Originally Posted By Autopia Deb There WAS a love story, family love, LOL. If you need romantic love it looked to me like the King and Queen still had it going on ;-).
Originally Posted By DyGDisney True. And Merida is only supposed to be 15....too young for a real love story, IMO. The story was about a relationship between a mother and her daughter, first and foremost. Family was at the core of the plot, not romance.
Originally Posted By EmmaJayne That's what's I liked, that a 15 year old who didn't want to be married off still wasn't. She didn't kick up a stink only to find someone else anyway and that's what I liked, showing girls there are happy endings outside of a Prince Charming, I just liked almost nothing else about the way they did it.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I saw Brave this afternoon with my niece and I thought it was an extremely well-done Pixar film. I'll need to let it "age" for a while in my mind to make a final judgment, but right now I'd have to rank it with my Pixar favorites... Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and Wall-E. Somehow talking Bugs, Toys and Cars just don't do if for me. I thought the story line was a refreshing change for Pixar and that it was beautifully rendered on screen. I did not see it in 3-D. I've found that personally I don't think the 3-D effect is worth giving up the vibrancy of color you get in the regular versions. I thought the story perhaps dragged just a bit in the middle... the scene with the witch was longer than it needed to be. Of course I've never been real partial to witches in the first place (sorry witches...)! Overall, my initial reaction to the film is that it is a first rate Pixar effort. And yes, the "La Luna" Pixar short is definitely worth arriving early for!
Originally Posted By magic0214 ^^^Agree with La Luna. A wonderful addition to the Pixar short family. Secondly, I don't know what it is about this film...but I am in love. The story, Merida, the landscape, the music. I have seen in 4 times...I love it that much. Now, I am not one of those Pixar fans who loves everything that they do (whoever thought that a movie devoted to Mater was good idea...was wrong) but I just loved this film.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I saw it this week. We really liked it. I thought it was different in that it focused on the family connection instead of the same old girl meets boy. Also loved the Merida rejected marriage because she just wasn't ready for that, and didn't know if she ever would be. I thought all the characters were quite likeable. Was surprised and pleased at how little the troublesome brothers were actually in the movie. Pixar still seems to be so much better than any other company making animated movies. I mean compare this to Ice Age 500 coming out soon, or Madagascar 3, and there really is no comparison in my opinion. And to me when watching, I didn't think Merida and her mom were gone for 24 hours, plus he has his hands full contending with the angry clans.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I mean compare this to Ice Age 500 coming out soon, or Madagascar 3, and there really is no comparison in my opinion. << And yet compare it to The Illusionist, Summer Wars, Rango, A Cat in Paris, Arthur Christmas, Arrugas, Chico and Rita, The Secret World of Arriety, and The Pirates - Band of Misfits, and it kind of sucks. ;-) (By the way, as long as we're talking comparisons, have you actually SEEN Madagascar 3? They're two very different movies, but they aren't as far apart, quality-wise, as you are apparently assuming.)
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Yes I SAW Madagascar 3. And I still stand by what I said. It was lukewarm at best.
Originally Posted By Evening Star The Secret World of Arriety was a beautiful movie no question, but narratively it wasn't Ghibli's best by a long shot. Since both it and Brave attempted the young girl grows up despite her parents motif I'd rank Brave higher. Especially for the mother/daughter connection Arriety tried but didn't have.
Originally Posted By basil fan <<I thought all the characters were quite likeable. Was surprised and pleased at how little the troublesome brothers were actually in the movie.>> I agree wholeheartedly. And Merida didn't spend the whole film fighting with the kids. That's getting old and trite. Thought it was a great movie. Merida looked better than in the trailers, which was a big relief. Fun accents, lots of exciting moments, good bear animation and a really cool mom. I know, I know, it would've looked better hand-drawn. But still a fine film. Can't wait to own it.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney I thought it would look better hand drawn as well, until I re-watched Princess and the Frog last week and saw how the hair looked like one big clump on each person's head. Merida's hair was an amazing flow of bouncing curls -- each one separate in different shades and sizes. I don't know how they could have ever managed that hand drawn. Maybe I'm wrong.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Merida's hair was an amazing flow of bouncing curls -- each one separate in different shades and sizes. I don't know how they could have ever managed that hand drawn.<< Very true, dat. They couldn't have. But here's the questions: Was "Brave" a movie about hair? Was P&TF? Would either have been improved had it used the other's style of hair-representation? I'd hate to think the final word on CGI vs. hand drawn is "CGI is superior because you can do frizzy hair".
Originally Posted By DyGDisney True. But her hair was awesome. It mesmerized me...and take it from me as a mom of a girl with curly hair (whose gone through struggles learning to tame that hair); it's great to finally see a heroine in a "princess" movie who's hair isn't perfectly smooth and flawless.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance For the record, I prefer the CGI. I think it looks better personally. I'm one of the people who enjoy the details like the curly hair in Brave, or Sully's fur in Monster's Inc.
Originally Posted By dshyates I like them both for different reasons. Hand drawn has a richness that CGI has yet been able to duplicate. Some of the backgrounds in P&tF were stunning pieces of art. And CGI has a level of detail that hand drawn can't touch. It would be impossible to hand draw 500,000 hairs on a bizzillion frames. On a computer it becomes possible.
Originally Posted By brotherdave Finally got to see Brave today. Went in totally cold and knew NOTHING of the storyline except it takes place in medieval Scotland and involves a princess with wild red hair. Overall, I liked it. Not Pixar's best, but certainly not their worst. But the overall impression that I got about the second half of the film which someone mentioned earlier - "Mother Bear". Felt like we've been there and done that before. Not a bad story, mind you, but it felt all so familiar. Also, Pixar seemed to be fixated on gross-outs in the movie (mooning, literal snot-nosed kid, etc.) Many of the gross references could have been left out, but the kids in the audience laughed hysterically doing those bits. May be just enough for them to ask their parents to see it again and again. We'll see.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Yes I SAW Madagascar 3. And I still stand by what I said. It was lukewarm at best.<< Afro Circus alone causes Madagascar to be better than Brave...
Originally Posted By basil fan If hand-drawn could do Pocahontas' awesome hair, it could've done Merida's. Just sayin'. The Tarzan Equation www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/tarzan.html
