Pixar Animation's 2012 effort is Brave, a fantasy adventure set in Scotland directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (who was replaced in the middle of production). Kelly Macdonald voices the flame-haired protagonist, Merida, while Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd, Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters, and Craig Ferguson also provide voices.
The film opens with a very young Merida, our tomboyish hero, playing hide and seek with her mother (Emma Thompson) while her father, the king (Billy Connolly), looks on. Shortly after recieving her birthday present, a bow, they are attacked by a large bear. Cutting to years later, Merida and her mother can now barely stand each other and her father is missing a leg from their encounter with the bear. Merida spends every spare moment she has practicing archery in the forest, when she doesn't have to practice being a proper, passive princess with her mother. Upon Merida finding out she is to be betrothed very soon (she isn't told until the suitors are practically on their doorstop), her contentious relationship with her mother comes to head. So, naturally, she encounters a witch and accidentally gets her mother turned into a bear, she gets a deadline to reverse the spell, and mother/daughter bonding ensues.
Firstly, I have to say, the animation is up to the usual high standards Pixar sets, though just about every other animation studio now active is up to those same high standards. The Scottish landscapes, in particular, are quite beautiful and detailed. The characters are expressive and fairly realistic looking, but some of the designs are distorted enough to provide a more wacky feel at times. The animation in the action-oriented sequences is very fluid, while not scrimping on the level of detail to be found in the landscapes.
The story, however, is extremely slight and seems like a first, and nowhere near a final, draft. The main problem with the script is that none of the characters are, well, likable: Merida is a spoiled brat, her mother is a tyrannical shrew, and her father (a king no less) is essentially a non-factor in her life aside from approving of her archery. Other issues with the film include no true villain, except for a bear with a way too convenient connection to the main plot, and a vague, poorly defined system of magic that doesn't seem to be a part of the universe at all aside from being a plot contrivance once or twice per act. The moral of the story, parents and children should talk to, not at, each other, is solid but the means of getting to that point are illogical. Merida and her mother both seemingly cave from their previous positions out of guilt, not understanding, when neither has been given a proper reason to do so.
The voice acting is solid, though it seems a bit exaggerated when it comes to the Scottish-ness of it all, even though most of the voice actors are Scottish (or at least British), so I may just be hearing things. Kelly Macdonald is a convincing teenaged girl not wanting to be betrothed to an idiot (all of her choices are very much idiots) but she can't change the content of the paper-thin material she was given to work with. Every one else is competent but not extraordinary in voicing their roles.
In the end, Brave is probably the weakest Pixar film to date, and after a couple of mediocre outings, this is the first film they have done I would say is legitimately bad. Though the spunky heroine and the beautiful animation should keep kids entertained, even if it may be a bit dark for the very young, adults will probably wonder why a ninety minute film could have been able to have had forty minutes cut without losing any of the plot.
3/10
The adventures of Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin to come to a close in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, the first installment of the two-part conclusion to the eight film saga. Directed by David Yates (director of the final four films in the series), it stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, along with a regular who's who of quality British thespians.
Dumbledore is dead, Voldemort grows stronger by the day, and Harry Potter, left only with the vague mission of destroying the remaining horcruxes (pieces of Voldemort's soul embedded in hidden objects that make him, effectively, immortal). Joining him, as always, are his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as they both choose to leave behind their homes to help Harry fight the battles to come. A series of trials and tragedies befall the trio, including an aerial escape, a daring heist, and a fight with a rather large snake, as their bonds of friendship are tested and their wills are pushed to the limit. All the while, Voldemort is putting the final pieces on the board for his final push to controlling the wizarding world.
The acting in Harry Potter and the Deathly - Part 1 may be the best in the entire series, despite a noticeable lack of Alan Rickman. Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson have grown as actors as they have aged, and all give excellent performances. Warner Brothers got truly lucky when they cast these actors a decade (or so) ago, because all of them have serious chops and all of them still look like the characters from the book. Additionally, Ralph Fiennes is wonderful as Lord Voldemort the few times he's onscreen: he is charismatic, darkly funny, and indisputably terrifying, all without a proper nose. Considering the large cast I will just list off some of the other fantastic actors working in this movie: Alan Rickman, Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson, Julie Walters, Helen Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, John Hurt, Rhys Ifans, and many more.
Harry Potter, while ostensibly a series for children, got progressively darker as its protagonists aged, and this is the darkest one yet. Harry's snow-white owl Hedwig gets killed as collateral damage, Ron's brother loses an ear, the three are forced to abandon friends to potential imprisonment and death: it is not light fare, fantasy or no (which is a very unfair stereotype, by the way). I don't mean to spoil, but there is a scene where a derogatory term is literally carved into someone's arm. The interpersonal issues the group face are less superficial and more personal and befitting of seventeen-year-olds; essentially Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sexual beings by this point and are preoccupied with such things (also saving the worlds and overthrowing dark lords).
This seventh film is the most restrained, though still possessing a substantial amount of special effects (handled beautifully), and is more reliant on atmosphere and mood then any of the previous entries. Whereas before the films would take place in a brightly lit castle, this one is set primarily in sparse, cold locations, from the dismal home Harry inherited from his godfather (Gary Oldman, we do so miss ye) to the forests they flee to. As the penultimate entry in such a vast franchise, much of the film is spent moving the pieces into place for the grand finale to come, which causes the film to lack a clear resolution, though it picks a good place to end.
This seventh of the eight films making up the Harry Potter epic is the most down to earth (relatively) and the most personal (definitely), but it still can't help but feel like it's missing a third act, which is to be expected considering that there is also a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. In the end, though, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 works as one of the stronger entries in an already very strong franchise.
8/10
