Originally Posted By DyGDisney We saw it and really enjoyed it! I liked it better than Tangled, and probably as much as Princess and the Frog. I know those are Disney movies, not Pixar, but I think they are more comparable being princess type movies. Of course Brave is different than Up and Wall•E, but it should be. They wanted a good, old fashioned fairy tale and got one. I really liked some of the lines Merida and her dad deliver, and the way they play off of eachother. In fact her dad is my favorite character. I love how over the top he is! I did feel myself get choked up, and my kids said they did too, although none of us cried. My dd and I were mesmerized by Merida's hair. LOL! I don't know if I'd say it was a Pixar type movie or a Pixar quality movie...I loved Ratatouille and didn't care for The Incredibles or Nemo near as much as others did, so I'm not the best judge of Pixar quality. One thing I would say that would make it better would be hand-drawn animation. Imagine the depth that could add!
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance ".. I guess I'd lump it in with a Bugs Life, Ratatouille and The Incredibles in my 'Pixar movies I watched once and didn't really care about' category, " You really didn't like Incredibles? I thought it was amazingly good.
Originally Posted By oodelally First this movie shall be forever known as, Brother bear 3: Sister bear. Second, can you really call this a princess movie? it almost has nothing to do with her being a princess. If she wasnt a princess the movie would still be the same. I do believe it was better than Cars 2 but that only means it is the 2nd worst pixar movie and, like Cars 2, I will not be owning it. And I own everything from Disney.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney The whole idea behind the story was that her mom was prepping her to become the queen. She had to behave a certain way because she was a princess, the men participated in a game to win her hand because she was a princess. She wanted to be her own person but had to live up to the expectations of a princess.
Originally Posted By irishfan Anyone else find it strange that no one in the castle seemed to notice that Merida and her Mother were missing for a full day?
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones It was alright when she was kicking butt and taking names at that early competition, but the plot twist turned me off and I was bored throughout the rest of it. I've always enjoyed Xena-type nonsense. The crow was annoying. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there were a war between kingdoms or something. My favorite parts were the archery scenes. The storylines where someone transforms and they have to do something before an arbitrary deadline don't get me excited. By the way, if you compete for your own hand in marriage, do you have to go on the honeymoon alone?
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "When the movie took it's dramatic dive for the worst my fiancé actually leaned over and said 'oh this is the talking dogs' which is what we always say when a good ( or at least bearable) film suddenly goes stupid ( clearly this all started from UP). " This explains it perfectly for me.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Oh, and the archery scenes made me want to watch Princess Mononoke again
Originally Posted By RoadTrip RT currently has it at 74% Fresh for critics, considerably better than the 60% minimum for Fresh status. Audiences have it at 84%... that ain't bad! I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Originally Posted By mawnck On Metacritic it's got a 68, safely ahead of Madagascar 3 (59) but trailing Aardman's The Pirates - Band of Misfits (73). My 2 cents will be along presently, good Lord willing and creeks don't rise. >>Oh, and the archery scenes made me want to watch Princess Mononoke again<< Any excuse is a good one.
