Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Brave

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Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 06-16-2012, 07:16 AM:

Given the maturation of animated story-telling that was occurring with Wall-E and Up, it's a little disappointing that Brave marks a return for Pixar to a mere, simple "kid's movie". While there's nothing inherently wrong with "simple kid's movies", Pixar (with Toy Story) and Dreamworks (with Shrek) showed that adult's and kid's films need not be mutually exclusive and they thus raised the bar for future children's entertainment.

The problem with Brave is that aside from it's Scottish setting, there's little that's new in it. Indeed this kind of girl's coming-of-age story and her quest to break with tradition and assert her independance was done better not so long ago with Brave's stablemate, Tangled. Brave is not a bad film, and it is very entertaining, but it lacks the innovation we've come to expect from Pixar.

Predictably the film features a who's who of high calibre British thesps. After her success in Trainspotting, Kelly McDonald has turned up in all manner of supporting roles, sometimes sporting an American accent, but she is never more gorgeous than when she's speaking her own native tongue and her voice alone makes our protagonist, the spirited Princess Merida, instantly likeable. It's a rare delight to hear McDonald utter habitual Scottish phrases such as "Michty me!" and "Jings crivens help ma boab!" in a mainstream American movie; a suitable antidote, perhaps, to her southern drawl in No Country For Old Men.

You can hardly have a funny Scottish movie without Billy Connolly in it so he's there as well voicing Merida's father, Fergus. Emma Thompson tries on her best Scottish elocution and doesn't embarrass herself. Fellow Trainspotting alumni, Kevin McKidd, gives a notable dual performance as both Lord MacGuffin and his son and heir, Young MacGuffin, whose dialect is so obscure and accent so broad that even his own father struggles to understand him. Given that many english speaking people find all Scottish dialects largely incomprehensible, this marks one of the films funniest recurring jokes.

Even though Pixar isn't changing the world with Brave there's still plenty of enjoyment to be had and I'm sure that after a couple of watches with my 5 year old, I'll be enjoying this as much as any of their other movies. But while any other animation studio could be rightly proud of Brave, by Pixar standards it's a little underwhelming. On the Pixar scale, I'd say it rates about the same as Cars.

7.5 out of 10.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-16-2012, 11:53 AM:

I HATED IT!!!

just kidding, Stu -- I haven't seen it [Wink]

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 06-16-2012, 03:01 PM:

Wall-E and Up bombed at the box office maybe they just want to make money with this one rather than lose it. Neither film made back production cost!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-16-2012, 05:14 PM:

quote:
Wall-E and Up bombed at the box office maybe they just want to make money with this one rather than lose it. Neither film made back production cost!

What the hell are you talking about? Those movies made back their production costs plus a lot.

Wall-E made $521.3 million worldwide ($223.8 mil domestic) compared to its production cost of $180 million.

Up made $731.3 million worldwide ($293 mil domestic) compared to its production cost of $175.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 06-17-2012, 01:07 PM:

By Disney standards in the USA these films were not what was expected. I was not talking world wide though Wal-E and UP did make more than cost in the USA it is total the films were nowhere near other Pixar films. They were disappointments for Both Disney and Pixar.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-17-2012, 02:03 PM:

I doubt you would find anybody at Disney or Pixar who would say a half-billion or three-quarter billion dollar gross were disappointing. Neither one of those films were mainstream like the Toy Story films, so it's not surprising they didn't do quite as well domestically.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-17-2012, 05:46 PM:

quote: Ron Funderburg
By Disney standards in the USA these films were not what was expected.

While this is true, you claimed that the movies didn't make back their production costs which is patently false.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 06-18-2012, 10:29 AM:

Which I corrected in the last past. I know they bombed here and all the theaters in this area were playing to quarter full or less on weekends. Of course we could discuss Car's 2 but I would rather not for it was just awful.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-18-2012, 02:47 PM:

Oh come on, now. "Awful?" I will grant you it wasn't Pixar's best effort, but "awful?" No. "Home on the Range" was awful.

Maybe we can get back on topic Friday when "Brave" actually comes out. Maybe the moderators would like to delete the discussion (except the first post) up to now?

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 06-18-2012, 02:55 PM:

Oh come on Mike disagreement between us is what makes the site interesting. How boring would it be if we all had the same opinion? After all variety is the spice of life and this can be a pretty spicy place at times.

I found Cars 2 unwatchable to me I just couldn't get into it even in short burst. I loved UP and found Wall-E enjoyable but to me neither were up to the standards of the past. I have hopes for Brave but know it might not fair well because of the female hero thing and little boys not being all that crazy about a girl hero. Who knows maybe it will be best thing since Monsters Inc.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 06-18-2012, 06:14 PM:

Brave hasn't come out there yet? Did we get it before you guys? It doesn't formally start here until next week but there were sneak peeks everywhere last weekend, do you guys not get those?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-18-2012, 11:16 PM:

Well...WE don't get those, but I know it sneaked in some places here last week -- or there were press screenings, not sure which. Maybe both?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-19-2012, 08:35 PM:

Just judging from the trailer, I'm going to predict that the three "little brothers" are going to be Pixar's new most-annoying movie characters. Hope I'm wrong.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 06-19-2012, 09:36 PM:

$223.8 mil domestic and $293 mil domestic is a bomb?

[Confused]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-20-2012, 01:00 AM:

I think Ron just meant they bombed at HIS boxoffice! [Big Grin]

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 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.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 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."

Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 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

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 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.)

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 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. [Razz]

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 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.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 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...

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 5226) on 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 [Smile]

but just dont make any loud bear noises well leaving the cinema, it might cause a panic [Smile]

overall "Brave" is good entertainment for kids especially on the big screen.

Graham.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 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.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 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.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 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 [Cool]

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.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 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.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-11-2012, 02:22 PM:

Another flop at your boxoffice, eh? It did great here.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 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.