Brave Blu-ray Review

Pixar have had a rough deal of it as of late. It seems as though people were determined to hate Cars 2 no matter what, so it never really stood a chance - despite being an actually really fun film. That attitude has led many to foreseeing the, entirely fictionalised and false, fall of Pixar, which ultimately led to some unnecessarily harsh reviews of Brave. Saying "if this was a DreamWorks or Disney film, it'd be great. But it's Pixar, and we expect better" and giving it a harsh score is stupid; if it's a good film, it's a good film. And Brave is a good film. Rant over, for more, read my review of the film.

Brave Is Finally in UK Cinemas!

Pixar's thirteenth feature film has come and gone in the States, but Brave only hit UK cinemas for the first time today. It's been a ridiculously long wait, and some of the hype had died down in recent weeks, but strong advertising will surely mean Pixar's first fairytale has a strong box-office showing over here.

I was fortunate enough to be invited by Disney to an advanced screening of the film back in July (else the wait would've been deathly) and absolutely loved it! So, I rushed out to see Brave again today, and, if anything, was more enamoured with it than I was the first time around. Everyone I went with loved it - ranking it quite high up their favourite Pixar films - and I was, once again, humbled by the unparralelled excellence of Pixar.

As I said in my review at the time:

"Touching, powerful, immersive, funny and gorgeous – all in equal measure –Brave is yet another winner from Pixar, and has the feel of a grand epic, and an instant classic."

And my adoration of it hasn't lessened. Some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy, some of the humour a tad crude; but the characters are so well formed, the story so fantastic and the film in general so wonderful, that it really doesn't matter. Brave just needs to be seen.

Also, I was even more taken with Enrico Casarosa's preceding short film, La Luna, this time around too. I loved it back in July, and more so now; the magical innocence, the originality, the wonderful score and painterly animation, it's worth the price of admission alone! I was, though, disappointed that we didn't get the Monsters University teaser with the film - again! - but I loved the trailer for Frankenweenie with it.

If you're here in the UK (or indeed anywhere else in Europe or around where it's just opening) be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@A113Animation). And please also take the time to vote in our poll on Facebook, to decide your favourite animated film of the last ten years - get the full details here.

Brave Review - A Magical Film that Hits the Bullseye!

*This review is largely spoiler free, but read cautiously if you haven’t seen the film yet*

Brave is the thirteenth feature film from Pixar Animation Studios, the studio most notable for having produced critical and commercial hits such as Toy Story, Up and Monsters, Inc. The common denominator between these films (aside from their obvious brilliance) is that none of them have a female main character. Brave is therefore notable for being the first Pixar feature to have a female as its lead, and also for being Pixar’s first fairytale. Hearing those two statements however might give you entirely the wrong impression about Brave; it is neither a feministic rant nor a traditional, princess-prince-stepmother-villain type fairytale. The common denominator with Brave and previous Pixar films, is that it’s brilliant.

Brave has received decent reviews, but, at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, nothing near what we’re used to from the studio. It seems Cars 2 acted to, unjustly in my opinion, make people doubt Pixar, the studio they once revered above all else, and look for flaws. Well, they must be looking pretty damn hard to find things to gripe about here, as Brave was phenomenal. Touching, powerful, immersive, funny and gorgeous – all in equal measure – Brave is yet another winner from Pixar, and has the feel of a grand epic, and an instant classic.

Interview: Enrico Casarosa, Pixarian and La Luna Director

Yesterday, I had the chance to speak to the very talented, very kind and very friendly Enrico Casarosa via phonecall, from Pixar. Enrico recently directed the Emeryville based studio's latest short film, La Luna, which will be paired with Brave this summer, and is now working on Bob Peterson's film, The Good Dinosaur. Despite his very busy schedule, Enrico was kind enough to accommodate me for 20 minutes of interview yesterday.

I'd also just like to take this opportunity to send out a huge thank you to Pixar's publicity king, Chris Wiggum, the kind gentleman who helped to arrange this all for me. I've admired Pixar from afar (as I'm sure you all know) for several years, so to get the opportunity to interview someone from the studio was phenomenal and was definitely one of the highlights of my year so far! It meant the world and I'm extremely grateful to Chris, Enrico and anyone and everyone else involved.

Points covered in the interview include: the story process for La Luna, it's accompanying book, the Pixar Shorts Collection: Volume 2, The Good Dinosaur and the studio in general. Read the full interview after the jump break:

New La Luna Clip

Entertainment Weekly has premiered a new clip (above) from Pixar's Oscar nominated short film, La Luna. The short, which has been making the rounds of festivals in the past few months, is scheduled to premiere worldwide with Pixar's 13th feature film, Brave, this summer.

The clip, which is accompanied on EW's website with an interview with the film's director, Enrico Casarosa, is charming, nostalgic and makes it obvious that La Luna is set to be one of Pixar's finest shorts to date. The musical accompaniment by Pixar favourite Michael Giacchino is also sublime.

For the clip and interview with Enrico Casarosa, head over here.

