well, I am not pretending to pass as a movie critic, this is only a brief comment on the movie :
Brave – Disney/Pixar 2012
I had the awesome chance to see “Brave” on June 10th. The movie was one of the highlights of closing night of the Seattle Film Festival (marathon of a festival, 24 days festival, more than 400 movies shown).
First let me talk about the interest in the movie. I got my ticket as soon as it went on sale online. Next day, totally sold out. That was the first indication that this movie was something big. Today, we arrived hour and a half before movie time (as movie theatre is inside a Shopping Mall I thought …”I will pick up my ticket and have some time to do some window shopping” … wishful thinking…) . When we got there, there were already more than 100 people in line.
Another point, demographics. Every time I want to go see an animation, I should use any excuse to take with me some of my friends’ kids so I am not the only adult in line at the movie theatre. Today, 90% of the people attending were over 25. Interesting.
We got into the theatre – but not before strong security (all cellphones were taken out, no cameras, every bag checked, metal detectors searching for recording devices). Movie theatre was completely packed.
There, the first surprise: the Pacific Northwest Junior Pipe Band was setting up the atmosphere (http://www.nwjpb.org) and then a Pixar short was shown :“La Luna”. Very cute.
And here we go.
Visually, I think its one of the most advanced shows, showing what Pixar can do. And we already know they can do amazing stuff. It is simply stunning. It certainly feels that you are in the middle of the Highlands. One of the first scenes shows a fly by over a castle and I could only think “that is Loch Ness!” and feeling a bit of nostalgia considering that almost exactly a year before I was there. That is how amazingly real it feels. For all purposes you are in Scotland and for a minute you forget it is animation.
You can say the story is not original -teenager rebelling against her mother, spells that go awry- but that doesn’t take away the magic. It is sweet, funny and emotional.
Kelly Macdonald does an amazing job as Merida, and Emma Thompson is as bit as regal as you can expect. And what to say about Billy Connolly (King Fergus), he has some of the funniest scenes in the movie, the big strong King with a soft side.
I was expecting to see (well, hear) more of Kevin. Young McGuffin is so funny… and yes, there is no way to understand a word of what he says! (Still trying to figure it out how they will translate the effect when dubbing the movie to other languages). The three Lords are generators of a good portion of the conflicts, but showing great Scottish pride and big hearts.
I have seen a couple of very small kids that were a little scared of certain scenes (well, we all know there is a bear involved, not giving more details ) but other than that they were clapping and laughing as much as the adults.
Just a note: in typical Pixar fashion, stay until the end of the credits….
I certainly hope the movie is the success it deserves. Good job Pixar!
Betinad (KMKO Global Moderator)
Brave – Disney/Pixar 2012
I had the awesome chance to see “Brave” on June 10th. The movie was one of the highlights of closing night of the Seattle Film Festival (marathon of a festival, 24 days festival, more than 400 movies shown).
First let me talk about the interest in the movie. I got my ticket as soon as it went on sale online. Next day, totally sold out. That was the first indication that this movie was something big. Today, we arrived hour and a half before movie time (as movie theatre is inside a Shopping Mall I thought …”I will pick up my ticket and have some time to do some window shopping” … wishful thinking…) . When we got there, there were already more than 100 people in line.
Another point, demographics. Every time I want to go see an animation, I should use any excuse to take with me some of my friends’ kids so I am not the only adult in line at the movie theatre. Today, 90% of the people attending were over 25. Interesting.
We got into the theatre – but not before strong security (all cellphones were taken out, no cameras, every bag checked, metal detectors searching for recording devices). Movie theatre was completely packed.
There, the first surprise: the Pacific Northwest Junior Pipe Band was setting up the atmosphere (http://www.nwjpb.org) and then a Pixar short was shown :“La Luna”. Very cute.
And here we go.
Visually, I think its one of the most advanced shows, showing what Pixar can do. And we already know they can do amazing stuff. It is simply stunning. It certainly feels that you are in the middle of the Highlands. One of the first scenes shows a fly by over a castle and I could only think “that is Loch Ness!” and feeling a bit of nostalgia considering that almost exactly a year before I was there. That is how amazingly real it feels. For all purposes you are in Scotland and for a minute you forget it is animation.
You can say the story is not original -teenager rebelling against her mother, spells that go awry- but that doesn’t take away the magic. It is sweet, funny and emotional.
Kelly Macdonald does an amazing job as Merida, and Emma Thompson is as bit as regal as you can expect. And what to say about Billy Connolly (King Fergus), he has some of the funniest scenes in the movie, the big strong King with a soft side.
I was expecting to see (well, hear) more of Kevin. Young McGuffin is so funny… and yes, there is no way to understand a word of what he says! (Still trying to figure it out how they will translate the effect when dubbing the movie to other languages). The three Lords are generators of a good portion of the conflicts, but showing great Scottish pride and big hearts.
I have seen a couple of very small kids that were a little scared of certain scenes (well, we all know there is a bear involved, not giving more details ) but other than that they were clapping and laughing as much as the adults.
Just a note: in typical Pixar fashion, stay until the end of the credits….
I certainly hope the movie is the success it deserves. Good job Pixar!
Betinad (KMKO Global Moderator)
