So I got to see Brave tonight at an advance screening. Beautiful animation, and the story wasn't as lackluster as I expected from the early reviews. It may not have been quite up to normal Pixar form, but it was easily on par with a lot of Disney's recent stuff, and I liked it lots better than Cars. My kids loved it and my buddy who went with us enjoyed it a lot too. Only problem is the bulb on the projector wasn't cranked up enough to accommodate the darker 3D animation and it ended up being hard to make out everything.

Tip: Yes, there's a scene after the credits.

Anyone else get to see this early?

I'm still waiting for a trailer to tell me what the plot is.

There's a girl that don't need no man. Some haggis jokes. A bear. Three bratty kids.

Still no idea how all this coalesces into a narrative. ...But I'm still gonna go see it. I skipped "Cars 2", so I've been jonesing for a Pixar movie.

I got to see it first thing Monday morning. One thing about Disney preview screenings is that they always seem to want to confiscate all of your digital devices, now. I always worry about losing the phone-retrieval ticket stub they give you. Great animation, occasionally funny, and some of the art direction was inspired, but the movie just kept reminding me of things I'd seen elsewhere (I won't' mention where, 'cuz spoilers). A worthy entry, I'd say. Now then, I still need to track down Secret of Kells...

-BT

Near as I can make out...

Tomboy that doesn't want to be a court lady, but rather go the whole "Warrior Princess" route. Gets fed up with a tournament for an arranged marriage that strains the already strained relationship with her "Proper Decorum" mother. Gets fed up and runs away from home, to seek out some magician to help change her fate so she doesn't have to be a court lady.

Meets bear along the way, I'm guessing.

Finds magician and, like all magicians in the Disney universe save Rafiki (Who is more of a shaman, but I digress), changing her fate doesn't go the way she'd planned it to. Her mother disappears and it seems the kingdom is plunged into civil war while her father sets out to find his daughter, probably with the daughter setting out to find her mother.

Movie probably ends with everything back and everybody happy, probably with some message about the importance of family. Sees Daughter settle down into the proper court lady mode, but continues using a bow and probably still has the bear around with some message about how you can be what others expect you to be without compromising your own happiness.

Rust! Spoiler tags! Sheesh!

Well all that and the three bratty kids apparently are turned into bear cubs. If toys are to be believed.

All I will say about the plot is that Disney has tried really hard to keep a big plot twist secret, and the toy commercials completely blew that effort. ;-)

Yes, it seemed very derivative of other stories (or if you're generous you might call the movie traditional), but it was still enjoyable.

Screening for electronic devices isn't a Disney thing, that's how most of these are now.

BC

From the sound of it, needs more Symmetrical Docking.

yeah! where's the giant chrome swords of justice? and the pics of Korean re-release toys?

Ah, so

HIGHLIGHT to view:
The Mother is the Bear then? I ask because the trailer has this part where some guy demands "Where's the Queen?!"

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Meridia goes to find a witch to 'change her fate' and is given a spirit cake. She feeds the cake to her mother which turns her mom into a bear. (later on the 3 brats eat crumbs and turn into bear cubs) Insert quest to right the wrongs here, some laughs, Momma bear steps up to fight evil bear, spell gets broken, everyone happy.

Huh. I wasn't far off in my initial estimate of the movie then. Sounds like a fun film.

I think it can all be summed up with the fiery redhead trope.

Just got back from a 3D showing. Not the strongest Pixar plotline of all time - I could have stood for a little more adventure, but my wife is all about the family stuff, so it was perfect for her - but breathtakingly beautiful filmmaking, and certainly quite enjoyable.

I thought it was good but not great. I'd put it on the low end of the Pixar films (the only one I haven't seen yet is Cars 2). Still a good movie, I was just expecting a bit more (and I had guessed people HIGHLIGHT to view:
turned to bears by the 3 bear cubs on the commercials.

Randy

**A few spoilers follow, so beware**

Yeah, I'd agree that the story wasn't quite up to the usual Pixar standards in terms of feeling unique (or presenting well-used concepts in unique ways) but it was quite enjoyable nonetheless, and the scenery was gorgeous; it's really amazing how far computer animation has come in that respect. I went to see a 10:30 show tonight at a theatre nearby, wagering a family-rated CG flick wouldn't have huge crowds of teenagers at that time of night with Madagascar 3 and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World playing at the same theatre... which I won, as it was lightly-populated for a movie that just came out yesterday. Most of the audience looked like couples in their 20s on dates and a few families with young kids (very well-behaved) in tow.

