Movie thoughts: "Brave"
I saw the new Pixar film "Brave" yesterday, and I didn't like it.
I'd only seen one trailer, ages ago, and hadn't gone looking for any other information. It looked pretty, it was Disney/Pixar, of course I was going to go see it. I'd rather go in with no expectations.
It starts well enough - very pretty indeed, gorgeous scenery, Merida seems interesting, and I loved the idea of her joining into the tournament to earn her own hand in marriage! And then she runs away and gets led magically into the forest and the standing stones and everything's set up for her to have some sort of amazing adventure (and maybe learn some humility and realise how awful she just was to her mother). Right?
Well, no, and the plot seems to switch tracks into something else entirely. The whole thing of Merida asking the witch to put a spell on her mother, and the way she behaves, made me thoroughly dislike her. And once the spell kicks in and the Queen turns into a bear, well, it just felt like a different film entirely to what we'd started out with.
Something that annoyed me throughout the film is that the plot seems to run on everyone being stupid. A few cases in point:
- being so careless as to request a witch for a spell to "change" someone, without any sort of specification.
- Merida distracts everyone so Elinor can get up the stairs without being noticed. And what does she do? Stand around for minutes of precious time.
- When Merida's locked in the room and the nanny has the key, why not just explain it to her? If she refuses to believe it, the story continues on as it was, but it doesn't make her look stupid.
- Merida's father not listening to her when she tries to stop him from killing Elinor. Surely if your daughter's there saying the bear is really your wife, and is willing to fight you to make you stop, you STOP AND LISTEN instead of charging ahead.
- For that matter, why not explain the whole thing earlier? Why does nobody notice that Merida and Elinor have been missing for an ENTIRE DAY? (Actually I suspect that day might have been written in later, and it was originally meant to all take place in one night. "Second sunrise" seems like an odd choice of timing for fixing the spell.)
The demon-bear just seemed like a waste of a good idea, really. Other than setting up the backstory, we hardly ever see it and it's not really a recurring threat. If it was lurking in the woods throughout the film, always a danger, that might be interesting.
It dawned on me afterwards that Merida never really has to change or develop throughout the film. She starts out headstrong and independent and doesn't get along with her mother, because they have opposite opinions. By the end of the film? Merida is just as headstrong and independent but gets along with her mother, because her mother has accepted and shares her opinion entirely. No need to compromise or mature, she just gets her own way.
Admittedly I'm not sure where the compromise would have to get them. But just some level of Merida accepting responsibility would be nice.
I went looking for trailers after seeing the movie, and found this Japanese one - seriously, I want to see this movie. Where did it go?
Finally, I must say that the accompanying short film "La Luna" is ever so sweet. :)
I'd only seen one trailer, ages ago, and hadn't gone looking for any other information. It looked pretty, it was Disney/Pixar, of course I was going to go see it. I'd rather go in with no expectations.
It starts well enough - very pretty indeed, gorgeous scenery, Merida seems interesting, and I loved the idea of her joining into the tournament to earn her own hand in marriage! And then she runs away and gets led magically into the forest and the standing stones and everything's set up for her to have some sort of amazing adventure (and maybe learn some humility and realise how awful she just was to her mother). Right?
Well, no, and the plot seems to switch tracks into something else entirely. The whole thing of Merida asking the witch to put a spell on her mother, and the way she behaves, made me thoroughly dislike her. And once the spell kicks in and the Queen turns into a bear, well, it just felt like a different film entirely to what we'd started out with.
Something that annoyed me throughout the film is that the plot seems to run on everyone being stupid. A few cases in point:
- being so careless as to request a witch for a spell to "change" someone, without any sort of specification.
- Merida distracts everyone so Elinor can get up the stairs without being noticed. And what does she do? Stand around for minutes of precious time.
- When Merida's locked in the room and the nanny has the key, why not just explain it to her? If she refuses to believe it, the story continues on as it was, but it doesn't make her look stupid.
- Merida's father not listening to her when she tries to stop him from killing Elinor. Surely if your daughter's there saying the bear is really your wife, and is willing to fight you to make you stop, you STOP AND LISTEN instead of charging ahead.
- For that matter, why not explain the whole thing earlier? Why does nobody notice that Merida and Elinor have been missing for an ENTIRE DAY? (Actually I suspect that day might have been written in later, and it was originally meant to all take place in one night. "Second sunrise" seems like an odd choice of timing for fixing the spell.)
The demon-bear just seemed like a waste of a good idea, really. Other than setting up the backstory, we hardly ever see it and it's not really a recurring threat. If it was lurking in the woods throughout the film, always a danger, that might be interesting.
It dawned on me afterwards that Merida never really has to change or develop throughout the film. She starts out headstrong and independent and doesn't get along with her mother, because they have opposite opinions. By the end of the film? Merida is just as headstrong and independent but gets along with her mother, because her mother has accepted and shares her opinion entirely. No need to compromise or mature, she just gets her own way.
Admittedly I'm not sure where the compromise would have to get them. But just some level of Merida accepting responsibility would be nice.
I went looking for trailers after seeing the movie, and found this Japanese one - seriously, I want to see this movie. Where did it go?
Finally, I must say that the accompanying short film "La Luna" is ever so sweet. :)