emotion_lotion: Dougie AXP: DadOfThree: It wasn't bad, but geared towards girls.... The nudity was unexpected though.

It did make my 7 year old cry, which is always nice, but I almost lost it during Toy Story 3, so perhaps it's inherited.

If the end of TS3 and the beginning of Up don't reduce you to tears/choke you up, regardless of gender, then you have no soul.

Agreed,

If the supposed low mark of your studio is Brave, you are clearly doing most everything right.

Dear Mr. Scott Mendelson:

If you are going to be a critic of others' works and point out their professional failings, please take a moment to learn the tools of your trade. One important tool is the proper use of the English language.

The word is CANON. Not CANNON. Spell-checking software is a wonderful thing but a wide and varied vocabulary is a must in your line of work.

Good day, sir.

It is officially popular for film critics to hate Pixar.

I saw Brave. It was a good story. It was fun. It had pacing. My daughter and I had a great time. I will buy it in HD when it becomes available.

Anyone who thinks this is worse than either of the Cars movies is too stupid to be listened to.

Despite being a young girl-oriented film, it was very good. I'm a burly lumberjack of a man and it was fantastic

fark the haters

vrax: So, in what way was the rest of "Wall-E" bad? Please tell me that you aren't one of those dullards who was offended by the depiction of the gluttonous humans.

The second part of the movie is a boring, drek-ful, moralizing piece of dogma in a worse way than the "consumption mmkay" aspects of He-Man or GI Joe were rather trashy back in the day.

You want to agree with the dogma? Fine. I think it's lazy. The gluttonous humans were simplistic in the extreme, and the robots (like Wall-E and EVE) were what brought them to that state.

How do you reconcile Wall-E & the fatass humans coexistence in the end? Technology bad (except for the ones that remind us of Chaplin, or the ones that agree with our socio-political point of view)... pretty damn lame.

Wall-E is a mish-mash in a way that Cars was not, and Cars wasn't that great. At least Cars hung together internally, and has a broader appeal than Cult of Mac.

Wall-E simply doesn't belong in the same sentence as The Incredibles or Toy Story 3... or even Tangled, Cars, Ratatouille, etc.

Really surprised at the unexpected number of Up-haters. Well, maybe not "haters," but I can't help but wonder if they saw the entire movie or just checked out after the first exquisite 10 minutes. Up was a delight from beginning to end. The elderly protagonist didn't "break every promise he ever made" to his late wife, although it's clear that right after she died that Carl believed so. But don't ignore that pivotal scene right before the dramatic climax/rescue: Carl has failed to get the house to Paradise Falls. His balloons are just about depleted of helium. The debonair explorer he and his wife wanted so much to emulate has turned out to be an obsessed lunatic who slaughters endangered species. He's abandoned "Kevin" and Russell has taken off in an attempt to rescue her. He's sitting in his house in despair, surrounded by mementos of Elly, and happens to pick up her scrapbook...the scrapbook she bequeathed to him before she died. He randomly lets it fall open and finds a passage he never noticed before. Elly has left him a final message: something like "Thanks for the great adventure! Now go out and have your own!!" And Carl realizes that he didn't break his promises. Like so often happens in RL, they made plans, circumstances changed and they had to break into their dream vacation stash again and again (although each time was a mutually-agreed-upon necessity). But they had a mutual adventure after all: a glorious 70 years of life with their best friends. And she has given him her permission to move on with life. Galvanized, he hurls all the relics of the past out of the house so he and Doug can fly to the rescue of Russell and Kevin. They succeed and return Kevin to her chicks and themselves to civilization, where Carl becomes the dad (or granddad) Russell never had. And in the end it all worked out. Elly's house landed exactly where it was supposed to be...right next to Paradise Falls.

Cars was a delight. Ratatouille, Nemo, Monsters, and Incredibles were, well, incredible. The TS trilogy was phenomenal. But Up was utterly transcendent.

I know that arranged marriages exist in any number of foreign territories that this film hopes to make money in (to be fair, some arranged marriages are more rooted in mutual consent than others), but it's almost disturbing how the film utterly ignores the darker implications of such a concept.

