Reviews

Brave takes Pixar into a new land, and not only Scottish culture, but one geared to a more adult crowd. It also focused the film around two female characters in a mother-daughter relationship, something not done very often, nor done this well.

The characters were all very well developed, with their attitudes and mannerisms matching their physical appearance. The voices were also really well done, and made for greatly entertaining characters. This was done so well that you actually felt for them as they experienced their separate challenges and trials. The story that develops between the mother and the daughter is done so well because of the great job they did in developing the separate characters.

The interesting thing about the film was how the "opposition" was not a foreign nation, an evil king or any physical being, but was the barrier raised between the mother and daughter. Many a man can relate to such a barrier, and is more realistic than many movie villains, yet Pixar still expertly created the great bear "Maudi" to be a physical representation of what happens when you let those pride barriers stand erect too long. A great establishment of opposition. A+!!!

All around a fantastic movie. The only thing that left me disappointed was the 3D aspect. The scenery was nice in some shots, but overall I didn't get "drawn" into the world as 3D is suppose to do. It played a very backseat role and was largely unnoticed. It was also rather distracting on every single camera pan, as the whole shot would go blurry for an instant. Not sure if this was just the theater I was in, but it definably left some room for improvement. But, there is no such thing as a perfect movie, right? All around, very well done Pixar. You've done it again!

This film peaked my interest from the trailer, a job well done by the marketing team, which tends to play towards the strengths of this movie. Seeing how $500,000 was spent to actually make the film, and $10 Million was used for the special effects, its no wonder that the strengths of the film where in its visuals and ideas, while the heart and soul (the script and acting) were lacking attention.

The Premise of the film is not new, an alien invasion, but where the director duo go different is in the fact that they don't explain why. They leave it up to the imagination of the viewer, or to future films. I felt that this is good because all to often we know what the aliens want, and "wham bam" the hero steps in and fixes it. General audiences will like this, but sometimes it gets a bit boring. I really enjoyed how the characters seemed hopeless up until the very last scene, in which Jarrod's brain makes an epic takeover of one of the aliens. SO AWESOME!!! This leaves the ending to the imagination, and is the true beauty sometimes. Leaving the audience wondering....what if?

Now, to address the actual script. Halfway through the film I began to realize that these characters were simply your average Joe, and were not going to be a huge impact on the man vs alien outcome. This led to a feeling of "why is this worth watching?" because when we go to see movies, we want to hear fantastic tales! We want highlights! We want great stories! Yes, the directors took a different approach by having their characters be very "average people" which is liked by some, and despised by others. It took going out on a limb to do it. Did it work? A little. Much of the movie the audience doesn't have much to root for, as few of the characters really have redeeming value. I feel Elaine was the only character who had pure intent, yet she played a very passive role, and didn't take much forefront. Next time, make Jarrod less of a jerk and make him excited to be having a baby!

As far as the script? C-. The dialogue was all too cliché, as the characters were not very developed. They didn't give them much time, as they wanted to quickly jump into the visuals and play to the films strengths. However, this oversight led to a lack of "realism" with the characters. A little bit more time with the script and character development would have given the film at LEAST 2 more stars. Yes the characters want to stay alive, but that is only so inspiring after a while. When they have a reason beyond themselves, that is when films go from good to great!

Across the board, a well put together piece by the Strause Brothers, as they showed they can make a movie that sells. Now they will have more chances to prove that they can make movies that capture the hearts of the viewers!