The Bourne Legacy; well I like action films, but this one should have been shorter. I didn’t need to know what had happened before this particular Bourne. They’re all the same, in some way. But they need to be entertaining.

We watched it in atrocious company. Stockport cineworld is usually pretty good at keeping noisy elements quiet, or chucking them out. This time we were several adults, making more than one trip to the foyer to point out they needed to do something about two groups of immature ‘teenagers.’ One group was thrown out after two hours, and that was too late.

Maybe they found it boring, too.

For me it was like a James Bond gone bad. Somehow Jeremy Renner blended into Daniel Craig before my eyes.

So I had some hope of Brave being better, on the grounds that surely one of two films must be OK. It was mercifully shorter, once we’d suffered through half an hour of commercials, trailer and a little something else just to tease us.

I liked Merida’s hair. Very pretty. And you can’t help but enjoy Billy Connolly. But there wasn’t much else in this Disney view of what Scotland looks like. Some light relief in seeing what they wore under their kilts, but…

Don’t mind childish. Don’t mind cheesy. But I need something to tug at my heart (I do have one). The children in the audience liked the pratfalls. But that’s not the same as a good film.

What worries me the most is that fed on a film diet like this, soon no one will know what to demand. Disney films in the ‘olden days’ (not all that long ago) usually had something. Even the ones that got bad reviews tended to have enough to please me and not feel I’d wasted my time or my money.

You can’t pretend to make a good film. You actually have to do it.

Since its inception, Pixar Animation Studios have always been recognised as the organisation that have collaborated with Walt Disney Pictures and provided us with masterpieces within the animation genre featuring different characters and varied aspects of realistic and fictional life. For the very first time, Pixar had disappointed us with Cars 2 and to possibly revive that and bring back that symbol of hope, there was a lot on Brave and its maker’s shoulders. They’d not only create for their first individual project since Up in 2009 but also make an attempt at a fairy tale, which is what their colleagues at Disney have specialized in over the years. Nevertheless, although there was a rather original idea behind Brave, it did prove itself worthy as an overall success but it is not quite on that superior level among Pixar’s greatest.

Throughout this era of filmmaking, we have seen Pixar compete against DreamWorks Animations and have almost always come out on top. However, although Brave is quite possibly the best Pixar to date regarding animated effects and had successfully managed to provide us with on-going gags, it lacked the charm, the magic and the excitement that we should have – a bit like a DreamWorks Animations feature. Like quite a few of their works, the plot of Brave occasionally turned rather dry, surprisingly felt a tad corny and lost its grasp at emotionally engaging the viewers. Furthermore, following a twist mid-way through, it became an entirely different film. Instead, from a story about a young fulfilling her destiny as a highly talented archer, it transformed into a story connected with Mulan and Brother Bear. You can just tell where Pixar are slowly losing their touch in developing brand new stories and it really needs fixing. The 3D experience was not entirely worth it either.

For the first time, Pixar select a female protagonist, who follows in the footsteps of Belle, Jasmine, Snow White and other Disney Princesses. Yet at the same time, Princess Merida, Pixar’s latest hero, is one on her own and is not the next Disney Princess as she is a tomboy and has personal passions and has a mild rebellious side to her. This still makes her a beautiful young girl with a big heart. Due to this approach, she is perhaps more appealing to the kids than the adults. Furthermore, Pixar have given us different characters that are either deadly serious with a realistic touch or are on a more comical and wacky level (not necessarily a bad thing). In the role of Princess Merida was Kelly MacDonald has she executed these varied characteristics impressively and with the dazzling animated effects, she is still a likable leading character.

Throughout practically every film that we have seen featuring a king and/or queen whether historical or fictional, we have witnessed life on their behalf and their pressures and difficulties. With Brave’s King Fergus and Queen Elinor, the traditional behaviours of the royals are still maintained, but Pixar unusually and at the same time, creatively manage to add a comical and humorous touch. These are illustrated within each of these two characters. First, Queen Elinor is the more serious of the two as she plays the role of a strict queen wanting what’s best for her kingdom. Also, she has a sensitive side as a mother and eventually sparks an emotional connection with her daughter Merida. English actress Emma Thompson pulled off an impressive performance as Elinor with a very acute Scottish accent. Furthermore, Scottish comedian and actor Billy Connolly comfortably fits into the role of King Fergus. The majority of the humour comes from Fergus and is undoubtedly the strongest character. Finally, the most disappointing aspect of characters within Brave was the very low involvement of the primary antagonist – simply known as the Witch, who was portrayed by Julie Walters. Films, especially ones made by Disney, always need a villain to play a crucial part in order to bring forth the battle of good vs. evil but in that sense, Brave became very un-traditional.

Overall, Brave may have contained certain plot aspects that we have witnessed multiple times over the years, but it is still a beautifully animated, funny and entertaining Pixar film. It perhaps does not entirely feature the emotional attachment and a thought-provoking message for its older viewers, but it is a motion picture that kids will get more enjoyment from. Pixar could have done more with Brave but it deserves to be classed as another success from Pixar and a symbol of hope for them to get back on their feet again after Cars 2.

Billy Elliot. Though we did plan to watch this film in our recent movie marathon we unfortunately did not get round to it, however we both agree that this film is a massive classic in the world of film. If you have not seen it then you must order it from Lovefilm, Netflix, blockbuster or any other way of getting your hands on it. The film is about a young boy named Billy who lives with his widowed father and brother, who are both miners, during the miners’ strike. He accidentally joins a dance lesson one day and from then on is engulfed in the world of dance, much to his father’s disgust. The films shows the struggles of the family dealing with the strike and also the importance of family acceptance. Containing a fabulous soundtrack, this film had many feel good moments that will really make you want to boogie. One of the best aspects of the film is its use of some incredible actors, especially a young Jamie Bell and the marvellous Julie Walters, Jamie Bell certainly makes a name for himself and makes a great team with the well known and lengendary Julie who plays the strict dance teacher pushing him for stardom. This is really a must see film that we can’t recommend enough and will leave you feeling wonderfully refreshed.