Really? Seriously?

You go to a children's movie wanting and expecting to see that film that explore the darker implications of arranged marriages?

You're an idiot.

Like I said to a friend yesterday, Brave was Pixar showing Disney how a princess movie should be done. Took all the tropes (unhappy princess, wish granting magic person, etc.), and showed her finding her way (1) with two parents in sight, (2) more importantly a mother in sight (not a single dad, not a wicked step-mom), and solving her problems (3) in tandem with the parent she fell out with (4) without having to fall in love with a farking prince, and (4) without singing and goddam treacly songs to any goddam too-cute animals.

Add in the fact that it was just visually farking beautiful and it was worth the price of admission.

Original? No. But I loved the characters and thoroughly enjoyed the "neener-neener" factor aimed at Big Papa Mouse.

bextraordinary: DeaH: gadian: It's a girl movie. So, of course it must suck.

Yep. A female-centered movie. There's no prince in sight. The heroine is not a sex object (except for the inevitable Rule 34 stuff that is no doubt coming). The primary relationship is between the mother and daughter. Unlike virtually every Disney princess movie, the mother is neither dead nor bent on her daughter's destruction. Yet most of the reviews I've read by men say there's nothing revolutionary about this movie.

I'm a woman and I agree with the reviews saying there is nothing particularly earth-shattering going on here. As the reviewer in TFA points out, nothing is really resolved - while Merida is free to marry for love (blah blah every movie ever), she WILL still marry. What about a princess movie about a girl who never marries? Better yet, what about a movie with a female protagonist who is not a princess? As for the living mother, that's newish for Disney but she's still depicted as part of the old "nagging wife to carefree husband" trope. Nothing new there. Like many reviewers, I was left disappointed. I thought this movie was going to break way more new ground than it did. It felt like a rehashing of a hundred other princess movies but with bears.

Since when do movies need to be "earth shattering" to be good?

Some people expect way too much in an hour and a half.

Of course she'll likely still marry. So do MOST people. Why must she be single forever in order to be a true feminist heroine? It is enough that Merida fought for and won a CHOICE in the matter. Indeed, had she been relegated to perpetual singleness, she would only have been playing the 'virgin' in the age-old madonna/whore dichotomy, in which she can only be strong and free and independent if she remains chaste and disdains men entirely.

Most people live in the middle.

As for Elanor being "nagging".... apparently you didn't quite get the point of Elanor's character development. She was a creature of her culture, she was trying to uphold what was expected. This movie beautifully portrayed what, exactly, is wrong with that in a way that didn't ultimately dehumanize her (ironically, too).

I thought Brave was fantastic. I laughed, I cried and I want to see it again. The mother daughter story was refreshing in its authenticity. It was really great to see a woman-centered film. And bonus points because my five year old step-son loved it, too.

When did movies have to change your freaking life to be good?
Why can't they just be something to do for 2 hours anymore?

AverageAmericanGuy: Toy Story 2 is the worst Pixar movie.

You are either a very bad troll or a very stupid person. Or both.

gadian: It's a girl movie. So, of course it must suck.

Yep. A female-centered movie. There's no prince in sight. The heroine is not a sex object (except for the inevitable Rule 34 stuff that is no doubt coming). The primary relationship is between the mother and daughter. Unlike virtually every Disney princess movie, the mother is neither dead nor bent on her daughter's destruction. Yet most of the reviews I've read by men say there's nothing revolutionary about this movie.

It was better than Prometheus, but not as good as Moonrise Kingdom.

/And Pixar needs to make The Wee Free Men.

I get the impression that certain people here don't understand that Brave is a movie for kids.

Skipping on Cars because of Larry the Cable Guy is like skipping on Toy Story because of Jim Varney.

Trocadero: Am I the only person on Earth who thought the Incredibles was awful?

I'm sure there are others, but the minority is significant enough to the point where the rest of us look at you askance and wonder what the hell is wrong with you.

DamnYankees:

The plot of Cars is about a big city doctor falling in love with a small town and adopting a pig?

