Well, Brave came out today in good old Australia, and suffice to say, I have seen it. In short, it is great, a true return to form for Pixar. To elaborate? Well, read on. Spoilers will be kept to a bare minimum.
Pixar have entertained audiences for well over a decade, treating us to some of the finest animated films of our time or any other. With eleven straight critically acclaimed films, it was easy to think that their run could go on forever. Sadly, Cars 2 was to be the end of that run. While it made loads at the box office and even more in merchandise, it was a flop with critics, being the first of Pixar's films to get a rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the first of their eligible films to not get animated for the Best Animated Picture Oscar. I doubt I was alone when I started to think that the company had jumped the shark, especially with the announcement of a prequel to Monsters, Inc. and the departure of Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton to live action.
I largely stayed away from Pixar news for a while, so when I saw the trailer for Brave, it took me by surprise with its striking visuals, epic scope and fiesty protagonist. At the same time, instances of crude humour, more the sort of thing one would expect from Dreamworks, gave me reason to worry. Well, fear no longer: the two crude jokes in the trailers are the only ones that come to mind (well, there was one more, but it was connected to one of the crude jokes in the trailer, so I'll let that slide), and it largely lived up to my hopes. Let's take a closer look at the film's elements.
Visuals: Pixar have always been at the forefront of CGI animation itself; even Cars 2 gave us plenty of pretty visuals. Brave is no exception, combining utterly gorgeous Scottish scenery with great effects on some of the hardest things to animate, such as hair and cloth. A shot of Merida firing an arrow, which bends and spins in midair, is an absolute joy to watch. At the other end of the spectrum, the film also features easily the best CGI tears I have ever seen (and I had some of my own to compare them to in that scene). The only negative I have to say in this regard is that Pixar's technique for fur doesn't appear to have advanced much since Monsters, Inc., though that may just have been a result of the dark colours used.
Note: Keep an eye out for the cameo of the Pizza Planet truck. It's pure genius.
Music: I mentioned in a previous post that I was greatly looking forward to hearing Patrick Doyle's score for the film. He doesn't disappoint, giving us music with a truly Celtic feel. The score hits all the right emotions without being overly obtrusive. The surprising aspect here is how well the film incorporates various songs into itself. While the songs aren't as memorable as those from Disney's great films, or even as much as some of Randy Newman's work in earlier Pixar movies, they work with the scenes. Again, they are good without being intrusive. I dearly wanted to buy this film's soundtrack, but sadly couldn't find a physical copy. I'll likely download it from iTunes at some point.
Characters: This is perhaps the most important element of any film, or any story for that matter, and it is, in my opinion, the main area where Cars 2 failed (sorry John Lasseter, but Mater just isn't a good protagonist). Brave excels in this regard. Merida is an active yet deeply flawed protagonist, exchewing the moral perfection that plagues princesses in Disney and elsewhere (*cough*cadance*cough*) to create a character that can actually grow and change as she works towards her goals. Her parents are also interesting characters, with her father's extroverted, permissive demeanour contrasting with the mother's stricter nature, creating a family dynamic that lives and breathes conflict, but also love. To say any more in this regard would spoil much of the film. The character roster is filled out with a host of entertaining minor characters, much as we have come to expect from Pixar. If I had to find a flaw in characterisation, it's that the film doesn't do enough to develop any of its potential antagonists, but Pixar films have generally put much, much more focus on the heroes. It wasn't a major problem then, and it isn't now.
Plot: This is the film's worst point, but perhaps it is best to start with a basic description of the premise (any spoilers here were more or less in the trailers). Merida's mother is looking to marry her off to a son of one of the lords of the land. Merida, as you have undoubtedly figured out, doesn't want this, and obtains a spell to change her fate. Naturally, it doesn't go well, and the rest of the film is about trying to fix the mess she has created. Brave has been described as Pixar's first fairytale, and I am inclined to agree with that description, but the overall plot strikes me as closer to the original Brothers Grimm stories than the sanitised Disney versions. Some of the material is quite dark, not just in terms of visual scariness but also in the ideas behind it. To say any more here would be to spoil it, but the ideas are excellent, taking old concepts (and I mean old; some of the idea reminded me of my studies in Medieval literature and folk tales) and tweaking them just enough to make them feel new again.
The problem is in the execution. As those who have been following Brave's production would know, the film was for a time being directed by Brenda Chapman, before she was replaced by Mark Andrews. It seems to me that the latter was unable to give the plot the full rewrite it needed, so what we have is most likely a halfway point between Chapman's original vision and Andrews' ideas. The plot can be disjointed at times, with characters sometimes moving from one plot point to another with no real reason. A recurring spirit guide of sorts provides some narrative cohesion in this regard, but still comes off as a needless deus ex machina.
Then there's the matter of the ending. I don't want to provide any spoilers for the ending here, so I will simply say that anyone who has read this blog's most popular post will probably be able to see my issue as they are watching. It works sufficiently well here to not be a serious failure, because the film struck me as being more about the characters. Still, the problem must be mentioned.
Script: While the plot may have issues, the script in all other regards is a work of genius. A lot of this comes down to the characters, of course, but the writers clearly knew how to bring them out to their fullest. The dialogue is very good, but what really makes it shine is the way it works with the characters' actions. I am limited in what I can describe here, so I'll give an example that you will be able to spot. Anyone who has seen the trailers will remember the father's hilarious impersonation of Merida. Watch for what follows that moment. It is amongst the best dialogue scenes I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. This is no one-off for the film, either, as it manages to impress with clever mixtures of dialogue and actions.
Emotion: In short, the degree to which the film generated an emotional response in me. In this regard, the film was very successful. It's not a near-memetic tear jerker like Toy Story 3 or WALL-E, but I don't think it's trying to be. For a point of comparison, the film generated a similar amount of emotion to Monsters, Inc, and that's enough to satisfy me. Indeed, from an emotional standpoint, I think any viewer will be satisfied with this movie.
Conclusion: Brave was an absolute joy to watch, from start to finish. It has not only restored my faith in Pixar, but shown to me just how good they are by beating Disney at their own game. The plot's not as good as it could have been, but the characters work so well that is scarecely matters. It's not Pixar's best, but it's certainly a true Pixar movie. See it in cinemas if at all possible.
Now, if only a certain other animation studio could restore my faith in them...
Rating: 4/5.
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