Rating: 10/10

Review by Mac and Hattie

After an online storage-enforced hiatus, Tom and Sam return with a double feature of Brave and The Bourne Legacy, delving into Tom’s psyche as he discusses his general lack of enthusiasm for Pixar promotional activity and his severe lack of love for Greengrass’s Bourne. We also talk about Tom’s new TV obsession, Gordon Ramsay’s return on Hotel Hell.

The music in this week’s episode is ‘Born in the USA’ by Bruce Springsteen, ‘Born Slippy’ by Underworld and ‘Born This Way’ by Lady Gaga. Obviously there is a poorly hidden and unsubtle theme there, but this was also done to finally juxtapose Tom with Gaga, something that should have happened years ago.

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I’ve watched Driving Lessons, which also stars Julie Walters, and I really enjoyed it. So did my mum!

I guess the title might lead you to believe this is something to do with native Americans, but in this case we’re talking Brave as in Braveheart, as in plucky medieval Scottish clans residing in castles located in or near highly scenic glens and lochs and forests. The central character is the flame-haired teenage daughter of one of the clan’s lord and lady, and she’s plucky and feisty and good with a bow and arrow, and also naturally fairly aggrieved when her prim and proper mother and gregarious but kindhearted father tell her that they need to marry her off to the heir of one of the other clans in the interest of preserving the peace. You can probably tell where this is going…

…although, actually, you probably can’t, and therein lies my problem with Brave, which is otherwise a perfectly acceptable bit of product, with as much imagination and care put into its beautifully rendered characters, locations and action setpieces as you’d expect. There’s absolutely nothing amiss visually here – the various clan members are lovingly designed and characterised in a manner that reminds me of the Asterix comic strips with a dash of Aardman – and the dialogue’s perfectly serviceable, even if the funny bits run along fairly well-worn grooves, but there seems to be something wrong at a much more basic storytelling level, as if the scriptwriters couldn’t decide which of the three or so main plotlines they were playing with was the most important, so they ended up stitching them awkwardly together Frankenstein-style. There’s nothing wrong in principle in introducing narrative left-turns and confounding an audience’s expectations, and it has in the past been one of Pixar’s greatest virtues that they make a point of sometimes straying from the formula (I’m thinking particularly of the completely unpredictable Up, the unguessable shape of which is one of its main delights), but it really helps if someone takes the trouble to get everything to tie up satisfactorily by the end. The makers of Brave spend a lot of time in the first half of the film setting up a big old family conflict that has major repercussions in the wider community, but then seem to lose interest and get distracted by a new story about the misuse of a kooky witch’s spell, before dragging in elements of an ancient legend that provide a reasonably exciting finale but don’t cast a lot of light on the original dilemma faced by the central character, which by this point has been undramatically diffused via a bit of friendly chat about the value of tradition and unity.  It all feels a bit so-what, really.

Still, there are plenty of individual scenes that make Brave worth a look (I particularly liked the Julie Walters-voiced witch, with her wicked customer service send-ups), even if the whole doesn’t add up to much. Kids will probably love it, but Pixar used to have the gift of making entertainments that kept parents satisfied too. Let’s hope it’s just a blip.

* or Brave 3D, as it’s being advertised as. I duly shelled out for the glasses for this showing, but this feels like a gimmick that’s really run its course now – as in the case of Prometheus or the last Harry Potter film I didn’t even notice the third dimension here. Save your money and go for the flat version.

On he ended up being an Olympic torch-bearer, he said:

“It was through Lloyds. They nominated me. I’ve always loved the Olympics and it’s exciting it’s in London. It was a complete surprise but a great honor. I’ve kept the torch. I might put it on display. I’ll find a use for it. I’m not the most athletic person so it’s probably the only time I’m going to run this year. I’ve got tickets for the swimming and some athletics– I can’t remember what the events are. “ 

On what he got to do in the film CBGB, he said:

“It’s about the New York club CBGB and the punk scene of the time. I play a guitarist called Cheetah Chrome who was in a band called The Dead Boys. I had to be a rock star. It was refreshing.  He’s a snotty-nosed punk rebelling against everything and quite morose– he’s the complete opposite of Ron. I’m still finding it strange breaking out of the whole Harry Potter thing because it was such a huge part of my life.” 

On how was it like working with Shia LaBeouf for The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, he said:

” That was the film before CBGB– The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman. That’s quite a strange one. Shia LaBeouf plays a character who travels around the world. It’s quite a drug-fuelled journey and he meets various crazy characters along the way. I play a character he meets in a youth hostel. I can’t give away what he does but it was quite a transition for me.” 

On whether he’s been looking for roles that’s dissimilar to Ron, he said:

“The roles have just come up but it’s always quite an attractive thing to move away from things connected to the wizard world. They’re quite low-budge films, which I enjoy. It’s a very different process to the huge machines of the Potter films. They’re more rough and ready and I feel part of the team. They don’t have the same weird hierarchy, which I found uncomfortable.” 

What sort of hierachy?

“Just getting a chair with your name on and having a trailer. Stuff like that. On smaller films, you’re all in it together. It’s weird how actors are put on a pedestal– we’re part of the crew like anyone else and everyone has their job to do on a film set.” 

On how was it to play a real person like CBGB, he said:

“Cheetah Chrome was actually on set. It’s the first time I’ve played a real person and there’s a pressure to get it right. I also have to play the guitar, which I can’t do– I was faking it. I learned the chords and rough shapes but you won’t see my hands too much in the film. It’s amazing he’s still alive, given the amount of drugs he did. He’s got a young son who was a big Harry Potter fan, so it was nice to meet him.” 

 
On whether he miss Harry Potter or is it a relief it’s over, he said:

“I go through different feelings. It was ten years of my life and it could get a bit suffocating– everything was Harry Potter. It’s nice to step away but part of me will always miss it because it was great fun and I miss working with the same crew.” 

 

On what he learn the most from working with, he said:

“Harry Potter was like going to film school. We worked with a different director for each film so got to learn their different approaches. The cast was amazing, too– Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Julie Walters— they’re all great people. You learn just from watching them work.” 

On whether did they gave him any specific advice, he said:

“I had a problem with laughing during serious scenes. For some reason, I found Dumbledore’s death absolutely hilarious. Alan taught me if you completely relax your face, it’s difficult to laugh so that was a good tip.” 

