Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
Leads: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson
This is a good'un.
Let's begin with Merida's hair: a physics engine was developed so it would flow and fall freely (read: realistically), and this detail that must have cost a fortune (took six developers three years to create) helps make the princess incredibly unique and memorable.The rest of the film is vibrant and edible, with great characters, some magic and a little darkness.
Brave is fabulous to watch because it's just lovely - Pixar outdid itself with design and visual execution. Watching is just intoxicating. To match that note (oddly), I noticed the movie's ambient sounds were terrific: the forest's birds and breezes, the field's grass, ad-libbing in the crowds all helped to flesh out this piece of art.
The soundtrack wholly pays homage to the film's Scottish heritage, though at times struck me as a little poppy.
I adore these movie posters, but I feel the tone they set has the oomph to outlive the faulty storytelling of the film itself. The movie had two directors, Chapman leaving halfway through production for some reason, and the effect is strongly felt in the heft of the movie. It seems like it tries to do a couple things at once under the tagline 'Change your fate', and the effect is slapdash. A little about hubris and humility, a little about reconciliation, a little about finding who you are, a little about taking the reins, a lot about being strong and just doing whatever the hell needs to be done.
More than once I wondered 'Why is this scene still going?', this at a couple lighter scenes, and thought they were trying too hard to flesh out the movie with rote 'entertainment'.
With solid characters, a great setting, buckets of talent in veteran actors (and, c'mon, they're Scottish, which is a win for everyone), the story has cracks that show.
But watch it, because, wow, it's gorgeous.
(Stay after the credits.)
Budget: $185mil
Gross: $235mil
On IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt1217209/
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