Scottish dialect that’s actually a different language, and he does it so well that it’s very humorous.

A: And Emma Thompson (Love, Actually) is great as the queen, Elinor, and Billy Connolly (The Boondock Saints) I really enjoyed as the king, especially the scene where he does an impression of Merida. That got a big laugh out of the theatre.

So overall I liked Brave but I thought it could have been a lot better and was disappointed in it. It’s not that I didn’t dislike it, because there are plenty of things I do like about it, but I don’t think it will be a film that we will own. It’s certainly not up there on the same level for me as Toy Story 3 or The Incredibles.

S: No it’s not. But I liked it, especially that its simplicity and storyline were sweet.

A: And it’s definitely a mother-daughter film.

The differences between Merida and her mother, Queen Elinor, are the central theme of Brave, which Sarah likens to the "Disney Princess" films

S: It really is. And I think it’s more closely aligned with the other “Disney Princess” movies rather than the other Pixar films. So, you know, I’d say that it’s much more child-focused and more girl-focused, but I liked it. No I don’t think it’s one that we’ll own, but I thought it was fun and beautiful in 3D. So if you’re going to see it in theatres, see it in 3D.

A: Not that it has to be seen in 3D, I’m sure it looks great in 2D, too, but the 3D is amazing.

S: Right, but there are things in the 3D that would be lost in 2D, like the Wisps or Merida’s hair.

A: Compared to other Pixar films it’s disappointing, but if you compare it to a Dreamworks film like How to Train Your Dragon or Shrek, it’s better. Maybe marginally better, but still better than some of those.

S: And I would argue it being better than How To Train Your Dragon.

A: Yeah, but compared to those films as opposed to other Pixar films, it’s as good as they are.

S: It’s hard to judge this one because visually it blows all the others away. It’s the best-looking Pixar film yet.

A: But when all is said and done, the storyline is where it falls flat, and that’s why we give it…

(Out of Five Clapboards)

Photo Courtesies: FilmOfilia, Very Aware, Screen Rant, Pixar Times

Back in Black Again...Again?: Our Review of "Men in Black III" (2012)

Directed By: Barry Sonnenfeld (The Addams Family)

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson

Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, and brief suggestive content

Synopsis: After an intergalactic serial killer named Boris the Animal (Clement) escapes and goes back in time to 1969 to kill Agent K (Jones), Agent J (Smith) must also travel back in time to save K, and in turn, save the world from a catastrophic alien invasion.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! This afternoon Sarah and I hit the theatre to catch this year’s big Memorial Day weekend film Men in Black III, starring Will Smith (Hancock), Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) and Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men).

Sarah, we talked about our expectations for the film in our weekly preview yesterday and you said you were hoping it would be better than Men in Black II was. Was it?

Sarah: It WAS better than Men in Black II, but that’s not necessarily high praise coming from me. Even the storyline, while cheesy at the beginning, was better than the second one. I think it may even rival the original film! We saw our two favorite Men in Black trying to save the world again from very disturbing bad guys and they didn’t fail to deliver for Earth.

A: I’m a little half and half on this one. There are certain aspects about MIB3 that are absolutely better than MIB2, and some parts of MIB2 I felt were better than the new one, but I completely disagree with you that the third chapter is anywhere close to the original.

S: I think that both share the element of humor and I actually think the bad guy in MIB3, Boris the Animal (Clement), rivals the Bug in the first one. Granted they seem to have a lot in common and have bug like features, but I would say it’s hard to tell which villain is more evil. And I’m not going to lie, I enjoyed the time travel aspect. I didn’t think I would but I did in the end.

Agent K (Jones, left) and Agent J (Smith) return for a third go-round in Men in Black III

A: Ok, let me put it this way. I think almost everything about the first MIB film is great. The action, the humor, the performances were fresh, and I like the storyline about the galaxy on Orion’s belt and how it played out.

In contrast, I feel that MIB3 did a fairly solid job executing the time travel plotline (which could have been terribly botched), but essentially any part of MIB3 before Brolin enters the picture is subpar.

Honestly, there are a few points I’d like to make. May I?

S: Go for it.

A: Here we go:

- Tommy Lee Jones is in the film for a hot second, and when he IS on the screen in the first act, the writing makes it seem like K and J have been partners for weeks, not 14 years.