They really did a good job with all the characters (Merida's parents were both very amusing in their own ways), and the three brothers' antics managed to amuse kids without interfering much with the larger story. Actually, I expected a lot more scenes with them wreaking havoc as bear cubs, but mercifully that wasn't the case. The whole issue of the betrothal seemed solved very quickly when it came down to it, but I guess that was never the central conflict of this story to begin with. Merida herself was a good female character, and I'd say she's a solid & positive non-traditional role model for girls (Lauren Faust probably approves, if she's seen the film yet). She's a Princess, I guess, but I'm not sure whether or not Pixar characters qualify to be part of the Disney Princesses character lineup?

Ah yes, and Scottish accents are really quite cute, lol.

The Pixar short that preceded it, La Luna, was pretty cute too. They've been veering towards the really whimsical stuff lately. For some reason the trailers attached to it in my theatre weren't shown in 3-D, which was a bit irritating. Pretty much every one of them was coming to theatres in 3-D, the trailers themselves saying so; why not play them in 3-D before a 3-D movie?

There was a cute moment in my theatre while the credits were rolling. One of the kids in the audience got up and actually hugged her mom, lol. It's kind of nice to see that Pixar movies have still got it when it comes to affecting children.

Saw it, was pretty good. Also, quite impressive how the trailers didn't spoil the
HIGHLIGHT to view:

"mom turns into a bear" thing.

Anyone got Brother Bear flashbacks outta this?

The evil demon bear plot and his backstory was really compelling. I feel the entire focus of the movie should have been about stopping him instead of what we did get.

Yeah, while i liked the film, it wasn't really as good as some of Pixar's later efforts.

BTW, what was after the credits? We left before they were over.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
The crow delivered all the wood carvings to the castle.

Thanks..the group I was with wanted to leave b4 the credits, too. They were all "Why did she need to be a princess? Why not the baker's daughter" And some complaint about it not living up the feminist needs or something that I didn't get..

smh

I enjoyed it.

Plus Steve Purcell (of Sam&Max fame!) co-directed it!

Went to see it this past weekend with my wife and 3 year old daughter, we enjoyed the film. I'll echo Zecora's post, this film should have revolved a bit more around Mor'du (the Evil Bear).


--SoS

I wonder if any parents will complain about the nudity.

Find out what my wife and I thought...

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/to-from...ael/id539367749

Like it, didn't love it. Good but not Pixar good. It did make me REALLY want to see a true Pixar fantasy film though.

We thought it was great. Just a fun legend/fairy tale with great characters and beautiful art.

Not as deep/artsy a film as, Rattatuie, Wall-E or Up. But that isn't a criticism, it was just a lighter more "fun" picture, and still a really good one.


-ZacWilliam, I'd definately enjoy it again given the chance.

....

Oh.

Here I thought you'd be talking about giant robots smashing things.

Sorry, just saw it.

Yeah, it was Brother Bear-ish. Didn't feel too Pixar ish. I really did want more high adventure (versus evil bear, yeah) but it was still rather touching. I avoided trailers and info so the brother bear aspect totally caught me off guard.

My wife, and I took our daughter to see it.

I really enjoyed it, the wife loved it, and so did our Daughter.

However the Will-O-Wisps, and the Big Bad Bear has given my daughter nightmares for the last few nights. So thats kinda epic..... -_-

Took the family to see it last weekend.

Liked La Luna
For some odd reason, we got no Previews. Maybe because it was the first showing of the day? I was mildly disappointed by that. We were there over 30 minutes early, early enough that the projector wasn't even on yet.

The movie itself had me tearing up a couple of times. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I can easily say it's not their best movie, but I loved the setting, the characters, and while I enjoyed the story, I did feel like the climax was rushed. Seems like there should have been a bit more to the cursed prince's part of the story.

All in all, though, I came out of the theater satisfied, and my wife and sons enjoyed it.

I love you guys.