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Author Topic: Brave Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 06-20-2012 05:56 AM                        I'm still trying to make up my mind how I feel about the story in Brave, but the animation was amazing. And I would say the 3D actually enhances the experience, where I don't feel that way with most movies. I do agree that Brave is not Pixar's best effort and will rank in the bottom half of their library, but that's not horrible considering they haven't made a bad movie yet.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-22-2012 06:28 PM                        We watched the movie last night in 3-D and I was really impressed. Sure, it has the "happy ending" that you always get from fairy tales and the story isn't Pixar's best, but the animation is right up there at the top of the line. The 3-D really was impressive too, although (as usual) the movie will be just fine in 2-D as well. I was quite surprised at how scary the movie is, especially the last 15 minutes. This is going to give the wee ones some SERIOUS nightmares. The PG rating is very well deserved, in fact it treads pretty close to PG-13 in a couple of spots. Older kids and teens -- and adults -- should be highly entertained, if they're not having to deal with terrified youngsters. One thing the kids will love, and something that really seems to be a theme of this movie, is the idea that it's OK to make a huge mess of everything. Every scene in the castle, especially, there's food, dishes and other bric-a-brac being scattered hither and yon. Those little brothers of Merida's are constantly spilling and breaking stuff, as is her dad; and when she goes to the witch's cottage it's not long before that place is laid a-waste, too. It's done for comic effect and is quite funny, actually. I felt sorry for the castle staff, though. Where to put this on the Pixar best-of list? Hard to say...I think I liked it a little better than "Ratatouille," which is right in the upper-middle of the pack for me. My favorite Pixars are "Finding Nemo," "Toy Story" (the first) and "Ratatouille," and I would have to say this movie is a hair better than "Ratatouille." The Rat movie had a better story, but this has the more impressive look & feel. So, I would say 3.5 stars from me. The opening short, "La Luna," is another quiet little gem. It reminded me quite a big of "Day and Night," the short from Toy Story 3. It's one of those movies where you aren't quite sure why the characters are doing what they do, but then there is a "reveal" at the end that makes it all make sense. Cool and imaginative, and even a little touching. There is more creativity in this 7-minute short than in all of "Madagascar 3."  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 06-23-2012 12:45 AM                     Cinemark West Plano-Plano, TX Barco 4k-32B, RealD XLW "XD" Presentation Image was nice and bright (6.02 fL on a 65' screen), and even though Cinemark doesn't use masking in the XD houses, image quality was as good as I've seen at any Cinemark around town. I hadn't intended to see Brave right away, but I read this auditorium was recently upgraded with the Dolby Atmos system This has been running the custom 7.1 Cinemark installed in their XD houses and sounded decent, but almost seemed as the sound was being forced onto the audience. Big and loud just to be big and loud. Then they upgraded it to the Auro 3D earlier this year, adding extra JBL surrounds and it has sounded better since then, even though Auro did not go over well and was removed. As soon as I walked in, I looked up at the ceiling, and noticed the counter sunk speakers. 2 rows in the center of the ceiling, from screen to port. The dual JBL speakers on the walls have been replaced by larger (I'm assuming full-range) JBL's Overall the sound was slightly better than the previous configuration. I was expecting a Dolby policy to play just to showcase what could be done, but there was none, just the regular policies they always play. I tried real hard to listen for changes, and could only rarely discern a difference. The scenes with weather-effects sounded the best, with the rain, thunder, and lightning sounding like it came from above. The bass sounded smoother, and the sound flowed between speakers, instead of the "jump" this house had before. It will be interesting to see what more action-oriented films will sound like, as those scenes seemed to make use of the setup the best  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-23-2012 10:17 AM                        On the way home last night, I noticed that the moon looked EXACTLY like the moon at the end of "La Luna." Could that by why they moved the release date of this movie to a week later? Hmm. (I doubt it, but it would make a good legend to go along with the "we almost erased Toy Story 2" one.)  