- There’s a funeral scene for Agent Zed - he’s replaced by Emma Thompson (Love, Actually) as Agent O - that was wholly unnecessary, or at least completely unfunny.

- The opening scene where Boris the Animal escapes is too easily done (why would they EVER allow him a visitor of ANY sort?) and I just find that villain too silly at points. (QUICK MINOR SPOILER ALERT: Plus Agent J is able to distract him way too easily in the climax.)

All those things just weren’t as good as the original to me. THAT SAID, as soon as Brolin enters the picture the movie brightens up by a lot and is actually quite excellent from there on.

Boris the Animal (Clement) escapes from prison a little too easily for Andrew's taste

S: I’ll give you some of those points. While Boris was definitely way too easily thrown off by people calling him “Boris the Animal”, I think they did a good job building up his reasoning for acting the way he does. And I think the funeral was a nice way to kind of get rid of Zed’s character, to kill him off, and it certainly wasn’t funny but it was a nice way to transition to Agent O.

I think it’s safe to say that Brolin’s performance as a young Agent K is SPOT ON. And is the bright spot of the film. There are times where I knew it was Brolin but he sounded and acted SO MUCH like Tommy Lee Jones that it blew my mind. And for that alone I give the film a lot more credit.

Here’s a question for you: What did you think about how they answered the time travel conundrums that a lot of movies and TV shows sort of fall victim to?

A: Without giving away any spoilers, I thought they did a pretty good job assuaging my fears about the time travel. As I said in the preview yesterday, I wondered why Agent J seemed to be the only person who remembered Agent K after Boris goes back in time to kill him. (That’s the basic premise of the movie, readers, if you didn’t know that and get angry with me, it really isn’t ruining anything for you.)

Well, a tech nerd who gives Agent J the time travel device answered my question with a simple remark and his words ended up coming back around in the climax. It actually makes a little bit of sense if you don’t think about it too much. So kudos to the writers there.

I was also a fan of a Michael Stuhlbarg’s (Boardwalk Empire) character, Griffin, who is an alien that can see and experience every single possible future scenario all at once. I think they used his character in a pretty smart way that enhanced the time travel plot and added a bit of emotional heft to the climax.

S: Totally agree. I think the way they handled it and solved the problem without dwelling on it too much. It was what it was and they weren’t apologetic.

My favorite part of the film was Brolin as Agent K, and like I said in the preview I said I thought he would steal the show and he did. I also liked some of the smaller performances by Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live) as Andy Warhol/Agent W and Alice Eve (She’s Out of My League) as a young version of Agent O.

But may I go on a small tangent real quick about why I’m not going to give this film a high grade?

Josh Brolin's performance as a young Agent K is the highlight of the film

 A: I’d like to hear this.

S: I don’t understand the allure of Will Smith. I don’t find him that great an actor. He commands the star power and salaries equal to Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks and people love him, but all they’re getting is The Fresh Prince. The TV show was great, but he really hasn’t changed his persona to much anything of what he’s done. And that’s a shame to me.

He hasn’t done anything in four years and maybe there’s a reason for that. He can say all he wants that it is because he’s focused on his kids’ careers, but can we look back at what he’s coming back to the industry with? Sequels to his older movies and a movie with M. Night Shymalan that includes JADEN SMITH! Ugh!

I will give him credit for one movie that I was actually moved by, and that was The Pursuit of Happyness. Yes he received an Oscar nomination for it and it made about $300 million, but other than that I’m not impressed with his filmography.

A: Wow! Tell me how you really feel!

S: I think the bottom line is that these movies are meant to be purely entertaining. This was clearly not the strongest of the trilogy, and while I don’t find the whole series to be great movies in general, it’s a fun family-friendly way to kick off the summer season.

A: Ok, fair assessment. If anything, the second half of the film redeems the first half, particularly the surprisingly emotional and sweet ending. So what’s our final grade for Men in Black III?

S: It’s not a must-see in theatres, but it’s a good way to kill some time this Memorial Day weekend or as a matinee any other time.

(Out of Five Clapboards) 

Photo Courtesies: TheYBF, MTV, Screen Rant