Thursday, April 4, 2013

Pixar Stumbles for the First Time..."Brave"

Pixar attempts to outdo what Disney does best: the Princess Movie

The Story:

Scottish princess Merida (Kelly MacDonald) is at odds with her family.  It seems that her mother and father (Emma Thompson and Billy Connolly) are doing what all good Scottish clan leaders did back in the day: attempting to marry off their daughter to another prince to solidify their empires.  Unfortunately, Merida wants nothing to do with the idea.  She's a tomboy who prefers shooting a bow to dancing with guys.  Merida stumbles upon a witch in the woods and begs for a spell that will change her destiny.  The witch obliges, and turns her mother into a bear.

Congratulations, your destiny has been changed.  Good luck saving your mom from your father and everyone else who now wants her dead...

This is the latest Pixar release that I really wasn't sure about watching.  Having been pleasantly surprised by Ratatouille, Up and Wall*E, you would think that I wouldn't question Pixar's abilities.

And yet...

Something about Brave just struck me wrong from the opening trailers.

I don't want to see another Disney Princess film.  If I did, I'd watch Tangled again.

That is Disney territory, let it be.

However, Pixar once again decided to fool me, this wasn't a Disney Princess tale.

No!

It was a different version of Brother Bear!
 
: /

Again...already done by Disney, and done better.

So, while this was a typically great Pixar production: Great voice casting, beautiful to look at...

I can no longer say, and I quote myself : " The worst Pixar movie is still better than the best movie from any other animated studio ."

That this film won the Academy Award tells me that voters simply see the word "Pixar" and punch the ballot.

That is a shame, because of the list of animated movies I've seen since the beginning of the year, this ranks only above Frankenweenie, which I simply despised, but below everything else.


Final Grade: B-

Would I Own It: Only if the kids really want it, and so far, they were left unimpressed.

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