Review of Brave (2012) by Ordinaryguy — 23 Jun 2012

Pixar's Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and others, always left me with a buzzy feeling of awe and inspiration. This movie, though, left me kind of confused, because I didn't feel like that after watching it. I can't put my finger on it as to why, because everything about the movie seemed right. Despite that, there were moments where I chuckled and laughed, and moments where I got a little dust in me eye. Don't completely take my word for it, or anyone else's; decide for yourself what you think it is. Even if you end up not liking the story, it's Pixar! They make the best movies in the world! The attention to minute detail, the tones and colors of each scene, the thought and care put into every character movement and camera placement, the care put into each word, the accuracy of the Scottish culture etc. is beyond the grasp of just one sitting. Pixar can make drying paint humorous and interesting. On another note, for those believing the movie was all about "women's empowerment", I discourage that perspective. Moreover, I believe it was a much more simple approach: Pixar wanted to try a female lead, for once, and they didn't want to do it like its been done before a gajillion times. The story came about as it did organically after that decision. Having a nontraditional female lead, though, brings its own boat of problems, whether you meant to bring them out or not. People will always bring in their own experiences and justifications whether its true or not. Just the fact that they made a nontraditional female lead was Brave in and of itself.

Personally, I thought it was really amazing that Merida isn't a girly, pink, blonde princess like in Tangled. It's interesting, and it's badass.

And, although this movie is 3D, if you love paying attention to little details in Pixar movies (ex. looking for Easter Eggs from their other movies) I highly discourage it. The 3D makes it very difficult to focus on minute details because you can only focus on one "layer" of the 3D at a time. Watch it in 2D if you want to really soak in as much details and minutiae as possible. The only reason they made it in 3D was probably because they had to do be competitive with all the other 3D stuff out there.