I'm probably not going to be updating this every day, but I'll make an effort to do so a couple times a week, and any time I see something new. Last night was something new as Carly and I took in Brave, the newest from Pixar. I, generally speaking, love Pixar's movies, though I have somehow missed both Bugs Life and Cars 2...though the second was more intentional. I only saw the first Cars on a long flight back from a solo London vacation, and by my way of thinking, movies you have only a little interest in are more than fair game for a flight, especially if you can pretend you didn't pay to see the movie. It's the only reason I saw (and didn't care for, frankly) The Expendables.
Brave, though, I wanted to see, and it was good. But the movie-going experience can temper enjoyment, and ours was, sadly, not that good.
It started out OK as we arrived just in time and I learned we were a screener audience with Pixar asking us to fill out a quick survey. Me, I'm a cooperative fellow, so I agree to do so. Previews have started, we go in, I spot two seats in the lowest part of the stadium seating and we quickly sit down. Herein is where our troubles begin. Behind us is a family with a baby, maybe 2 years old at the most. The kid never cried, but he or she never stayed quiet for long either.
The family spoke Spanish. I know this because one took or sent a phone call in the middle of the movie in Spanish. Now, every movie theater I've ever been to, including the art house Carly and I saw Midnight in Paris in has a nice, "please turn off your cell phones" message. Good to see other people matter to some people.
And then Carly got spat on by some kid behind her. We moved forward a few more rows for the rest of the film. No apologies were ever given. Maybe the parent didn't notice, but still...
Anyway, the movie itself was fine. For a Pixar film, it wasn't as emotionally devastating as many of their films, like Up or either of the Toy Story sequels. Maybe if I was somebody's mother or daughter. Pixar deserves a good deal of credit for, as always, improving their animation ability (I rewatched the first Toy Story last summer, and it is amazing how far those people have come), and also for having a mostly actual Scottish cast for a movie set in Scotland. Emma Thompson obviously isn't, but I was a little surprised to learn Robbie Coltraine is. Oh and John Ratzenberger isn't either.
Yes, he's in there too.
As always, there's a lot of high energy to the movie. Characters, like heroine Merida's three younger brothers do. Not. Sit. Still. The humor is great, and despite some initial selfishness on the part of Merida, the characters are likeable enough. Good music, and scenes that might make a viewer want to visit the actual Scotland.
This was not a perfect film, though. The plot was rather straightforward and simple by the standards of the company. It's basically a fairy tale that runs smoothly from A to B. That's not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, but there aren't any sort of major twists unless you count a teenage girl learning a valuable lesson a twist. I more or less knew the real secret of the demon bear before the movie told me, to say nothing of the real way to break the daffy witch's spell.
But, my thoughts may have been tempered by the bad experience, so I may revisit this when I see the movie a second time on DVD in the future.
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