Brave - A Movie Not About Toasters

I remember a lot of buzz surrounding Brave. People seemed equal parts excited and concerned that Pixar was putting out a female-led story. Now that the movie's out, it seems to be doing very well, but there's been a lot of finger-wagging. "The movie's competent," they say, "but it doesn't feel like Pixar."

I got a chance to see the movie on Saturday of last week, and I've got quite a few thoughts on the matter. I'll say right off, though, that Pixar's Brave is probably the number 2 movie that I've seen so far this year, beating out The Avengers easily and losing only a little ground to that OTHER movie about a girl with a bow.

Above: Antz and A Bug's Life

It seems to me that the critique I'm hearing most about Brave is that it's not as good as Toy Story, to which I say, "...Really?"

Sure, when it came out, Toy Story was a revelation. Toy Story was the first fully CG feature-length film, and it wowed everyone. It had a heartwarming story about courage, friendship, and blahblahblah, and the story appealed to children and adults alike, even with the prominent protagonist playthings.

Of course, everything looked like it was made out of plastic. Now, when you're dealing with action figures, that's not so bad. I WISH real action figures looked as good as the toys in the Toy Story movies. However, when you look at the people...

Sid's a terrifying creature, but that's not necessarily his design - he's pretty snugly nested in the uncanny valley. The ability to animate humans in CG has improved dramatically over the years. Take another look at Brave's Merida.

She's obviously not life-like, but there's a stronger sense of stylistic design with her character. The departures from realistic norms - like the size of her head and neck - feel more like animation choices. The character designers weren't going for strict realism or abstract cartooning, but something in-between.

Oh, and can we talk about that character design for a minute? One of Brave's real victories, I think, is in it's non-conventional heroine. Compared to most leading ladies, Merida's a bit different - her hair's not perfect (in fact, it's wildly out of control), and her face isn't as elfin as most princesses. You still see a bit of baby fat. She's not really the "standard" of female beauty, yet she's still a beautiful character. And it's kinda refreshing to see a curly-haired character not freak out about the curls.

I guess the question is, then, is that enough? Brave doesn't really have the most original story - it's about as unique as every other fairy tale. Is it really enough to praise Brave for its unconventional protagonist when most of the rest of the story is formulaic?

Well, yes.

Don't get me wrong, MY idea for Brave would have been MUCH less derivative (think Predator meets White Fang with a female protagonist), but, for what it is, Brave does a fine job of telling a good story with fresh characters, great pacing, a rich environment, and a satisfying conclusion. What more could you ask for?

By the way, I will be accepting Kickstarter donations for my next project, Braver: The White Fanged Predator starting soon.