Brave: Review, Discuss, DVD, Sequel, ect.

[JD]

Disney/Pixar's Brave was just released this weekend. Metacritic's Description:

Brave follows the heroic journey of Merida, a skilled archer and headstrong daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor. Determined to change her fate, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the unruly and uproarious lords of the land: massive, surly Lord Macintosh and cantankerous Lord Dingwall, unleashing chaos in the kingdom. When she turns to an eccentric Witch, she is granted an ill-fated wish and the ensuing peril forces Merida to harness all of her resources—including her mischievous triplet brothers—to undo a beastly curse and discover the meaning of true bravery. (Pixar

Metacritic Rating: 69/100 with 28 positive reviews and 8 mixed.
My comments: I honestly thought this was Pixar's best movie since Wall-E. It had a great story, with outstanding well acted characters, and the animation is absolutely amazing. And it was a lot of fun. I'm a big fan of stories with these kind of historical/fantasy setting, and I thought they used the setting very well in this.
My Vote: Outstanding

 

[zephramc]

I watched it yesterday with my daughter. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't close to Pixar's best. The animation was outstanding. The characters were well done. The story was good. Again, it wasn't Pixar's best though. Since I'm at it, I'll put my ranking of the Pixar films:

1) The Incredibles
2) Toy Story 2
3) Toy Story
4) Monsters Inc.
5) Toy Story 3
6) Finding Nemo
7) WALL-E
8) Brave
9) Up
10) Ratatouille
11) Cars
12) A Bugs Life
13) Cars 2

 

[JD]

Are we the only two who have seen this? I was expecting a bigger turnout when I started the thread.

 

[Kirby]

We took the kids on Saturday. I liked it just fine, and as Zephramc mentioned the animation and characters were great, but I agree that it wasn't Pixar's best. Here's my list:

1. The Incredibles
2. Toy Story
3. Ratatouille
4. Cars
5. Finding Nemo
6. Toy Story 3
7. Wall-E
8. Monsters, Inc.
9. Brave
10. Up
11. Toy Story 2 (I've only seen this once and don't really remember it except that Frasier and Newman were in it)
12. Cars 2 (I thought it sucked)
n/a - A Bugs Life (I've never seen it)

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Saw it with my kids yesterday. Everyone loved it. I'm not in the habit of ranking Pixar films. I don't think it was their best, but definitely not the worst. The animation was great, of course--gets better with every film. I did like the narrative structure, in which the villains weren't really "villains" but more agents of chaos--the real threat to overcome was Merida's own pride.

The La Luna short at the beginning was cute, too.

 

[nightwind1]

Saw it at the drive-in theater Friday night, double-featured with "Avengers". Just me (51) and wife (53), no kids.

It was a very good movie. Not Pixar's best, but certainly mid-grade Pixar or better. And mid-grade Pixar is better than 90% of other CGI animated features.

 

[JD]

Hmmm based one what I remember of the movies my Pixar rating would be:
1. The Incredibles
2. Wall-E/Finding Nemo
3. Brave
4. Up
5. Toy Story 2
6. Toy Story 3
7. Toy Story
I don't have a clear enough memory of the rest to include them. I've never seen Cars 2.

 

[Mike Farley]

Saw it today. I liked it well enough. Middle of the pack for Pixar

 

[AvBaur]

Saw it last week and liked it a lot. I actually like it more the more I think about it. I loved how they took the familiar Disney fairy tale format and made something quite different by dropping the whole love story angle and making it all about the mother/daughter relationship.
Beyond that, the movie is very funny and visually stunning. Beautiful animation and designs - Merida's hair looked amazing! The 3d wasn't bad either, but seemed awfully dark at my theater.

The forest spirits and transformations reminded me of Ghibli movies such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

Here's my current Pixar ranking:

1. The Incredibles
2. Up
3. Ratatouille
4. Toy Story 3
5. Finding Nemo
6. Brave
7. Monsters, Inc.
8. Wall-E
9. Toy Story 2
10. Toy Story
11. Cars
12. A Bug's Life
13. Cars 2

I pretty much like all of them, though. Even on the lower ranks there are still movies I really enjoy watching. The only one that I probably won't rewatch much is Cars 2, and even that one isn't that bad.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Just got back from seeing this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not Pixar's best effort but it's certainly classic Pixar (which Cars 2 was not). There were a few moments I didn't like or messed up with the flow of the film, but it was still a lot of fun.

