I don't mean to take anything away from Brave. It's a beautiful film, and a wonderful story. The ending is suitably dramatic and exciting, with a strong emotional impact. It's almost everything one would want from a Pixar film, meeting a standard they've maintained for an astonishing 13 films in a row.
Almost. The only thing I can't say for Brave is that it was fun. It's far too serious and straightforward a movie for that. Oh, it tries, with its trio of foolish suitors and a father/king that's prone to reacting first and thinking... well, not often. But these moments amount to little more than the cast of fools and bumpkins that populate Shakespeare's plays... the comic relief included to entertain the groundlings.
I know that Pixar's films have always had serious themes running through their main stories. I don't expect their films to be non-stop laugh riots (or I'd have been seriously disappointed long before now.) They're not a light & fluffy kind of house, and their films always have underlying meaning. But this time around, that serious theme took front and center, and I left the theatre less entertained by this film than I expected.
This isn't necessarily new, either. It's a trend that's been presenting itself over the past several years. The Incredibles may have started it, with its rather somber superhero forced into a not-very-super existence opening act (though it IS a decidedly fun movie, it doesn't necessarily start out that way). A couple of years later they follow with WALL-E, another movie that, while overall a fun time, ends up weighed down by its serious ecological message. While I enjoyed UP more than a lot of my friends, it too is far more serious a movie than, say, Toy Story or Monster's Inc. or even Ratatouille. And don't even get me started on Toy Story 3, with it's "putting away the things of childhood/time to face the adult world" theme.
Maybe it's not simply the movie alone. Perhaps it's the tone set by La Luna, the short that preceded Brave... a sweet and beautiful to look at trifle about a generational trio of man-in-the-moon maintenance men. I've always looked forward to the short films Pixar includes with its feature releases. They're always entertaining and frequently hilarious. But this time around, while beautiful to look at, and a touching little story, once again, it's not what I'd call fun. And it definitely set the tone for the movie that followed it (as a good short should, I think).
So maybe the team at Pixar have grown-up over the years, feeling the pressure of all those production babies. Perhaps they feel the need to tell more serious tales... a sense of needing to live up to the responsibility inherent in creating art for the masses. Whatever the case, I hope they don't forget how to have fun. And how to share it with the rest of the world.
The trailer for next summer's Monsters University looks promising, at least.
Almost. The only thing I can't say for Brave is that it was fun. It's far too serious and straightforward a movie for that. Oh, it tries, with its trio of foolish suitors and a father/king that's prone to reacting first and thinking... well, not often. But these moments amount to little more than the cast of fools and bumpkins that populate Shakespeare's plays... the comic relief included to entertain the groundlings.
I know that Pixar's films have always had serious themes running through their main stories. I don't expect their films to be non-stop laugh riots (or I'd have been seriously disappointed long before now.) They're not a light & fluffy kind of house, and their films always have underlying meaning. But this time around, that serious theme took front and center, and I left the theatre less entertained by this film than I expected.
This isn't necessarily new, either. It's a trend that's been presenting itself over the past several years. The Incredibles may have started it, with its rather somber superhero forced into a not-very-super existence opening act (though it IS a decidedly fun movie, it doesn't necessarily start out that way). A couple of years later they follow with WALL-E, another movie that, while overall a fun time, ends up weighed down by its serious ecological message. While I enjoyed UP more than a lot of my friends, it too is far more serious a movie than, say, Toy Story or Monster's Inc. or even Ratatouille. And don't even get me started on Toy Story 3, with it's "putting away the things of childhood/time to face the adult world" theme.
Maybe it's not simply the movie alone. Perhaps it's the tone set by La Luna, the short that preceded Brave... a sweet and beautiful to look at trifle about a generational trio of man-in-the-moon maintenance men. I've always looked forward to the short films Pixar includes with its feature releases. They're always entertaining and frequently hilarious. But this time around, while beautiful to look at, and a touching little story, once again, it's not what I'd call fun. And it definitely set the tone for the movie that followed it (as a good short should, I think).
So maybe the team at Pixar have grown-up over the years, feeling the pressure of all those production babies. Perhaps they feel the need to tell more serious tales... a sense of needing to live up to the responsibility inherent in creating art for the masses. Whatever the case, I hope they don't forget how to have fun. And how to share it with the rest of the world.
The trailer for next summer's Monsters University looks promising, at least.
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