Tuesday, December 22

Art

Brave

42 Days of Summer #3

Directed by Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews
Written by Steve Purcell, Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Irene Mecchi
Voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly
2012, 93 minutes

Merida, a young princess of the Nac Mac Feegle, horrified by the Kelda's plans to marry her off to another tribe, conspires with a hag to turn her mother into a newt and her brothers into tadpoles.  This backfires when a fire-breathing salamander arrives and lays waste to the kingdom.  Now only Merida and her trusty poodle, Macguffin, stand between the Feegles and utter bewailment.

This film looks pretty - probably the best-looking Pixar film I've seen, and that's saying something - and it's great to see strong female characters, even if they're complete idiots.  But this is a children's film from start to finish, failing to grasp for something more the way Pixar have succeeded at many times (Toy Story, The Incredibles, Up).

It's unexceptionable, but unexceptional too.  I'm left with just two observations:
  1. There's a reason we used to burn witches.  Nowadays we'd just sic the FDSA on them.
  2. Did the Kelda ever apologise?  Everything that happens in the story is her fault.  She's loving and protective and dumb as a bug.
  3. It reverses - again, though in a different way - the previous night's film, in that the moral of Brave is that there's nothing you can't fix with determination and courage and a willingness to utterly rewrite the rulebook.
Two and a half ravens out of four.  I think it's the weakest Pixar film I've seen, but that's with the proviso that I gave up on Cars after only a couple of minutes and don't count it.  And that most Pixar films are brilliant.

Next up: Brad Bird's The Iron Giant.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:38 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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1 This is where I say I really liked Cars.  And this is where you make fun of me for liking Cars.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, December 24 2015 11:56 AM (zAcee)

2 I'm willing to give Cars another go.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, December 24 2015 01:25 PM (PiXy!)

3 What happened to #1 and #2?

Posted by: ahd at Thursday, December 24 2015 01:32 PM (16gbW)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Thursday, December 24 2015 01:37 PM (PiXy!)

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Apple pies are delicious. But never mind apple pies. What colour is a green orange?




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