| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 08/18/2012 : 17:00:57
I hope your viewing, like mine, is preceded by La Luna, an enchanting short exec produced by John Lassiter [he of Toy Story]. It's got wit without actual words, real visual charm, and the magic of the moon.
I wish I could be equally fulsome about Brave.
Happily the voice cast of this latest Disney/Pixar tale is uniformly excellent. Sorry I can't say the same for the largely inexperienced primary talent behind the camera.
Not that Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman haven't worked before in the show biz ... but neither is fully in control of the material. And, with an original story that owes so much to its inspiration, pity it doesn't deliver either in concept or resolution.
So what've we got? Well, it's a Scottish tale so be prepared for a bevy of burrs. Not to mention some bears. It's the Clash of the Clans - complete with characterization cliches, and all feeling pasted on.
Paradigms of The Woods, and The Witch, and the will-o-the-wisps of The Fairy Ring are all supposed to add some fairy-tale authenticity to the journey of Princess Merida to finally convince the/her world that everyone should be free to be themselves.
No, it's not a bad message. But it's so clumsily told, so obvious, so in yer face. Most of the character ideas should have/could have provided lots of chances for humour and charm. All wasted, or not followed through. And sentiment - well, nothing wrong with sentiment. It's uplifted many films. But sentimentality. Nope.
And I'll bet that title was the result of some Disney committee meeting because it should, of course, have been called Merida, but they figured no one would know what that meant. Which, of course, is a made-up name. There's a perfectly gorgeous Scottish name - Merita. That might have been a brave choice.
But then, there's nothing brave about Brave.
|
|
|