Replace doctor with racer and pig with Larry the Cable Guy.

Ringshadow: The one that I don't like is Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo just didn't set well with me. I enjoyed How to Train your Dragon much more than Nemo, actually.

Though all bow down before WALL-E.

/haven't seen BRAVE, yet

How to Train Your Dragon is the only Dreamworks one that is in a class with Pixar IMO. Brilliant movie.

It'll be a cold day in Hell before I start criticizing Pixar.

lame article is lame

/Hot

I couldn't put Pixar movies in order, so I'll just put them on categories.

The ones I LOVED: Up, Wall-e, Ratatouille, Toy Story 1 and 3, The Incredibles.

The ones I really liked: Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo.

The one that is OK: Cars.

I don't hate Cars, I think is fun enough to watch it on DVD (it's my baby brother's favorite movie), but it's not nearly as good as the rest.

Hope to see Brave soon enough, and despite the criticism, I will watch Cars 2 just to see if it's really that awful.

legion_of_doo: TheMatchHare: KatjaMouse: Unsung_Hero: I'd go further - I'd say that the first act of Up and the first act of Wall-E are effectively different movies from the remainder of the films. They're ART with all three letters capitalized.

I think if Charlie Chaplan were alive to see Up he'd wave his arms and applaud and exclaim "SEE! See everyone! I TOLD you silent story telling isn't dead!"

My favorite part about Wall-E was that the first half hour or so was basically a Chaplin tramp comedy with robots. It went down hill after that for me, but still a fun/decent film. I guess it was also as heavy-handed as Chaplin films tended to be, so it also had that going for it...

exactly.

the robot part of wall-e is superb, but the rest of the movie was pretty bad. people may scoff at Cars, but the story and the way the characters fit together were far better as a whole than that dreadfully overrated wall-e.

wall-e is yet another example of the over-use of the word "great". if wall-e is "great", you might as well call Disney's Hercules, Tarzan, and Atlantis "great", then.

/ Jobs is dead. he doesn't care if you all kiss his ass anymore

So, in what way was the rest of "Wall-E" bad? Please tell me that you aren't one of those dullards who was offended by the depiction of the gluttonous humans.

What amazed me (aside from the artwork) was again Pixar's ability to convey emotion without words. The bear trying SO HARD to talk - and me being able to tell exactly what she was saying (and feeling) was just amazing. Outstanding work.

Also, just having had a blazing row with my daughter that morning, I was amused to hear some very familiar angry words exchanged between parent and child in the film. My kiddo was stock-still in those heated exchanges and hasn't mentioned the movie since we saw it - which means it struck a nerve.

Cars2 was better than cars1 : your argument is invalid;

jayhawk88: skepticultist: Nope. I didn't think [Incredibles] was awful, but I did find the core message of the film stupid and insulting.

Be proud of yourself and who you are?

I got more of a "Some people are exceptional and its not fair that they have to follow the same rules as everyone else/If everybody is special then nobody is." vibe from it. My reaction might have been colored by the huge number of conservatives who glommed onto the movie and declared it a slap in the face of liberals.

Mugato: DamnYankees: The plot of Cars is about a big city doctor falling in love with a small town and adopting a pig?

I doubt there were any boobies in Cars either.

You must have missed the scene when the groupies flashed their flip lights at the winner. That's a hard image to find the right search terms for while at work.

Every strand of hair told a beautiful story. Something the movie itself was incapable of doing.

Went to see it with wife and daughters. They thought the animation was beautiful but the story was kind of weak. The middle section seemed like an entirely different story awkwardly merged with a story about a princess. And I agree with TFA. After setting up Merida in the first act to be an awesome archer, they pretty much drop that aspect of her character in the second and third act.

The story was 100% predictable but that's OK if the journey is interesting. The journey was just so-so, adding in aspects of magic and random danger mostly to satisfy the overall story structure. The Will O' Wisps are prime examples. They show up for no reason other than to advance the plot in the direction the writers want it to go.