 

There is a memorable moment in the third act of Brave in which three male suitors for protagonist Princess Merida speak on their own behalf in agreement with her argument that people should choose who they marry, that the younger generation should be allowed to find their own path. In this moment of outspokenness, these characters, which have up to this point been one-note caricatures, emerge with a semblance of multiple dimensions, and the standard loner protagonist finds she is not the only sensible person in her world. She is part of a community. Amidst many of Brave’s more generic elements, this is a development that proves especially enjoyable.

This is not to assert that Brave is a derivative film, more that it just happens to fit in several recognisable moulds of fantasy and animated filmmaking. There’s the common Disney narrative about a young girl – sometimes of royalty – wanting something more from life than she has been taught to expect: Brave even has an early montage with a standard “want something more” song accompaniment. There’s also the recognisable narrative concerning an independent-minded action hero striving to change things for the better, only to have to reverse some misguided wrongdoing and restore their world to normal. Brave’s execution of the familiar is perfectly enjoyable, though it does perhaps have a few too many characters that exist almost solely for comic relief. What is more interesting, and key to its success, is that the film is deliberately set in these recognisable frameworks so as to frequently subvert and challenge traditional notions of these stories. That cited narrative turn in the opening paragraph is just one such refreshing subversion. Another is the complete absence of any love interest, a given in practically every Disney animation or action heroine fantasy, and, bar a few examples, still a commonality in much of Pixar’s output.

Even the witch responsible for the spell that alters Merida’s world is unique. A figure that would normally be portrayed as evil, she is a well-intentioned individual who actually gave up on sorcery due to too many “dissatisfied customers” and has taken to wood sculpturing; given the obsessive bear theme of her carvings and the noted results of some of her spells, she may also have quit due to the apparent one-note qualities of her skills. The closest thing Brave has to a villain is a demonic-seeming bear called Mor’du who, despite being an oft-referenced figure, isn’t as omnipresent a figure as one might expect from a fantasy, and, like all of Brave’s animal characters, is free of the anthropomorphising Disney device of speech. Speech and communication have a very important role in this film.

Some of the best works of the Pixar studio have been those films concerned with familial bonds, whether literal families (The Incredibles) or simply groups with strong interdependency (the Toy Story films). By far Brave’s greatest strength is the familial well from which it draws and focuses on: the relationship and tensions between mother and daughter that so rarely gets attention in universally-aimed animated fare or genre filmmaking. Merida wants to control her own destiny without having the tradition of arranged marriage imposed upon her, while her mother Elinor has a life plan laid out for her daughter based on what she herself has had to do in her own life; there’s a nice touch where Elinor’s own hesitance about being betrothed in her youth is hinted at.

The film engagingly portrays the various complicated feelings between a well-meaning parent and a rebellious adolescent. Elinor is well-meaning but, as is common with mother-child relationships, concern and conflicting desires can disguise love and a sense of connection. There is a mutual lack of communication and frustration on both sides and it is a resolving of this problematic dynamic that is Brave’s primary concern. For rather than going on a quest with a romantic interest or enigmatic rogue, narrative developments see Merida having to go on a road trip with her mother. The characters on the journey don’t so much discover new possibilities in the world, but rather qualities and viewpoints inherent in each other that the other person never properly understood before. With the option of speech taken away from the mother, vocalisation free of the often confusing nature of oral language becomes a vital tool, and by the film’s resolution, when mutual speech returns, the two are able to properly communicate having grown to understand each other.

Partially due to its mother and child focus, and the relatively small number of locations visited, Brave admittedly feels quite small scale in comparison to many fantasy films and even much of Pixar’s output. This is by no means an inherent detriment as its focus points are so enjoyable, though it is occasionally bothersome that the world around the two main characters doesn’t feel quite so realised. There is, again, the issue that nearly every other character is little more than comic relief, even Merida and Elinor’s nuclear family. The result, combined with the swift running time and very short deadline for Merida to break the spell, is that the world of the film doesn’t feel as fully lived-in as it could have. As enthralling as the central relationship is, it would have been nice to have some slight padding out of the other influential players. Indeed, that might be why that narrative turn with the young suitors is particularly pleasing.

There are certain spectacles on offer; Kelly Macdonald plays Merida with a zealous belligerence and exuberant wilfulness which mark her out as an unusually engaging lead for someone playing out such a stock plot and, though this might sound odd, the animation of her flaming red and copper hair is so fantastic it’s actually quite a sad moment when you realise that you’ll never see its like in real life… At least that’s how I feel… and Billy Connelly & Emma Thompson are as funny and dramatically engrossing as they, respectively, usually are, but Brave doesn’t approach the quality of Pixar’s best even when the physicality and physical comedy involves some of the best CGI I’ve ever seen. Brave is not, by any stretch, a bad film. It’s not a mediocre film, or even a good film. It’s a very good film which just doesn’t feel like it belongs in the Pixar stable.

Apart from the obvious flair in the execution it’s a straight-forward fairy tale, the kind Disney cut its teeth on in the bad old days of Walt’s drunken rages and anti-Semitic tirades (don’t sue me because I may have made some of this up), rather than having anything particularly innovative or interesting in its structure. None of this detracts from the brilliance of the animation, the script or the performances, but it’s still a film lacking that particular and peculiar magic which made such unlikely prospects as WALL•E and Ratatouille not only work but into exemplary examples of what could be done in cinema. Go, enjoy going, go back if you enjoy going enough, but go knowing that Brave is a wonderful diversion rather than the Pixar film you will return to time and time again.

My review of Disney Pixar’s new film, Brave, can be found here, over at The Hollywood News.

To check out my interviews from the Brave Red Carpet at its European Premiere back in June, click here.

It is the most challenging because the small world, in every sense, that our hero Princess Merida inhabits lacks the scope for adventure and possibility that defined the existence of Woody, Nemo and WALL-E. The crux of the story is that the rebellious Merida refuses to accept her fate, which is to marry the son of one of Scotland’s four allied clans. You wonder what exactly she plans to do instead: find herself in Thailand for a while before going into a career in digital marketing?