Via Upcoming Pixar.

Best Animated Short Film Oscar Shortlist Surfaces

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S.) have released the short list of animated short films for consideration for Best Animated Short Film at the 84th Academy Awards.

Amongst those on the list are Pixar's latest offering, La Luna (directed by Enrico Casarosa) - which is set to play in theatres alongside Brave next summer -, and I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, the latest Looney Tunes short film, which is playing with Happy Feet Two at the moment.

The final set of between 3 and 5 nominations will be announced in January, with the awards taking place on February 26.

The full list can be viewed here.

Out of D23: Next Toy Story Toon named Small Fry, and more details

Courtesy of The Pixar Times' live blog from the D23 Pixar Shorts Panel, we now know that the next Toy Story Toon (due to play before The Muppets on November 23), will be called Small Fry and that it will be directed by Angus Maclane

The short is apparently a Prince and the Pauper story revolving around Buzz and that Glee's Jane Lynch will provide a voice in the short.

Still relatively little to go on, but if it's half as good as Hawaiian Vacation was, we're in for a treat.

Also, from this live blog, we have learned from La Luna director, Enrico Casarosa, that the short WILL be shown with Brave next year.



We also get the above video, a look at the Disney legends ceremony, including an interview with everyone's favourite frog.

Why Brave is my Most Anticipated Animated Film

There's a huge slab of animated films due out over the next few years, whilst it's debatable as to whether any of them are going to be worth your time, there's some that I simply cannot wait to see. The pinnacle of this anticipation is Pixar's Brave. The fantastic poster has got me even more psyched for Pixar's first fairy tale, but there's five reasons in particular that Brave is my most anticipated animated film - and one of my most anticipated films in general, behind The Dark Knight Rises of course.

These five reasons are as follows - in no particular order:

1. It's an original film, not a sequel, not to say that I have anything in particular against sequels, in fact my two favourite films of all time are sequels (Toy Story 2 and The Dark Knight). However, I love the feeling of uncovering a new world and new characters. Furthermore, I'm curious to see how Pixar handles their first fairytale.
2. The artwork we've seen so far looks utterly breathtaking, the visual style looks stunning. You can see just how much of a beautiful film Brave promises to be from the poster (above).
3. The brilliant Scottish feel should translate fantastically to create an authentic feel to the film. This is reinforced by the film's voice cast (lead by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald and starring Scottish comedian, Billy Connolly - who recently provided the voiceover for Scottish Disney Short Film, The Ballad of Nessie) and the fact that the score is being composed by Scot, Patrick Doyle (who scored Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).
4. It's (probably) going to be prefaced by the equally amazing and beautiful looking short film, La Luna, which I can't wait to see.
5. Furthermore, it will also (probably) have the trailer for Monsters University attached. I can't wait to get a glimpse at Pixar's first prequel, and I have waited nearly 10 years for a Monsters, Inc. follow up.

Brave looks, and sounds, utterly amazing in every way, shape and form; it seems like a much darker film and a bold new step by Pixar.

Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? SOUND OFF.

La Luna - First Clip and More

La Luna, Pixar's newest short film, has just debuted at the Annecy International Film Festival, but it won't debut to the rest of us non-festival-goers until next year (likely with Brave in cinemas), so to pacify us, Pixar have released the first 30 second clip from the 7 minute short. The clip comes courtesy of Animation World Network, also if you head over there you will see a new still from the film (below) and an interview with director Enrico Casarosa.

The clip looks great, the general feel of the film, the characters, the animation and the score all seem top-notch and I can't wait to see the full thing.

La Luna Debuts, Poster Revealed

La Luna, the newest short out of Pixar, the one likely to be attached to Pixar's 13th feature film, Brave, debuted recently at the Annecy International Film Festival. According to the short's director, Enrico Casarosa, and his blog, the short was the finale of the opening night. Enrico also shares with us the short's poster (above), which looks really stunning, Pixar have always been on top form for posters (and everything else for that matter), and this seems to be no exception.

La Luna looks and sounds great and, as it is likely going to be attached to 2012's Brave, it is quickly making Pixar's first fairytale my most anticipated animated film.

More La Luna Details Emerge

Yesterday, details emerged on a brand new Pixar short, La Luna, set to debut later this year at the Annecy Film Festival and today yet more details emerge.

Firstly, we have the very simple yet effective looking title card for the short (above). As I said yesterday, I really like the look of the short and this title fits with what I've seen so far and just looks generally great.

Joining director Enrico Casarosa at the helm is Kevin Reher, as producer, who previously produced Partly Cloudy and Day & Night. It is a very solid sounding team at the top of this project and La Luna looks set to be a great addition to the already fantastic Pixar animated short film canon.

Finally, La Luna is set to have a running time of 6:53, which Mike of The Pixar Blog reliably informs us is Pixar's longest short film by almost a minute, adding to the feel of a "fable" that it is touted to be.

The short sounds great and could easily be the one we see attached to Brave in 2012.