Brave (2012)

"Mor'duuuuuuuuuuuuuu" (Princess Merida)

Well chalk one up for being human and the conservation of greatness.  Pixar is not destined to make mind-bogglingly good movies forever.  While, I fully acknowledge that Brave is a good movie.  It will never be in the pantheon of "Pixar" movies.  There is something often inexplicable about having pinash.  It's a shame that Brave does not have it.

The Good:  I actually enjoyed the whole concept that our villain in this movie was a giant non-talking demon bear.  It was even cool to learn his backstory.  The bear as force and as opposition for our characters had a lot of potential.  (I'm not entirely convinced that Brave's writers used this to its full potential but... it's all good.)

The So-So:  There were roughly three montages to music that took place during the film.  Two of them are used to establish/break, and rebuild the relationship between mother and daughter.  I didn't mind the first montage.  It was sharp and crisp in cuts in addition to providing a sense of timing and frustration.  However, the counterpoint montage mostly failed to deliver on any of the promise of plot or emotions of the characters.  It was just daughter and bear set to off-putting music.

The Questionable:   This may be wrong but, I got the distinct feeling from Brave that Pixar very much wanted to do a Scottish movie.  So the style, location, and feel were ingrained in the staff before they chose the story.  My opinion is that movies are generally better when one chooses a quality story before the location and accents.  So this is probably the reason that I did not connect with this Brave in the same way that I have with other Pixar movies in the past.  (This is not meant as a jibe at the storyline of Brave.)

Ratings:

Craig Ferguson:  Of course you saw it.  (Is there a Scottish related animated film that you are not in?)

Princesses:  See it

Scotsmen:  Skip it  (I just think you would feel bad about how thick and silly the accents are.)

Cineaphiles:  Skip it

Demon Bears:  See it

On a scale of Bob Villa to Bob Costas, I give Brave 3 out of 5 stars.