Incidentally, I read on Wikipedia that there was a post-credits scene which I didn't stick around for (apparently the crow shows up at the castle with the bear carvings). Isn't this the first time Pixar has done a post-credits scene?

On a side note: I loved (as usual) the short film that played prior to Brave, called La Luna. It's films like this that will inspire children's imaginations for years to come. I grinned like a little boy the whole way through.

My Pixar rankings:

1. Up
2. Toy Story 3
3. The Incredibles
4. Wall-E
5. Ratatouille
6. Toy Story 2
7. Finding Nemo
8. Monsters, Inc.
9. Toy Story
10. Brave
11. A Bug's Life
12. Cars
13. Cars 2 (this is the only Pixar film I didn't like)

 

[Venardhi]

The plot could have been tidier, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

My ranking can't really be linear, but hows this:

Fantastic: The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E

Great: Up, Toy Story 1, Toy Story 3, Finding Nemo, Brave

Good: Toy Story 2, A Bugs Life, Monsters, Inc.,

I just don't get it: Cars, Cars 2

 

[Trekker4747]

Saw yesterday with my niece, we both enjoyed it. I think it's missing a certain "spark" or "hook" or something to make it really fascinating but overall it was just a good, enjoyable, movie. I did wonder how did her bear-ified little terror brothers manage to run around the castle so well for the better part of a day unseen? And I thought the jokes and showing of the fat-woman's boobs was a bit much.

I didn't think much of "La Luna", the short before the movie. It was good but, eh, the "sciency part" of my brain was too bothered by the depiction of the moon.

 

[Unicron]

Incidentally, I read on Wikipedia that there was a post-credits scene which I didn't stick around for (apparently the crow shows up at the castle with the bear carvings). Isn't this the first time Pixar has done a post-credits scene?

I didn't stick around for that either, so I might guess it would be their first. I was kind of wondering about that little plot point the other day, actually.

I thought the movie was good, though I agree some things could have been improved a bit. The voice cast and music were impressive and the visuals were great too. Here's one of the trailers for those who haven't seen one yet:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtrDBQ_qmlg[/yt]

Edit: You know, it took me a bit to figure out the music from the second part of the trailer. I thought at first it was A Mhaighdean Bhan Uasal (Noble Maiden Fair), but it's actually Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A'Chuain (My Love Is On The High Seas). Both are good.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Xa1sh5qeo[/yt]

 

[Admiral2]

Saw it. Gave it an Above Average.

Not as good as other Pixar efforts but entertaining in its own right. I was worried it would just be another whiny teenage girl movie, but it ramped up the action and got really good as the story progressed.

And I'll take Merida and her bow over Katniss any day.

 

[JD]

Just got back from seeing this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not Pixar's best effort but it's certainly classic Pixar (which Cars 2 was not). There were a few moments I didn't like or messed up with the flow of the film, but it was still a lot of fun.

Incidentally, I read on Wikipedia that there was a post-credits scene which I didn't stick around for (apparently the crow shows up at the castle with the bear carvings). Isn't this the first time Pixar has done a post-credits scene?

On a side note: I loved (as usual) the short film that played prior to Brave, called La Luna. It's films like this that will inspire children's imaginations for years to come. I grinned like a little boy the whole way through.

I didn't stick around for that either, so I might guess it would be their first. I was kind of wondering about that little plot point the other day, actually.

Damn, I didn't realize there was post credits scene. I know Finding Neemo had an end credits scene, and I think the second and third Toy Stories, Wall-E, and The Incredibles might have had ones. I saw it with my mom, and we debated staying, but since neither of us had heard about a post-credits scene we decided not to, now I'm wishing we had.
I thought La Luna was pretty good too. I hope they let the guy who directed it do a full length movie.

 

[auntiehill]

"La Luna" was adorable. I enjoyed "Brave" and so did the nieces,but it wasn't Pixar's best, I loved the main character, I loved the family dynamics, I loved the different clans and the humor, but the main plot was a bit underwhelming. Still, it was better than most of the kid's movies you see these days and the animation was wonderful. I also really liked the fact that the female lead was ACTIVE; she wasn't looking for some boy to save her, nor did she play second-fiddle to anyone.

I gave it an "Above Average."