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.

New Brave Featurette: Triple Play

Pixar continue the onslaught of promos for Brave, with yet another featurette today, called "Triple Play". As opposed to yesterday, today's clip is not a parody, rather a brand-new clip showing Merida's mischievous triplet brothers Harris, Hubert and Hamish. Courtesy of Pixar Post, this new clip sees the three young boys reenact the story of how King Fergus won the hand of Queen Elinor.

The triplets are absolutely hilarious and its very easy to see why many people are citing them as the comic highlight of the film!

Brave is released in the US on 22nd June and in the UK on 13th August.

Queen Elinor Takes the Lead in New Brave Clip and Interview

Queen Elinor, mother to Brave's star Merida, takes the spotlight in two new promotional videos for Pixar's latest film, today. The Queen is touted as being very traditional in her views, that a lady should be a lady, and not, for instance, wield a bow and refuse to marry. The clash between Merida and her mother is the backbone of Brave's story and Pixar have honed in on that with their advertising for the film today.

Above, via Yahoo! Movies, you can see the clip (which has appeared in a few trailers) in which Elinor recounts her woes over Merida's stubbornness, to her husband, King Fergus. The scene is more sombre and resonant (in the same vein as Marlin and Nemo in Finding Nemo) than some of the more comic aspects we've seen in the past couple of weeks; with Fergus here to provide comic relief.

Emma Thompson (Love Actually, Harry Potter) the Oscar winning actress who lends her voice to the Queen also spoke to Australian morning television show, Sunrise, about the film and its own resonance for her. Thompson said of the film:

"It's a growing up story, but it's a growing up story for both parent and child. They both go on this incredible joruney together and it's exciting and funny and moving."

Great to see such enthusiasm for the film, check out the full interview above!

On a side note, I'm not very fond of everyone comparing Brave to The Hunger Games now everyone appears to have jumped on that bandwagon. Can no one shoot an arrow anymore without copying Hunger Games? I suppose Daryl in The Walking Dead is channelling Katniss?

Via Upcoming Pixar.

New Brave Clip and Bloomberg's Visit to Pixar

After yesterday's high, it's back to business as usual today, and we have two new great Pixar videos for you. Firstly, above you can see the latest clip from Pixar's upcoming summer release, Brave - via AOL. Although a large portion of the footage you can see here has been seen in previous trailers, this is yet another straight-forward clip from the film; allowing us to get a feel of how the film flows. It looks pretty great, showing the deft blend of comedy and intensity that we've been promised for Brave.

And secondly, Bloomberg have a great mini-video chronicling their recent trip to Pixar and what they observed on what makes the studio great. In the video, we see the Pixar team (including Chris Wiggum, the kind gent that helped set up my interview with Enrico Casarosa), as well as a look at John Lasseter's office. The creative genius behind Pixar and Disney Animation recites his famous quote, "The art challenges technology. The technology inspires the art.", as well as sharing some touching words on the passing of Steve Jobs. The video doesn't seem to want to embed, so you can watch it here.

Via Upcoming Pixar.

Brave: Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day hit a few months ago here in the UK, but it's fast approaching for our US readers, and today Pixar unveiled a new video clip (above) from Brave to help promote this. The video has a great message and it's very admirable of Pixar to promote the often undervalued holiday, but far more interestingly, from an animation standpoint, is the actual footage used.

The video  showcases a lot of new footage from Brave that we haven't hitherto seen. These new clips include footage of Merida as a child, learning to use her bow, and the strained, yet, at its heart, pure, relationship between mother and daughter; Queen Elinor and Merida.

Brave hits US theatres on 22nd June, and UK cinemas on 13th August.

And also, remember to get your mums something nice for Mother's Day guys - you can't overplay how brilliant they are.

Also, Brave has been given a PG rating due to "some scary scenes and rude humour". It is the third Pixar film to be rated as such. Full story on The Pixar Times.

New Brave Character Bios and Images

Throughout the many trailers and TV spots we've seen for Pixar's next feature film, Brave, a royal duo have featured very prominently: King Fergus and Queen Elinor. The monarchy of DunBroch, the parents of the film's antagonist, Merida, have been at the forefront of each and every trailer (apart from the teaser), particularly Elinor, and today /Film provide us with character descriptions for the duo as well as previously unreleased images.

The official character description for King Fergus, voiced by Billy Connolly, is:

King Fergus is a heroic warrior with a majestic bear cape, broad sword and a knobby peg leg – the result of his much-regaled skirmish with the demon bear Mor’du. His vendetta against the beast who took his leg makes Fergus a ferocious and determined bear hunter, evidenced by a home full of mounted trophies of every size. Protector of his kingdom and family, Fergus has a heart as big as his triplet sons are mischievous and boundless love for his wife, Queen Elinor. But his pride for his first-born daughter Merida is unmatched, and he has gifted her his great skill and passion for the sword and the bow.

