Brave

Ever since the mid 1990’s, Pixar, along with Disney, has given us a new and breathtaking film with fun and unique stories and new, spectacular graphics. They have had a monopoly over the CGI animated movie industry for over a decade, and have never failed to impress. As great of a history as this company has, it leads to a need to meet the standard of perfection and endless innovation, which no film company or individuals can keep up forever. I think with Pixar’s newest film Brave, we finally see that this titan of animation is not perfect and endlessly innovative, but they are still damn good.

Brave is the story a midievil Scottish princess named Merida, a teenager who is not ready to wanting to get married and live the princess life. Her father Fergus, an infamous bear-killing king, is the source of comic relief and fun while the mother, Elinor, seems only to want to have her daughter be the most formal princess she can be, making Merida walk, talk, and behave in a proper fashion at all times. On the day her suitors compete for her hand, she enters the field and wins her own hand, and runs away later that night after a fallout with her mother. Merida stumbles upon a witch, who gives her a cake that will “change” her mother. Merida finds out the hard way that she gets exactly what she wants, and only has two days to return her mother to normal.

The typical teenage attitude, the witch’s giving a dangerous food item to the heroin, and mother daughter relationship, and most all parts of the story and easily recognizable and not original. Nothing about the dialogue or plot is new or refreshing, and even the animation of the Scottish people was done just two years ago in How to Train Your Dragon. This film won’t surprise you in any way, and it’s 100 minute run time is just short enough to not complain about.

That being said, the film is still put together really well, and is still entertaining. The voice cast is good and really fun, featuring Kelly Macdonald as the redheaded princess and others such as Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, and Craig Ferguson. The soundtrack is in line with Disney’s usual catchy and fulfilling songs, and the visuals are really good. The only downpoint is the fact that Pixar hasn’t come up with an incredible new story with ground breaking visuals, only just a really good movie. And if that is the only downfall, then I think we have all been a bit spoiled by the revolutionary career of Pixar animation.

My Rating

3/4 – Pixar’s newest film is the first time that I have not been awe-struck by an innovative story and new, breathtaking visuals, but that only seems like a blemish because of how spoiled we’ve been with Pixar’s incredible past works. The truth is, this is a lovely family film that most everyone should enjoy.

The Adventures of Tintin

Intrepid reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock’s ancestor.

IMDb

RottenTomatoes

First off, I think we all have been waiting for the day to come when Steven Spielberg directs more movies. Tintin and War Horse, released in the same month, have been the first movies he has directed since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, which got a less than stellar reception. Spielberg now has movies under his direction slated to release in the following two years, along with many films he is producing. It’s good to have him back in full swing.

The Secret World of Arrietty

The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family’s residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.

IMDb

RottenTomatoes

Most everyone knows the general story of Mary Norton‘s ‘The Borrowers’. A family of really small people, in this case four inches, lives in the confines of a nomral families home, making a living off of borrowing their things. It was made into a movie here in the U.S. in 1997 with John Goodman and Jim Broadbent. Well in 2010, Studio Ghibli decided to give this story a go. In 2011, a UK dubbed version was released, and that is the version that I will be talking about, but it also came out with American actors voicing it this past weekend on February 17th.