Fortunately, there is a dollop of old-fashioned magic to liven up proceedings. Merida’s quest to restore order and mend her broken relationship with her mother is sweet, funny and quite exciting, even if there is never a palpable sense of danger. The animation is another work of brilliance, imbuing the Scottish highlands with the same drama and beauty that Pixar previously brought to outer space, the Pacific ocean and the Amazon. But while this is another supremely enjoyable work of entertainment, we continue to wait for the next WALL-E, the next game-changer, because this isn’t it. It’s great, but it isn’t brave.

4 stars

Think of Pixar and you think of toys that come to life, a rat that wants to become a michelin chef, a robot that falls in love, an old man and a young boy who travel far with a floating house, a clown fish that scours the ocean to find his son, the list goes on. They are a company known for their original ideas, a company that gave Disney another chance at having similar success to its glory days. With this in mind, their last instalment  ’Cars 2′ was possibly the first Pixar flop at the box office and also with critics. I erased that from my mind when I sat to watch Brave, it starts off rather well with the beautiful backdrop of the Scottish highlands, it introduces us to a young red-headed princess; Merida (Kelly Macdonald) who becomes the heroine of the feature. Merida grows to be an independent, gutsy young woman who doesn’t want what her fate has set out for her, something that is no longer a rarity in disney princesses of late.

Merida’s tom boyish ways of enjoying archery are encouraged by her Father (Billy Conolly) but not so much be her Mother (Emma Thompson) who believes that a Princess should not own weapons and that there are certain ways that one should behave. Merida sets out in the woods where she comes across a witch (Julie Walters) posing as a wood carver, the witch gives her a spell that goes wrong. Queue the chance for Merida to set things right and change her fate. However, the witch disappears from the film and seems rather irrelevant to the narrative, although a key point to the film’s development. Pixar’s take on a fairytale should be something more outstanding as they can really go town with their imaginative storytelling but unfortunately, it just all seems too familiar. There are twists, but they just become strange and are not explained well enough, the humour for a Pixar film resembles that more of a less successful animation company and not that of a company that excels not only in their animation, but also their script.

The film does focus on Merida’s relationship with her mum, but not effectively. The build-up to the finale seems rather like an anti-climax and before you know it, the film is over without any real conclusion to Merida’s problems in the first place. I couldn’t help but make certain connections to Disney’s Brother Bear, but at least in that, the spirits were explained, in this things just happen and the audience are expected to accept them without reasoning. The film experienced troubles when Pixar’s first female director, better known for The Prince of Egypt, Brenda Chapman was replaced by another Pixar member; Mark Andrews. It may be that letting other members of the Pixar family in the driving seat isn’t paying off. Many of the tropes are of traditional fairytales and I personally would have liked to see Merida as the strong bad-ass girl that she is supposed to be.

It is rather sad that Pixar’s first film with a female lead and originally a female director went in the wrong direction. It feels that in production rather than scrapping the project, they hurried to get it finished. Pixar already has released details of many other projects, rather a lot being sequels, and perhaps re-visiting familiar territory of well beloved classics is a safer bet. Brave isn’t a terrible film, it is still a lot better than many other animation studios attempts but for Pixar, you always expect the highest standards and this film becomes about just as memorable as Cars 2. Roll on Monsters University, and my restoration of faith in what used to be my favourite animation studio.

Ceritifcate: PG. Running Time: 106 mins. Starring; Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Conolly, Julie Walters. Directed by: Mark Andrews/Brenda Chapman.

Brave points: 2 out of 5

Each of the characters was deftly fleshed out by the excellent cast; Kinnear’s delightfully camp junkie Nick is obviously troubled, but Helen McCrory as his sister Libby, while apparently more grounded, is also facing her own problems (many of them relating to her rebellious daughter Summer). Walters was perfectly suited to the role of aging hippy Judy, overseeing the family drama (much of which she has created) while trying to hang onto the freedom and idealism of her youth.

The Last of the Haussmans at times explicitly questions the Sixties generation and the lack of impact that their idealism had, and explores the lost hopes of their more radical days. As Nick points out, once ardent proponents of freedom and peace, many of his mother’s contemporaries have scaled back their aspirations and are running donkey sanctuaries. Yet the play is in the main a depiction of the fraught relations within this dysfunctional family, as the impact of the Sixties generation is explored implicitly through the lasting repercussions of Judy’s lifestyle on her children. Nick and Libby’s drug use and casual sex demonstrate some of the more lasting cultural legacies of the Sixties, even if politically it was superseded by Thatcherism and New Labour.

Even without the general issues that The Last of the Haussmans raises, the family politics would be enough to sustain the play; the questions surrounding the legacy of the Sixties are interesting, but more importantly the drama is thoroughly entertaining. Considering that this is Beresford’s first play, I think that we can expect to see plenty more of him in the future.

In their early feature making days Pixar laid down a firm rule for themselves. No movies about princesses. That was Disney’s territory and the Emeryville studio needed to differentiate themselves from their publishers’ own output. Classic after classic has forged them a towering reputation, one that arguably eclipses even that of Disney, certainly if you compare the two studios’ efforts since the millennium. But the Mouse House has been in resurgence of late and is making an earnest attempt to reclaim the animation crown and now Pixar is finally stepping into the fairytale territory they forbade themselves to enter. If you’ve read my Top Ten Most Anticipated Films of 2012 you’ll know I’ve been looking forward to this film more than any other this year. Can Brave match up to Tangled and once and for all confirm Pixar as the greatest animation studio the world has ever seen?

Merida (Kelly McDonald) is the flame-haired princess of a Scottish highland clan, daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly, who else?) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) and seems destined, if her mother has her way, for a life of ladylike pursuits and a political marriage, a plan totally at odds with her headstrong thirst for adventure and love of archery. Their fractious relationship drives both mother and daughter to distraction, each refusing to listen to or acknowledge the viewpoint of the other and things come to a head when the heads of three allied clans arrive to oversee their firstborn sons competing for her hand in marriage.

Pixar has always made sure to stamp their own identity on every one of their films and for the most part Brave is no different. The film is stuffed with inventive and inspired sight gags, huge personalities and boasts a strong and mature emotional core. But there’s just no getting away from the fact that the story is strongly influenced by ghosts of Disneys past and three films in particular. A major plot development and elements of the story as a whole greatly resembles The Little Mermaid and the strained, complex mother/daughter relationship is extremely reminiscent of the film this one will most closely be compared to, Tangled. But, strangely, the story also borrows from Brother Bear which, quite frankly, is one of Disney’s worst animated features and by going down this path Brave makes its biggest misstep.