And the description for Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson:

A vision of grace, wisdom and strength of character, Queen Elinor is fiercely dedicated to the well being of her family and kingdom. As the measured, diplomatic counterpoint to her more impulsive husband, King Fergus, Elinor carries the weight of the kingdom on her shoulders in order to maintain the fragile peace between the volatile clans. Elinor strives to instill in Merida the knowledge and manner of a royal, expecting complete commitment to Elinor’s standards. But her vision of her daughter’s future is at odds with Merida’s rebellious spirit and desire to forge her own path, which ultimately causes Elinor to face calamitous consequences.

Via /Film.

New Brave Images Show Merida's Swordplay

Disney and Pixar have released two new images from their next feature film, Brave. These newest images both show the film's fiery-haired protagonist, Merida, practising her swordplay, but are polar opposites in tone. The first image (above) details a scene, presumably, from towards the end of the film, showing a tense, dramatic test of strength, with Merida standing centre, wielding a large sword.

The second (below) shows the very different relationships Merida has with her parents; showing jolly, fun-filled sword practice with her father, King Fergus, whilst her mother, Queen Elinor, lingers in the background, looking her over.

Be sure to click to see the enlarged high-res versions; Pixar never skimp on the detail.

Brave is due out on 22nd June in the US, and 17th August here in the UK.

Final Brave Trailer Revealed

Now that we're just a few months away from the release of Pixar's 13th feature film, Brave, we have been treated to all manner of advertisements, and today, we get the last trailer. And it's amazing.

You can see the newest, and final, trailer, that debuted earlier today on iTunes Movie Trailers, for Pixar's first fairytale, above. Whilst a large portion of the trailer contains footage and animation that we've seen in previous trailers and clips (showing Merida's fiery, rebellious nature) it is very well edited - bringing out more of the Pixar feel - but it's from about 1:30 onwards that things really start to pick up. We get some glimpses into the thus far heavily concealed second act of the film: the witch and the demonic bear Mordu; culminating in the surreal, ominous feel that looks set to make this one of Pixar's most poignant and impressive films to date.

Oh, and the animation is fantastic. Just in case you're blind and hadn't grasped that up until now.

Check it out for yourself, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section, or on our Facebook, Google+ or Twitter pages.

Brave Stories: Merida

We're getting to that time of the year again; the time where nearly every story covered on this site will be based on Pixar's next feature film, as Pixar are, once again, going into advertisement overdrive, this time, for their first fairytale, Brave.

The studio have released a brand new featurette (via Yahoo Movies) showcasing, once again, the Mother-daughter clash that will be central to Brave's story, as well as highlighting the mystical, ominous side to the film that sets it apart from what we've seen before. However, the clip also debuts a lot of new footage that we haven't seen before, which looks as stunning and impressive as we've come to expect from Pixar. Brave certainly looks set to be one of Pixar's best films yet!

Watch the featurette above.

Via The Pixar Times.

4 Brave Characters Posters and an Interview with the Director

Entertainment Weekly bring us 4 brand new (well, the Merida one is hardly new) character posters, showing off some of the main cast of characters form Pixar's next feature, Brave. Above you'll see one of the four posters, showcasing Merida's younger triplet brothers: Hamish, Hubert and Harris.

EW also caught some words from the film's director, Mark Andrews, on the individual characters that comprise the posters. On the subject of the triplets, Andrews said:

“You can’t tell them apart, and they steal the show,” says Andrews. “They love sweets and are always getting into mischief. And they can do no wrong as far as Fergus and Elinor are concerned.” Andrews also revealed that the triplets won’t have any spoken lines in the film: “They giggle and laugh — that’s it.”

He also passed comment on the film's much more intense, ominous tone:

“It’s appropriately scary, as much as it needs to be to tell the story effectively,” says Mark Andrews, who shares directing credit with Brenda Chapman. “But it’s not overly horrific or terrifying — we’re not going for a PG-13 rating. You’re in good hands with a Pixar movie, as always.”

For the other three character posters and more words from the film's director, head on over to Entertainment Weekly.

Brave Characters

Although I declared yesterday, that I was not going to post the 4 leaked images of the characters from Brave, since then a great deal of websites have posted them all across the Internet, and Pixar seem to be allowing it. So, I thought I would share the character images with you, which look amazing.

Princess Merida, the main character, voiced by Kelly Macdonald

Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson

The Wise Woman

Lord Macintosh, voiced by Craig Ferguson

They certainly all look stunning, Brave looks set to be one of the most visually stunning Pixar films. As Cars 2 is now out in America, be sure to see the teaser trailer with 3D showings and wait for the inevitable character roll out.