From a character perspective, this was strictly a mother/daughter story. Everyone else was a caricature. Again, OK but the mother/daughter stuff was hampered by one character spending a good part of the film mute.

Still, all in all, well worth the money to go see, if only for the hair. I'd give it a solid B.

Oh look everybody, another Pixar love/hate thread. You kids play nice now.

eddiesocket: The critic's complaint that the middle part had no "bearing" on the outcome of the story is especially nonsensical. It was the forced adventure that Mother and daughter went through that caused them to see the error of their ways. I thought it was a good movie, not in the upper echelon (TS3, WALL-E, Incredibles, Up) of Pixar but certainly not in the bottom tier (Cars, Cars 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc) either.

Monsters Inc.? Did you accidentally watch one of those cheap rip-off straight to DVD films instead of the real one? Because Monsters Inc/ is one of their best movies hands down. The door chase is a finale they've still never topped, and the last line of the movie, "Kitty!" is still one of the most heart-warming/heart-melting/something-in-my-eye moments they've ever made. It's a great film, and I pity anyone who can't enjoy it.

So here's hoping you put the wrong movie in that bottom tier list.

tafka: "Mum, mom, mam' for the love of the deities woman, sick to a freaking pronunciation in the same farking sentence!

The should have chosen wisely for the female lead. If they had, the glaring plot holes would have been glossed over by the sheer prettiness of the film.

On the upside, hubby took me out for pizza afterward so the night wasn't a COMPLETE wash!

So, the award winning Scottish actress playing the Scottish lead didn't work for you?

Devo Cornholiosky: Andric - the hair alone took 3 years of work, more than all of Cars 2

Considering that the entire "NO CAPES!" sequence in The Incredibles was a thinly-veiled justification for not including pieces of cloth that flutter around and are incredibly annoying to render, that's not surprising.

There are two kinds of posters here:

1. I took to the movie and they loved it, as it's meant for kids but with enough nuances that adults can enjoy it too.

2. This movie is missing elements that made Braveheart such a beloved movie. I fully expect this movie, made for kids, to appeal to my snobbish yet pedestrian movie going desires.

This is getting as bad as a Politics thread.

I was hoping for a cameo from these two.

AverageAmericanGuy: Skipping on Cars because of Larry the Cable Guy is like skipping on Toy Story because of Jim Varney.

Jim Varney could do the hell out of Shakespeare. I'd be surprised if the guy playing Larry could spell Shakespeare.

Dougie AXP: If the end of TS3 and the beginning of Up don't reduce you to tears/choke you up, regardless of gender, then you have no soul.

Oh, Lord, not this. Look, I have no problem with Up (which I did feel WAS genuine), but the end of TS3 was emotional manipulation and I was more insulted by it than anything else. It was a lot of "things couldn't get worse, right? Well, we're going to make them worse just to make you feel bad". It was bad enough that the movie was a re-tread of TS2 to start with.

I just hate the whole snotty "I'm going to shut down this argument by saying there's something wrong with you". I've been hearing that crap a lot lately, and in defense of some rather mediocre movies, no less. Get over yourself, not everybody's going to have the same opinion of stuff as you.

I liked it fine, but the people lauding it for lacking song numbers and too-cute animals need to STFU. Not every movie needs that, no, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it, and I like them. So screw you.

skepticultist: Look, man, maybe it doesn't bug you, but it bugs me. It just seems like a dumb idea to me, so I haven't bothered to see the movie.

It's probably good if you avoid all fantasy movies then.

Such a bad review, not too surprised. First, the only films from pixar that have to deal with a canon are those that are based on a prior art. Brave is not a sequel or a prequel, it doesn't have to make sure it fits with Wall-e or bug's life. Oh and the word is canon not cannon.

Second, how is it a bad thing that they don't pat their backs over the female warrior aspect or did not make a girl power movie? Most of the movies that push this line get heavily panned because it takes away from any kind of story.

Third, arranged marriages for royals had nothing to do with sex. If you are thinking about that when watching a pixar flick, you should not be in a theater showing a pixar flick.

