Brave

Brave - Dirs. Dirs. Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman & Steve Purcell (2012)

Brave marks several firsts for Pixar. It's their first period piece and their first fairy tale. It was to be the first Pixar project directed by a woman in Brenda Chapman (inspired by her relationship with her daughter) until she was replaced by Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell though she still receives credit. Brave is also the first Pixar film to feature a female protagonist in the lead role.

Set in the Scottish Highlands long ago, Brave follows the strong-willed Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) and her equally stubborn mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Merida prefers to roam free and practice archery while the Queen prefers Merida be molded into a proper lady. That includes lessons in refinement and diplomacy. Now that she's come of age, tradition calls for Merida to be married off to one of the sons of the neighboring clan leaders. Merida discovers a witch (Julie Walters) deep within the forest and asks her for a spell to change her fate. Of course, it all goes wrong with Elinor being turned into a bear. It's Mother Bear, instead of Brother Bear.

You can't help but be awestruck by the beauty of the animation. Pixar has outdone themselves once more in creating a vibrant world of misty mountains, dark forests, and evergreen hilltops. Even Merida's flowing red locks seem to have a life of their own. Animators actually created new software just to render her wild mane of hair, which symbolizes Merida's thirst for freedom. The contrast between mother and daughter is never more apparent than when Merida is forced to wear a restrictive Maid Marian outfit. She slips a tuft of hair from underneath her cap in a defiant expression of identity. There's a palpable tenderness to their relationship even when Elinor is in bear form. The animators do an impressive job in making her emote strictly through paw and facial movements. The creative minds of Pixar have been behind some of the most memorable father-son relationships depicted in cinema, from Nemo and Marlin in Finding Nemo to Russell and his crotchety surrogate Mr. Fredricksen in Up. No surprise that their first exploration of maternal bonds should be as equally heartfelt.

There's plenty of humor (and naked buttocks) to be found in Brave. Much of the humor derives from the "wee devils" that are Merida's younger brothers, the triplets Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Kelly Macdonald (who replaced Reese Witherspoon) heads up a cast of talented Scottish thespians who end an aura of authenticity. The actors include Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, and the great Billy Connolly as Merida's father King Fergus, who lost a leg in battle against the demonic bear Mor'du.

The critical response to Brave was surprisingly mixed. Perhaps, reviewers were expecting Pixar to completely deconstruct the Disney princess genre. However, Pixar didn't need to reinvent the wheel with Brave because it is so lusciously animated and well-crafted.

Rating: *** (*****)

Up

Up - Dirs. Pete Docter & Bob Peterson (2009)

Pixar has come up with a novel approach to their films. They create characters that you actually care about. Every multi-million dollar CGI creature out there will never hold a candle to the odd assortment of protagonists that star in Pixar’s latest Up. Hell, the characters in the short cartoon before the feature film are more interesting than any of Michael Bay’s explosion pornos. Up was co-directed and co-written by Pete Docter (Monster’s Inc.) and Bob Peterson (a screenwriter on Finding Nemo) with Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor) also receiving story credit.

Up immediately tugs at your heart strings in its opening prologue. We meet Carl Fredericksen, a short, shy kid with huge glasses who is obsessed with adventurer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). Carl meets and falls in love with Ellie, a neighbor girl who is his exact opposite. She’s wild-haired, boisterous, and energetic. What follows is a montage of their lives together as they get married and dream of moving to South America. Ellie eventually passes away, leaving Carl an old curmudgeon living (now voiced by Ed Asner and visually inspired by Spencer Tracy) alone in the house they built together. When his neighborhood is torn down for redevelopment, Carl saves his home by turning it into a makeshift airship, attaching a horde of helium balloons to it. He hopes to fly it to the mythical Paradise Falls which had been discovered by Muntz decades ago.

Carl doesn’t realize he has a stowaway in young Russell (Jordan Nagai), a Wilderness Explorer who can’t seem to stop talking. Carl meets up with more unwanted guests such as an exotic bird that Russell names Kevin and Dug (Peterson), a dog who can speak with aid from a special collar. The collar is an ingenious device to get around the usually hokey Disney staple of talking animal sidekicks. Dug is one of a pack of trained dogs that belong to Muntz who is still alive and gone all Captain Ahab in his obsessive search for the bird.

It should go without saying that Up is flawlessly animated and a gorgeous feast for the eyes. Nobody does computer animation better than Pixar. The story itself is delightful full of humor, adventure and drama. The script prides itself on being intelligently written and believable, despite the wacky situations. It doesn’t rely on the lazy pop culture references that dominate most CGI films in a pandering attempt to win over older audience members. There is actual emotional investment in the journey of the heroes. Docter and Peterson write their characters not as cartoons, but as real people. Carl is believable as an elderly widower while Russell behaves exactly like a kid his age. Even Dug speaks in the exact manner you expect a dog would.

I’m sure if I thought long and hard, I could find a few chinks in the armor of Up. But, right now, I can’t think of any and I honestly don’t want to. This is worthy follow-up to Wall-E and definitely one of the best of the Pixars. Up cements the fact that it may be nearly impossible for Pixar to make a terrible movie.

I’ve seen it twice so far, once in 2D and again in 3D. While the 3D looks great, it doesn’t offer that much more than the 2D version. I didn’t feel the world was opened up enough and, as Roger Ebert stated in his review, the 3D process does tend to mute the exceptional color palette of the film. 2D or 3D, just see the film.

Rating: ****