The opening third is outstanding, pacey, exciting, funny, full of spirit and moments of great character and strong emotion, Pixar right on their game but close to the half-way point a rather foreseeable twist derails the momentum for about ten of fifteen minutes and the experience drops from utterly delightful to merely entertaining, no disgrace by any means but we’re used to more from Pixar. Where earlier in the film we have no trouble getting emotionally involved with a superbly explored family dynamic we’re suddenly taken in a more difficult direction, one that struggles to truly maintain our sense of empathy and investment and after an amusing escape sequence we’re left wishing the plot could have gone somewhere a bit more interesting. It’s a stumble best summed up by a rather dull fishing scene supposed to depict an example of family bonding that is restrained by the situation.

I’m tiptoeing around the details but what I’m trying to say is that Brave isn’t quite as good as I wanted it to be. There’s less of a focus on adventure than I was hoping and the plot is neither as original or compelling as many of Pixar’s best. Perhaps that is the curse of enormous success, that a film of this quality can be seen as a relative disappointment. Pixar took a risk by stepping out of their comfort zone and instead of the roaring success we and they are used to we’re instead left with a film that is merely very good.

So let’s celebrate that because I still think Brave is one of the best films of the year so far and nothing illustrates that better than the incredible animation. Without any doubt this is the most amazing looking CG animation made to date, the detail in the landscapes, castles and forests is just unprecedented and everything is shaded and animated with a level of realism that we’ve never seen before and the shining example is in Merida’s fabulous curly red hair which must go down as one of the great achievements of animation. This is the new benchmark for this type of animation which goes further to convey a believable and beautiful rural world than any other equivalent has managed in the past. Moreover this an example of the kind of film for which stereoscopic 3D actually works well, giving depth to the magnificent landscapes and allowing the vibrant colours to really pop. The visuals and soundtrack combine to create a moody, otherworldly feel that approaches a level of hypnotic beauty only found in The Secret of Kells.

But this is far from style over substance. Merida is a difficult heroine to fault, free-spirited, stubborn, incredibly tough, all the best qualities and she is played with real skill by Kelly McDonald who conveys her quite complicated arc beautifully. The heartbeat of the narrative is in her relationship with her mother and this is something the film absolutely nails, perhaps even surpassing the similarly smart mother/daughter dynamic in Tangled. This is a fine example of a film without a clearly defined villain and neither mother nor daughter is presented as entirely right or wrong. On the one hand Merida wants to live for herself but seems uninterested in her responsibilities while Elinor’s desperation to maintain peace among the clans blinds her to her daughter’s feelings. These are intelligently drawn characters and one scene in which they take their anger out on each other’s possessions really hammers home the depth of their masterfully observed relationship.

Meanwhile the men command the lion’s share of the considerable and cartoonish comedy from the big-hearted Fergus’ endearing ramblings about his famous encounter with a beast to the colourful clansmen and their tendency towards fisticuffs. The tots will find most fun in the form of Merida’s triplet younger brothers who steal scenes and hearts with their silent bun-swiping adventures, Pixar again mining comedic gold from dumb characters. The set pieces all uniformly deliver and the crescendo provides us with one of the studio’s scariest sequences whilst still finding time for an emotionally involving finale.

Does this mean that Disney is now top dog again? I don’t think so. Pixar may have taken them on at their own game and lost but that will only encourage them to renew their efforts as Disney has recently renewed theirs. More importantly these close comparisons with Tangled raise an extremely pertinent point. When I first reviewed Tangled I gave it the same four stars I’m giving Brave but subsequent viewings convinced me that I underrated the film which I now consider to be one of Disney’s very best and one of the more enjoyable animated features of recent years. I never miss an opportunity to assert that a single experience of something is not always enough to forge a lasting opinion and suspect that Brave, which I will be going to see again, may grow in my esteem yet.

Verdict

It doesn’t quite reach the high watermark of Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Wall•E, Up and the Toy Story trilogy but Brave is still a hugely enjoyable period yarn resplendent with complex characters, winning comedy and astonishing animation.

(Mark Andrews, 2012, USA)

If Pixar’s yearly instalments prove anything in the face of an expanding deluge of CGI-animation in mainstream cinema, it’s that technical ingenuity and cogitated storytelling are tantamount to the studio’s adversity to Dreamworks-esque pandering to pop culture references and pore clogging lowest common denominator foibles. Having maintained a veritable string of critical and financial hits that read as a how-to guide for originality and broad familial appeal, the animation wunderkinds behind Toy Story (1995), The Incredibles (2004) and Wall-E (2008) – to name but a few – turn their attentions to ancient Scotland in Brave, a drastic change of pace for Pixar in more ways than one.

Foregoing the glossy sheen of last year’s dreary Cars 2 (their only unfavourably received title in a twelve-strong library) in favour of a verdant palette and a story grounded in the fairy tale aesthetics of a typical Disney outing, this Scottish fable is typically, lusciously rendered but feels peculiarly empty, its innards spoiled by adherence to a formula numerously enjoyed by the studio’s parent company. Much like Disney’s 2010 money-spinner Tangled, Brave boasts a strong female protagonist (Pixar’s first) and a narrative awash with magic and stock mythology, but the film feels unmediated and plain, the outcome of a muddied production that saw the reins changing hands from Brenda Chapman to Mark Andrews, two directorial debutants.

Starring a predominantly Scottish voice cast – save for Julie Walters’ scheming but puzzlingly underused Witch, the film sees Kelly MacDonald play teenager Merida, a flame-haired gallivanter, thrill seeker and archery pro whose role as princess to a strangely unpopulated kingdom is thrust upon her by her insistent mother Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson, donning an authentic Scottish twang) and verbose father King Fergus (Billy Connolly). Insisting that her fate should not be a predetermined decision made without her consent, and inspired by her parents’ insistence that she be betrothed to one of the firstborn sons of the three neighbouring clans, Merida decides to alter her destiny by cursing her mother with an ill-gotten spell that turns her into a bear. In her frantic attempts at reversing the jinx, Merida begins to embrace her mother’s loving perseverance, paving the way for a redeemable catharsis that is underserved by a rushed third act.