Originally Posted By mawnck Courtesy of "The Latest" ... the director of Brave weighs in about all the whining: <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/pixar-brave-mark-andrews-340367" target="_blank">http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...s-340367</a>
Originally Posted By xrayvision Naked people in a Disney/Pixar film? - Lol! I think that there were more naked male butts shown in "Brave" than are shown in "Magic Mike". Lol. Beyond the humorous animated nudity, I really enjoyed "Brave". The CGI animation was beautiful, I loved the music enough to buy it, and I liked several of the scenes and plot twists. I heard the audience gasping in surprise during the first transformation and gasping a second time (saying "Oh nooooo") when it was about to happen again. I enjoyed hearing the crowd's surprised reactions, just like I enjoy hearing guests' surprised reactions when riding on a Disney attraction for their first time that I've ridden it hundreds of times. I already knew what was going to happen in the movie after I purchased a "Brave" product, about a month or more ago, that included an illustrated booklet which told the whole story. However, the book was missing one character and had a different ending that I thought was a little stronger, more emotional, more dramatic, and temporarily more heart-breaking than the movie version. If Disney/Pixar had used the ending twist that was presented in the book, maybe they would have avoided some of the criticisms that this movie doesn't tug at the heart as much as earlier Pixar films do (eg Toy Story 3). The book's ending definitely tugged at my heart strings for a moment, both in words and in illustration. Regardless of which ending was used, I REALLY enjoyed the movie and want to see it again soon, next time in 3D.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney >>>Anyone else find it strange that no one in the castle seemed to notice that Merida and her Mother were missing for a full day?<<< I do! I was sitting there thinking, did the dad not notice his wife wasn't there when he went to bed? Maybe he just stayed up and partied all night....
Originally Posted By xrayvision >> I was sitting there thinking, did the dad not notice his wife wasn't there when he went to bed? << It did appear that the father and the guests never went to bed that night. Lol. However, I'm pretty sure that I saw a Brave teaser trailer that had the father standing in the banquet hall, with all of the guests present, asking "Where is my wife?" I was happy to see that scene because I had the same question as you had after reading the book (which does not tell what is happening at the castle while Queen Elinor and Merida are off together). Since that trailer answered my question, I was satisfied with that part of the storyline and didn't notice that this movie clip was missing from the final cut of the film. When "Brave" goes to DVD, maybe there's a few deleted scenes that they might want to consider sticking back into the movie...lol. Despite some missing elements, I still think "Brave" is an enjoyable movie that I wouldn't mind seeing again.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle >>Anyone else find it strange that no one in the castle seemed to notice that Merida and her Mother were missing for a full day?<< Yes! That really bothered me... I think I had a similar reaction to most people - it was good, but nothing brilliant. Very pretty to look at, but the Brother Bear style storyline did nothing for me. Shame, because I had big expectations going in.
Originally Posted By mawnck Whew. Thumbs up. Some spoilers here, but nothing that isn't already spoiled earlier in this topic. I agree with the criticisms about the plot holes. I think it's safe to assume that everyone back in the castle was otherwise occupied, but that isn't a good enough explanation for THAT father to ignore his family for THAT long. There are other troublesome instances of "offscreen doesn't exist-ism" that I won't go into here, but you probably know what I'm talking about if you've seen the movie. But now I see where they were going with all this, and I think that the biggest problem was the marketeers' decision to hide the whole "Meridia gets Mom changed into a bear" thing. It's central to the movie, and it's a very un-Pixarian plot point. I think many viewers are so taken by surprise by it that it permanently pulls them out of the movie. (Sorry, Pixar, but your audience DOES have expectations.) The character animation of Mom-in-bear-form is absolutely brilliant, some of the best stuff I've ever seen. It alone was worth the price of the ticket. It's a shame that so many reviewers (like the Gawker guy) are sitting there getting angry at the plot and not enjoying what's right there in front of them, although I can certainly relate to it (plane-flying dogs, ahem). I also thought the relationship between Meridia and her parents was beautifully done (plot holes notwithstanding). In short ... good movie. Not great, but recommended nevertheless.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney >>>The character animation of Mom-in-bear-form is absolutely brilliant, some of the best stuff I've ever seen.<<< Yes, I agree. It was absolutely hysterical at times as well. I love when Merida walks in and her mom/bear is scolding the boys. The whole theater was laughing at certain times because of actions of mom-bear. I have seen this twice now and it was much better the second time around. I'm not sure why, but dh and I both enjoyed the second viewing better.
Originally Posted By xrayvision "Brave" is Number 1 in the box office, making $66.7 million domestically!
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 "Brave" is Number 1 in the box office, making $66.7 million domestically!<< or as the Avengers call it, Friday's afternoon's total...
