Brave
A lot of people had a lot of high hopes for this film, myself included, so when the reviews for it began to come back as lukewarm at best, it did manage to kill my enthusiasm for it a bit. It seemed that the over-arching sentiment towards it was "Good. But not PIXAR-good." Perhaps it was reading these reviews beforehand that worked for me, since I wasn't actually expecting much when I sat down in the theater.
Let me translate my reactions as I came out of theater into Tumblr-ese. Ahem. "MY EMOTIONS! ALL THE FEELS! I CAN'T". In normal human speak, I came out of the theater experiencing so many emotions, and really had a hard time putting them into order. I'm not entirely sure I have yet.
I don't need to explain the story to you. You know it for the most part. That seemed to be one of the main criticisms of it from what I've seen, that it follows so many of the "Princess movies" formula beats. I feel like this was intentional. Yes, the story is the weakest part, because the story isn't the point. To toot my own horn here a bit, it's exactly what I've been doing with Twisted Mirrors for years. It's about the characters and their relationship, the story is just setting. I can see why this may read as a negative to some people, especially since Pixar movies have had such a great track record with unique tales, but for me, I felt like giving it the usual trappings was kind of the point. Treading that familiar ground with the story freed up precious time to explore other things.
I noticed a lot of similarities to another Disney movie too - SPOILER - this is really a remake of Brother Bear in a lot of ways, though I think this corrected a lot of the mistakes that movie made. Even the slapstick comedy here stuck to the main characters and we never felt like we went off point.
The look of it surprised me as well. I was worried that with a similar setting and similar styles that this was going to read a lot like How to Train Your Dragon, and as a HUGE fan of HTTYD, I worried it would distract me, but to my complete and utter surprise, it doesn't. HTTYD is a beautiful movie, but this? This is where Pixar really struts their stuff. The world of Brave feels more lush, more developed, more REAL, and is amazingly beautiful. The feel of the two movies is entirely different, I'm amazed at how different these settings feel. To the point where it really starts to feel wrong to compare them. They aren't the same at all. Brave was pretty clearly heavily influenced by Studio Ghibli and has a lot of their sort of flair, where the setting almost becomes a character itself. They didn't just arrive in a place, they were part of a world. I can't say enough about how beautiful this film is. It can be terrifying too, the animation on the animals is so breathtaking that when they're frightening, they're really frightening. I know it was a bit much for some of the little ones in our showing.
Here's another thing I loved.
NO.
LOVE.
INTEREST.
None. Not one. Oh there's guys in it, guys vying for the princess' hand even, but none of them are what one would term a "love interest". It wasn't about finding a man, or running into a man, or having anything to do with a man. Even her father, though clearly a loving and understanding parent, is secondary. This is a story about the relationship between mother and daughter - two women interacting with one another. That's it. Is it a story about a tomboy princess wanting more from life than the strict rules she's been stuck with? It starts out that way, but part of the point is seeing what damage a wholly selfish worldview like that can do to yourself and others - something that's often missing from those sorts of stories. Is it a story about bowing down to authority and learning to obey your parents because they know best? It seems to be leading there, but that's just going wrong in the other direction. It's a story about understanding and listening to one another. It's a very simple thing, yet one that's rarely explored.
Long and short, No, this is not the greatest Pixar movie ever made, (As far as I'm concerned, that honor still goes to Up, which had such a unique story and masterful visual storytelling that it's animation as "art" at its finest) I can see why some people were disappointed with it, and I'm sure some will pop in here to share their reasons why it wasn't that good, but I am not one of those people. It was not unique in any big, obvious way, on the surface this movie's been made a million times, but the devil's in the details. A million little things that surprised me, impressed me and moved me.
And the biggest and best of them all? The audience. Our theater was full of parents bringing their young daughters to see it. I'm sure this was just because it was a princess movie, but I don't care about the reason. This was a great film for little girls to see with their parents, and I'm so glad so many got to experience it that way. A movie about two strong women, not just about the men around them, and the bond between parent and child. That may have a bigger impact than all the groundbreaking animation and brilliant storytelling anyone could devise.
Hat's off to you, Pixar. Well done.