Although the film flaunts perhaps the studios’ most technologically polished animation to date, with Merida’s flowingly untamed red locks and a sweeping melange of mountainous camera angles serving as particular highlights, the forgettable story ultimately undoes the gentle motifs it concocts in the hasty opening act. Far removed from their often celebrated narrative creativity, seen in particular with the joyously bonkers gambit in Pete Docter’s wondrous UP (2009), Pixar here assume that relying on conventional modes of storytelling serves as a break from what they have become particularly known for, but this leads to ill-paced results. Merida’s coming of age and Elinor’s tenure as a beastly mammal  – which in itself smacks of Disney’s mediocre Brother Bear (2003) both in story and design – feel premature and diminished by a variety of plot strands that are introduced and swiftly forgotten. Despite the film succeeding as a child-aimed ditty, complete with relentless slapstick and inescapable kilt gags, the film feels decidedly weightless, and although Pixar may not be jumping the proverbial shark just yet, the once unstoppable studio can be seen to be burrowing deeper into the shadow of the times when they were truly remarkable.

Directors: Mark Andrew, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell.

Voices: Kelly MacDonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson.

Written by: Mark Andrew, Steve Purcell, Irene Mecchi and (also story) Brenda Chapman.

Running Time: 100 mins

Cert: PG

Release date: 13th August 2012

Those of you who read my reviews on a regular basis (and thank you for that) will know of my absolute hatred of 3D. Well let be tell you this, if you are planning to see Pixar’s new movie, Brave, make sure it is not the glasses wearing version because if you do, you will be greying out one of the most beautiful looking films of the year. Not that the 3D will enhance you experience of this terrific film. It won’t. But you will miss out on the depth of colour and incredible detail of this deliciously cheek film.

Scotland. And a king, Fergus, with a greivance for bears, especially the one who bit off his leg, rules his land in a very relaxed manner. His wife, Queen Elinor, is more of a traditionalist and wants her wayward, tomboy daughter, Merida, to wed a suitor from one of the three local clans. Merida, however, is a head-strong young lady and wants to choose her own destiny, so after proving what a great shot she is with a bow and arrow, heads into the forest where she discovers an old woman who can offer her a potion. Merida wants her mother to change and so is willing to give her a tonic that will change her for all the wrong reasons.

The star of this terrific mixture of comedy, adventure and fairy tale is the hair. Merida’s hair is beyond brilliant. The detail that the animators have put into her long, flowing red locks are mind-blowing. Along with the lush scenery of the Scottish High land, this is a triumph of animation from a studio that are constantly pushing the boundaries. If you were in awe with how they managed to capture the world under the sea in Finding Nemo, then the forests, mountains and waterfalls that grace the screen he are enough to make you long for the shores of Scotland.

The story of the lucky young princess is littered with surprises, none more so than in the humour. Sometimes incredibly cheek (in a literal sense too), there’s plenty for a more mature audience to enjoy while the kids have enough slapstick to keep them happy. The inclusion of Merida’s mischievous brothers with a hunger for cakes are aimed at the kids, while the adults will take joy in the surreal flights of fancy.

Once again, Pixar have picked the creme of the acting world to supply the voices. Kelly MacDonald is perfectly suited as the strong-minded lead, with her authentic Scottish accent. Billy Connelly is hilarious as her bear-hating father while Emma Thomson adds an air of authority as her mother. There’s a brief vocal appearance from Julie Waters too, as the witch who causes all the problems.

If there is a downside, (and sadly its quite a big downside) it’s the unevenness of the story. Flipping from standard adventure to extreme fairy tale with a massive splash of sentiment, it always feels as if with all the beauty and artistry involved in the creative department needed to have a story  that was fitting to compliment the art work. Alas the writing department have tried too hard and have lost their way a little.With most films, this would make it a film to avoid but the pure majesty of the piece makes for an irresistibly entertaining film that may not be as great as, say Up or the Toy Story films but is a vast improvement on the disappointing Cars 2. (And get there early for a delightfully sweet short, La Luna).

4/5

Directed by:

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson.

Rating:   Running Time: 100 mins.

King Fergus of Scotland (Billy Connelly) raises his eldest child and daughter Merida (Kelly Macdonald) with an interest in archery, presenting her with a bow as a present one early birthday, much to the distress of his wife and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Years later Merida, still more interested in living her life than acting more lady like as her mother insists, learns that the other clans of Scotland will be arriving with their first born sons to compete in the highland games for Merida’s hand in marriage.

Unwilling to be married off, Merida storms out of the castle and into the forest where she sees a Will-o’-the-wisp, a creature of folklore that are said to show people their true path in life. Following them through the forest, she finds a cabin inhabited by a witch who eventually agrees to give her a spell to change her fate, unaware of the true effect that it will have on her.

With the exception of the main character Merida, none of the characters are particularly memorable. From her parents and her triplet brothers (none of whom have a single line of dialogue throughout the movie and serve purely as a sort of three stooges comedy relief), to the clan leaders and their sons (who oddly appear to have no wives/mothers in their numbers). Even Billy Connolly’s King Fergus who at first seems larger than life, melds into the background as the movie progresses, when he should be a strong presence whenever he’s on screen.

The story is a re-hashing of several fairytale stories, referencing elements from several but unfortunately brings nothing new to the genre. The animation is very well done throughout, from the landscapes which are impressively handled, to things like the long curly red locks of Merida. There’s even some extremely nicely done close up shots during an archery scene that are impressively done, but reminded me of the like-for-like shots from Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood on which i’m sure they were based. A major issue with this is the animation of the characters facial features, which are shamefully basic, resulting in the facial expression range of the character at times being rather underwhelming and personally my biggest dissapointment of the movie.

Though there is obvious emotion being shown by the characters, Pixar have done better than this before, with both human and non-human characters (Toy Story being a prime example)  There are animal effects in the movie which are much more expressive and generated several laughs purely on their reactions as opposed to the human ones, and these just go to show how poor the human animation is when really the two should be at the very least on par with each other.

