I went with my husband to see Brave at the drive-in this weekend; it was showing with The Avengers, which we saw again in the hopes that this time, when Agent Coulson asks “What do we do?” Nick Fury would actually say “Assemble!” No such luck, but it was still good the second time around.
I found Brave very enjoyable. True, it is not revolutionary like WALL-E or Up. But even if it’s the worst Pixar movie ever made (and I don’t think it is), that still makes it pretty good. I think it is a nice addition to Disney’s other princess movies. Princess Merida is no carefree beauty–she chafes under duty and obligation, personified by her ladylike mother, Queen Elinor, so she actually goes and does something about it. The mother-daughter relationship is very realistic, as well as unique among Disney movies. In the end, Merida and Elinor understand each other better and learn to work out their differences productively; Merida accepts some of her responsibility, and her mom learns to let her hair down (literally).
Brave is in turns serious and funny, but the two are mostly separate because the humor is often a little slapstick and not very mature (exceptions: the witch character, and a very prissy bear). There were definitely some laugh-out-loud funny moments, and some nice touches of whimsy. The plot is fairly simple but has some cute little twists. In terms of experience, the visuals are stunning. I can only image how long it took them to get her hair and facial expressions so perfect. With some of the landscapes I could almost forget I was watching animation. (And the music is lovely, too.)
The short before the movie is called “La Luna,” and it is almost worth going to see Brave just for this!
A few other pieces of news from the weekend:
- Battle Royale is now available on Netflix streaming! I went and watched the very last requiem so I could finally understand what Kitano says to Noriko.
- The Microsoft Surface, which will be available in fall whenever Windows 8 releases, is made for creating content as well as consuming it. Cool features: built-in stand, colored cover that doubles as a keyboard, USB port, as much processing power as a desktop. Full announcement video here.
- Lonesome George has died, making the Pinta subspecies of the Galapagos tortoise extinct. http://www.galapagospark.org/boletin.php?noticia=628
Jedi by Knight 