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-23-2012 12:26 PM                     This isn't a Pixar movie. It is clearly the Disney machine churning it out. While I would say this is better than Cars 1 & 2 and A Bug's Life, I would put all of the other Pixars above this one. I thought Tangled was MUCH more entertaining. Jonathan you should go back to that Atmos auditorium and watch something else in 5.1 and see if that "jump" you speak of is back. With all of the changes done to that auditorium in the last several months, it would be interesting to compare. And while you're there tell them to stop being cheap-asses and put in some damned masking.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 06-28-2012 09:00 PM                     um, I love Pixar films, okay maybe not Cars or Cars 2, but this was pretty much paint by numbers - the script and storyline once it was revealed (the trailer kind of hid the surprise turn) was predictable.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 06-28-2012 09:34 PM                        I watched Brave this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised. Based on the trailer I didn't have a lot of personal interest in this one, but I really enjoyed it. Brave is classified "General - violence, nudity" in Saskatchewan. I wonder how many people that nudity warning is going to keep out of here...  |  IP: Logged Graham Ritchie Film Handler Posts: 54 From: Christchurch, New Zealand Registered: Apr 2009 posted 06-30-2012 02:51 PM                     Took my six year old grandaughter to it last night being screened at the local Reading cinema. Opted for the 2D version on 35mm projected on a Kinoton. The image and sound was excellent. My six year old really enjoyed it, as its really a kids movie, as for me I thought it was very well made, but a bit "ho hum" story wise compared with some past films like Up and Wall-E. As an adult it reminded me from some of the themes in it of Braveheart and the witch from Snow White. This one being not as nasty "cake instead of an apple". As far as this film being scary for young ones, its fine and compared with the original Snow White from 1937, that should have been R18 but just dont make any loud bear noises well leaving the cinema, it might cause a panic overall "Brave" is good entertainment for kids especially on the big screen. Graham.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-01-2012 04:57 PM                        quote: Graham Ritchie As far as this film being scary for young ones, its fine and compared with the original Snow White from 1937 Snow White didn't have digital surround sound and 3-D. Also Snow White's scary scenes aren't near as lengthy as the ones in this film. We've had probably 8 to 10 scared kids under 5 taken out so far. For kids in the over-5 age range, they're probably already used to watching R-rated horror movies with their parents at home anyway. I heard a couple of kids talking about the "Ted" one-sheet in the lobby. One kid said "Can we go to that?" The other kid said "No, it's rated R....we'll have to watch the DVD." (Which I found kind of funny since the DVD will probably be "unrated" and even filthier than the movie!) Word of mouth here has been decidedly middle-of-the-road on "Brave." Kids were much more enthusiastic/excited coming out of the theatre after Madagascar 3 compared to this movie.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 07-01-2012 05:32 PM                        So far I sure haven't seen anything close to the crowds for Brave that I got for Madagascar. Of course, this is the Canada Day long weekend so 80% of the town has left town, as usual.  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 07-06-2012 12:48 AM                        CINEMA: Regal Village Square, Las Vegas, NV AUDITORIUM: 2 PRESENTATION: Sony Digital 4K 2D, but clearly in 2K PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None RATING: Three stars (out of four) THE PLOT: Does a bear shit in the woods? Wackiness ensues. No, it doesn't feel like a Pixar movie, but it's still a good one that kids will probably want to see several times over this summer. The short, however, was TOTALLY Pixar, and about as wonderful as anything they've ever done. If I learned anything from watching Brave, it's that the more bare asses you put in a film, the more little kids will laugh their asses off. There's probably some scientific 'ass to ass' ratio explanation there, but I suck at science.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-11-2012 12:21 PM                        Pixar is now just part of the Giant Disney Machine chewed up and spat out Sorry just my view.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-11-2012 02:22 PM                        Another flop at your boxoffice, eh? It did great here.  |  IP: Logged Ron Funderburg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 814 From: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA Registered: Nov 2007 posted 07-11-2012 02:41 PM                        No it is doing great I'm not saying that they were bought out by Disney a few years ago and given stock of minority amount so it is part of the machine now and has lost that independent edge it had before.  |  IP: Logged

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