The movie is entertaining, just with a lack of heart to it that is usually present with a Pixar animation. That’s not to say the movie’s bad or boring, it genuinely roused the audience, both kids and adults alike with the humour throughout, but ultimately it’s a lackluster entry into Pixar’s catalogue. While the movie is rated PG, there are some scenes which may be a little tense for some younger viewers, so parents of toddlers may want to check the BBFC website beforehand.

Finally there’s the issue of 3D. I’m a supporter of 3D – in the right circumstances – when it’s used properly in a movie it can make for a visually breathtaking view – a great example of this is in the landscape moments, during daylight scenes. At other times though, and in some indoor settings, which are intentionally dark, the movie suffers from the 3D glasses darkening the image to a detrimental effect. Though the Pixar and similar animation movies are among the best at creating a 3D image (due to the 3D enviroment in which they are created), they must still be well lit in order to work. For an optimum experience, this really needs to be seen in a well lit 3D screen or it’s better to opt for the 2D.

Billy Connolly supplies the voice of King Fergus in the upcoming Disney Pixar film Brave (Picture: AP Photo/Disney/Pixar)

The Scottish comedian plays the role of King Fergus in the Scottish-based Disney Pixar animated film, which is his third animated role, having previously been in Pocahontas and Out of Season – where he voiced the character of a squirrel.

‘It’s a totally different way of acting,’ he told Metro.co.uk.

‘They do the voice first, then draw the character second to go with it, so you’re the lead guy.’My character is a Henry VIII-type character, who throws chicken legs over his shoulder and shouts and bawls and rants and raves.

‘It was all done in isolation, none of it was face-to-face – it’s strange, but it’s part of the job.

‘You don’t need to react to anything, there’s no-one there except the director.

‘You do several versions of the line, he’ll react to them and say “do this or do that”.’Maybe you’ll burst out laughing and he’ll say “keep that in”, or “sound more interested, or bored, or angry” – then they send these recordings off, and that’s it.

‘It takes years to make a film like this, so this way they can do it in bits. Also, you don’t have to look your best to go to work, either, which is lovely.’

Brave is set in 10th century Scotland and tells the story of headstrong Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who runs away from a planned marriage to pursue her own dreams, only to come back and fight for her family when they are in danger.

With a line-up of voices including Connolly, Macdonald, Robbie Coltrane and Craig Ferguson, and a score by two-time Academy award nominee Patrick Doyle, the film is certainly taking its Scottishness seriously.

Connolly says he was prepared for some artistic licence to be taken by the film-makers in the name of entertainment, but he is amazed the attention to detail and authenticity they have shown.

‘They’ve really done their homework,’ he said.

‘I could have tolerated it being a bit of a caricature – you have to – but I’m delighted that they’ve really done their research.

‘They’ve looked into the music and the folklore so well, even down to the botany of the place so the trees are all right.’

Disney Pixar’s Brave is released across the country on Monday August 13

It’s good fun. It’s certainly funny with plenty of visual gags and it’s well setup. It’s just remarkably unmemorable and the story lacks magic to payoff the emotion which the film’s well-developed opening deserves. There’s a vague attempt to try and give the film some catharsis but writing in something about how ‘we shape our own destiny’ just feels completely redundant and cheesy, which aren’t words you can use too often with Pixar. The ending is rushed and underwhelming which really lets down a good opening and solid middle. But for a family film it is absolutely fine and there’s plenty to enjoy despite the too-dark 3D. Brave is just played a little too safe for my liking.

Review by David Rank

Brave is out on 13th August in the UK. Certificate PG (UK). Running time 100 mins.

Comments and feedback are always welcome or just give the film a rating by using the stars at the top.

Pixar has been a part of the Disney Corporation since 2006. Before that they worked under the understanding that they could do whatever it wanted, Disney would show their movies to the world and they’d split the profits somehow. It was a beautiful alliance that brought us gems like Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. If you would ask John Lasseter, Pixar’s mastermind, if their independence has changed since Disney’s takeover he would probably tell you that it is still intact. But Pixar’s latest effort, Brave, tells a different story.

Brave is a Disney movie with every fiber of its being. We have a plucky princess, Merida, who wants nothing more than to break the mold. She is expected to take on a husband and lead a life of relative servitude, while she just wants to ride in the woods on the back of her trusty steed shooting arrows at targets. This of course upsets her mother and the tensions rise. Merida runs away and seeks advice from a mysterious witch who provides her with a spell that will perhaps change Merida’s mother’s mind a bit. Well, it changes quite a bit more than that and a race against time is a fact. Merida needs to find a way to get her mother back and in the meantime erase a black page in Scotland’s history.

Don’t get me wrong, Brave is a fun movie to watch. It is a stunning display of the level of proficiency the people at Pixar possess. The detail in the rendering of the Scottish Highlands is astonishing. You can almost feel the moss on the rocks. I did not see it in 3D, but it was digital projection and it was glorious. Two thumbs up right there. The rest, not so much. The character animation is decent, but incredibly cartoony. It felt like Brave could have used a little less slapstick to offset the strange magical occurrences later in the movie. That’s where Merida’s little brothers come in. They are triplets, but they serve no larger purpose than to be comic relief with a little involvement at a late stage in the movie. There are solely there to create more merchandise for the Disney Stores to sell. A lot in Brave feels like padding for a script that was actually just about an hour long.

Brave reminded me a lot of other Disney properties. There is a great tradition of Disney princesses trying to change their fate (a word used a lot in Brave to hammer the point home) to create a better life for themselves. Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, all of them strong female role models. There is nothing wrong with that, and if Brave had been a strict Disney production, like Tangled, I would have probably settled for that. but Lasseter’s Pixar has set the bar so ridiculously high for themselves that a production like Brave just falls short. Like Cars 2 before it, Brave is just subp-ix-ar (sorry, pun intended).

What is the cause of this gradual decline in Pixar’s quality? I think it is age. When Lasseter and his people took the idea of Toy Story and made it into the phenomenon it became, nobody knew when the sky would be the limit. Lasseter gathered a brilliant group of directors around him (Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich) and threw a challenge in their lap: “Create worlds we have never seen before, even though we have no idea whether we can make it happen”. We know what came of that and we are forever grateful for that. It made other studios step up their game, which made the world look at animation differently.

