Epic Bravery

 Last night I finally saw Brave. After hours of getting lost in Omaha, we finally came to a theater with a late showing, and got there just as the previews were starting. It was worth the wait. :)

Brave was epic. I would have loved it even if it was just the music and the scenes of Scotland. It was so incredibly detailed, that it didn't even need the story to be a work of art all on its own. But it had the story, and it had the humor. Pixar has done it again, and it was amazing.

After Cars 2 came out, Pixar got a lot of flack. They were accused of hitting their high point with Toy Story 3, and that they were pretty much through. Some just flat out called it an awful movie. Where all that hate came from I don't know, I loved Cars 2. It was hilarious and exciting. I found it to be even better than the first Cars. Not every movie has to be a huge roller coaster of emotions to be a good movie. It wasn't supposed to be that kind of a movie. It was just plain fun, so to all those critics: Go soak your heads.

Hopefully with Brave, those critics will be appeased. It had the emotion, it had the drama, it had the humor. It had pretty much everything, and it was great. There are plenty of plot twists if you haven't over-analyzed the trailers and figured them out like I did, but even though I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen, there was still plenty of suspense, because it's impossible to figure everything out from a few two minute clips. My friends were very surprised by a few of the twists that I had already suspected were coming, so if you haven't been "Spoiled" you'll be pretty surprised by more than one turn of events.

Most people who know what I like in a sci-fi or fantasy movie, know that it's the creatures, and in this case the creatures were of the real variety, rather than the fantasy variety. Horses and bears being the two main animals featured. Merida's horse is a Clydesdale, Angus, and he is just gorgeous. I love horses to begin with, but I really love giant horses like that. :) The other creatures were the bears, and the design on the "Demon" bear was pretty horrific. I expected it to be ugly, but man did its face look hideous. All the better for it to be the "Bad Guy" of the film.
One last thing on creatures, I love a good creature brawl, and the bear fight near the end was just epic. :)

The character of the witch turned out to be an unexpected gem for me. Her role in the film was so small, probably 5 minutes max, but aside from Merida's 3 brothers, she was one of the funniest characters of all. When the witch put on her welding mask, I about died laughing, and her "Answering Machine" cauldron was a hilarious bit of genius. :D

I also loved how they crafted the tension between Merida and her mother. Too often a story will be geared towards one audience, and the stupid adult is proved to be wrong in the end, and the headstrong child is the hero for defying them. Or the disobedient child is completely in the wrong, and if they'd listened to their wise, all-knowing parents in the first place, nothing bad would have happened, proving that parents know everything and you should never question them. Neither one is a realistic scenario, and neither one was the case here.

Instead of making a film to empower rebellious children, or a film to preach to kids to always listen to their parents, the film told a much more realistic story, geared toward both kids and adults, where the parents try their best, but aren't perfect, and the child's disobedience is not praised, but causes multiple terrible things to happen. The trailer seemed to glorify how "Headstrong" Merida is, but by the end of the film, she realized that she had been in the wrong and her tearful apology was heart-wrenching, especially when you consider that it seemed that her actions had cost her her mother's life.

One of the key "Morals" to the story was the importance of communication. You can shout at each other all you want, but that is not communication. It takes listening on the count of BOTH parties involved, with BOTH parties willing to concede that they don't know everything. "Because I said so," arguments are pretty much the height of arrogance, and that never gets anyone anywhere. A response like that only fuels the flames of rebellion. In my opinion that's one reason our country is in such a mess. It's not just a problem with parents acting like they know everything and children are expected to unquestioningly obey, but it's also the government. Politicians act like they know everything and the people are supposed to unquestioningly obey. Neither situation ever ends very well.

Okay, well, that took a very strange political detour that I really didn't intend to make, but I guess it just goes to show that you can get a lot of things out of a good story, even if that wasn't what the author intended. :)

In conclusion, go see Brave. It hilarious, it's exciting, it's gorgeous. In short, it's Pixar. :)

Cars 2 and a “Brave” Debut

Last night I went to see Cars 2. I can say for certain that it was 10 times better than the first one, and I really liked the first one. The movie focused mainly on Mater and two new characters, Finn McMissile, and Holly Shiftwell. Mater is caught up in an espionage plot that eventually threatens the life of his best friend Lightning McQueen. It was like a James Bond film if James Bond were a car. All the other characters from the first film were there as well, but Mater was the star.

It was hilarious and exciting. I highly recommend this movie, and if my cousin is able to go with me, I will be seeing it a second time. I almost never see a movie twice in the theater, so you know it was good. :)

Also, now that it has debuted in theaters, the teaser trailer for Pixar’s next film, “Brave” is now out. It is very short, but it looks like it will be a beautiful movie. It appears that it will be Pixar’s most mature film to date. Pixar has always made mature films, they just do them in such a way that the entire family will be engaged. What I mean by most mature, is that it appears that this will be more of a drama than a comedy, as Pixar’s other films were more comedy than drama. Either way, I can’t wait! It looks amazing!

As an aside, the new short, Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation was a laugh riot! All the Characters from Toy Story 3 were back. The plot focus was on Ken and Barbie, who wanted to go to Hawaii with Bonnie. When they are left behind, the other Toys do their best to bring Hawaii to them. Make sure that if you go to see Cars 2, you get there early enough to See the Brave Trailer, and Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation!

A “Brave” New World

As anyone who knows me knows, I am a HUGE Pixar fan. Pixar is hands down the best film company in the world, and there is no way that anyone will ever be able to convince me otherwise. The last original movie that Pixar released was “Up”, and that was over two years ago. Last year they released Toy Story 3 and this year they release Cars 2. As great as Toy Story 3 was and Cars 2 is sure to be, I am really anxious for an original story and I can’t help but be wildly excited for their next film, the first original story since Up.

The film is called “Brave”, and it is set in ancient Scotland. It is a first for Pixar in many areas. It is the first Pixar film to feature a female character in a lead role, It is Pixar’s first attempt at a “Princess” film, and it is Pixar’s first Fairy Tale. In the last few days, There have been a few glimpses as to the nature of the film
The biggest one was the release of the very first poster for the film.

This makes me want to see it so bad! :D

Today they released the very first official image from the film, A picture of the heroine, Princess Merida.

I love her hair!
They have also released concept art for four of the main characters.

Princess Merida

Queen Elinor

Lord Macintosh

The Wise Woman

If you ask me, the wise woman looks like she could be related to Carl Fredrickson from Up. Maybe a very distant Ancestor? :)

The very first teaser trailer for the film is set to debut tomorrow with the release of Cars 2. As if I needed another reason to go see Cars 2! :D I won’t be able to see it on opening day, but I hope to be able to see it within the week, and you can bet I will be blogging about the film as soon as I see it! I will also let you know my thoughts about the Brave teaser, and the new Pixar short film, and the first in a series of Toy Story Toons, “Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation”. It looks great as well! :)

Cars 2

My most anticipated movie this year is Cars 2, though, as you might guess from previous blog posts, The Muppets is a very close second.
As any serious Pixar fan will recall, Cars was Pixar’s least liked film. It didn’t get many bad reviews, but it received lukewarm reviews compared to Pixar’s other films. That’s why this quote makes me extremely happy. :)
Speaking of Cars 2, Justin Chang, a writer for Variety said:
"Unexpectedly delightful... The rare sequel that not only improves on but retroactively justifies its predecessor."
Here is a trailer for the film. It looks so amazing and hilarious!

Do I want to see it? Is the Pope-mobile Catholic?! :D

Here is a preview clip from the film as well. I know the results of this will be hilarious. :D