Now the men and women who made Pixar what it is are starting to fan out to other challenges and they seem to be taking a piece of the magic with them and that breaks my heart. For fifteen years we have been eagerly expecting every new release Pixar was preparing and now that seems to not be the case anymore, at least for me. As much as I liked Monsters Inc., I am not really looking forward to Monsters University. Even a fourth Toy Story doesn’t really appeal to me after the way they finished Toy Story 3. I am very worried that Disney’s influence is becoming a little too dominant within the hallowed halls of Pixar. Does that mean you shouldn’t go watch Brave? No, enjoy it for what it is and hope Pixar gets their act together in the future.

> IMDb

It should really go without saying that Julie Walters (who takes the part of Judy) gives an astonishing performance. With ease, confidence, and impeccable timing, she electrifies what could be a ‘kitchen-sink’ play into a phenomenally written story with lively, complex, and comical characters. Playing the almost-elderly mother, she remains cheeky with the heart of a rebellious hippie running strong throughout her scenes, even when in an apparently morphine-induced stupor.

McCrory and Kinnear, as Judy’s children, are not overshadowed by Walters in any way. McCrory is steadfast, headstrong, but ultimately vulnerable and tired as the story unfolds, and provides a devastating speech half way through act two. Kinnear, the gay, junkie brother, is wholly believable, never once slipping into farce or stereotype but rather giving a sensitive, true-to-life portrayal of a man without a lot left in life but still holding on to the oddities he has grown up around. Libby’s daughter Summer (Isabella Laughland) is defiant almost to an unbearable degree, unimpressed by this new wold she has been brought into and thoroughly disgruntled by her mother and the other crumbling relatives around her. But beneath it all, Laughland encompasses just a glimpse of innocence and tenderness that is present in every fifteen year old, regardless of the front they portray.

Two characters sit almost on the periphery of this play, and yet are vital to the unfolding of events. Peter, the doctor who frequents the house, was performed by Matthew Marsh and had an odd mix of sincerity and banality about it – being a family friend he appears part of the furniture to the Haussmans, and yet I did find him a little difficult to suss out in what was, in my opinion, a rather average part. Someone who stood out in his silence however, was Taron Egerton in his role of Daniel, the pool boy. Spending the majority of act one in the shadows around the edge of the stage, barely speaking, he gave off an air of quiet strength as well as vulnerability. Following the interval, Egerton came into his own with incredible emotion and subtlety that made me watch his every move earnestly. He is definitely an actor to watch out for.

Directed by Howard Davies on a set designed by Vicki Mortimer which featured painted pots hanging from fence posts, and kitchen walls strewn with post-it notes (which I am curious to read), Last of the Haussmans is a brilliantly put together piece of naturalism for the modern audience, relatable to those raised in the ’60s and those raised by the former, as well as anyone who’s seen the inside of numerous family arguments. It is real life, family intimacy at its most raw and natural, and a noteworthy insight into a strange, but not uncommon, household.

Last of the Haussmans runs at the Lyttelton Theatre until the 10th October 2012, and will then be streamed to cinemas across the UK as part of NationalTheatre Live.

Those of us who believe stridently in social justice and think that the general state of affairs can be improved are often told we are delusional and over-optimistic; the hippy movement is often cited as an example of this failure for improvement, and its the point around which Stephen Beresford’s The Last of the Haussmans is structured. But though Beresford has penned a strong play which is shown off in a superbly-acted production, the narrative doesn’t quite do much to inform the arguments presented and I take issue with the cynicism on display.

The dramatic thrust comes from the question over what is to happen to the home of hippy Judy Haussman when she dies; will it go to her children Libby and Nick or find its way into hands elsewhere? Though question of ownership of property is integral to the story, however, it’s a shame the topic is not explored more fully in dialogue; Judy touches on the fetishisation of private ownership, but the emotional arc is found more in the relationships of characters rather than affinity with the house.

What comes through instead is a somewhat defeatist revisionist interpretation of the hippy movement, as Judy’s beliefs are demonstrated to be both useless to state improvement and the cause of the social defects of her children. Some hypocrisies are highlighted, such as the selfishness of these particular liberals even though they preach better conditions for all, though the fact Beresford extrapolates this to all left-wingers is a little strange. And though Love, Love, Love asked similar questions, Bartlett’s play managed to maintain optimism rather than becoming resigned to the ineffectuality of activism (I’m inclined to suggest these two plays represent the opposing viewpoints of the generations, but perhaps that’s over-generalising).

In Howard Davies’ production, gorgeously designed by Vicki Mortimer (which once again draws attention to property), hippy lifestyle is treated with a nostalgic air (with rose-tinted lighting by Mark Henderson and a wonderful soundtrack), suggesting it is a movement consigned to the past and has no place in a neoliberal structure. In fact, I would suggest, now is a time we need to counteract economic ‘freedom’ with the genuine freedoms of the sixties more than ever.

Then again, Beresford must be commended for writing some wonderful dialogue and crafting extraordinary parts for actors. As Judy, Julie Walters injects perhaps more heart than the script suggests, and shows a human determined in her belief that the world can change. Rory Kinnear as the surprisingly conservative gay son Nick (he believes we should only blame ourselves for our imperfections) is mysteriously detached and yet gets involved when it suits him. The stand-out performance, however, comes from Helen McCrory in the role of Libby. Many actors would be tempted to overplay this character’s drama, but McCrory holds it all in until certain moments, when the emotion simply flows. The only other performance I’ve seen on par with this one this year is Victoria Hamilton in the aforementioned Love, Love, Love.

Though the production is strong, however, its impossible to leave The Last of the Haussmans with anything other than a bit of a sour taste in the mouth; there is very little hope of a better future in the play other than the kind Daniel (though he, as a swimmer, clearly thrives on competition and winning). Then again, this is clearly a moot point, for Beresford would seemingly go so far as to suggest that to hold any kind of optimism is futile, meaning we are at cross-purposes – I would go so far as to suggest that the reason change hasn’t been so forthcoming in recent years has been because of the abundance of people who see it as impossible. But then what do I know? I’m only young, so clearly don’t know much about these things.