Pixar made their modern princess movie, they did not go overboard with girl power and the lead is not as docile as sleeping beauty.

Surool: DamnYankees: Surool: Anyone who thinks this is worse than either of the Cars movies is too stupid to be listened to.

I don't think anyone has said that. More disappointing, not worse.

How could it be more disappointing than a Doc Hollywood ripoff followed by a shallow cash-grab?



Surool: It is officially popular for film critics to hate Pixar.

I saw Brave. It was a good story. It was fun. It had pacing. My daughter and I had a great time. I will buy it in HD when it becomes available.

Anyone who thinks this is worse than either of the Cars movies is too stupid to be listened to.

They really always have been for when wall-e and ratatouille came out. They gave better ratings but they still cast uncertainty that pixar has magic left. Really they have every right to bash cars 2, there was no care put into it. It was not john wanting to expand cars and make a spy flick, it was about disney already selling $10 billion in cars merch and looking for a way to keep that money rolling in. Any critics that does not see cars 2 as just a plug for cars merch is a moron, and this guy hits it with flying colors.

Dougie AXP: DadOfThree: It wasn't bad, but geared towards girls.... The nudity was unexpected though.

It did make my 7 year old cry, which is always nice, but I almost lost it during Toy Story 3, so perhaps it's inherited.

If the end of TS3 and the beginning of Up don't reduce you to tears/choke you up, regardless of gender, then you have no soul.

I kind of agree. At the same time, it matters the age group of who is watching the films. For the TS franchise, if you are old enough to have grown up while watching the films, yeah you are heartless for not crying because really a part of you dies.

It is the same way with the SW saga. The scene in ep3 where vader has his helmet snapped closed is really the end for anyone that grew up with the original because anakin at that moment is dead and the story is now complete. Also it alludes to the last scene in ep6 when vader dies and his body is horizontal. For Kids that started with it beginning with ep1, that scene is just the middle for them.

I have a theory that Pixar is trying to get clear of Disney so they can make edgier films. If they make enough flops Disney might offload them.

The trouble is they don't know how to make a legitimate flop.

BroVinny: SithLord: Pixar is just a cut-rate production company anyway, according to Mack the Truck.

Speaking of which, who did Ratzenberger voice this time?

According to wiki "Gordon, the Guard"

Ashtrey: at the beginning of Up I thought 'That man lived for a good 70 years with the love of his life. I could dream of being so lucky'.

But you missed that he was never able to help Ellie realize her dreams?

The painful part was that in his eyes he broke every promise he thought he made to her, and she died before he ever could make good.

And that farking victorian corset with a medieval setting! For fark's sake, do your freaking homework people! It's not like it's HARD to research historically accurate undergarments. If sims modders can do it, so can a major movie production house.

Worse than Finding Nemo? That's hard to believe.

I liked Brave a lot. I'm not a Pixar fanboy (as proof, here's my review of Ratatouille: meh) nor am I a prepubescent girl.

I agree that it didn't have an "epic" feel, but I didn't know I was "supposed" to expect that either. It did feel like one big set up for a sequel, though, despite leaving zero loose ends.

In a few years I expect to see ads for Brave 2 hyping Merida exploring northern Europe "epically." I hope it's with Billy Connolly/her dad--shoot, Pixar could even answer the Mulan comparisons and have Merida cross dress to be a sailor or some such. Merida might slay a Grendel that's kidnapped her slightly older little brothers or fend off Vikings. But I digress.

Incredible animation, funny and great cast, NO MUSICAL NUMBERS, strong and independent female protagonist who doesn't have to dress up like a boy to assert herself... I'd have a hard time giving Brave a C.

NIXON YOU DOLT!!!!!: Wait, why am I supposed to hate Cars 2?

1. NASCAR
2. Larry the Cable Guy
3. The original ripped off a movie nobody gave a shiat about until it got ripped off by a movie involving NASCAR and Larry the Cable Guy.

Man, Brave didn't need to be good.
Was I the only person who saw Wreck-it Ralph at the beginning and just coasted through on my desire to see that all movie?

Ed Finnerty: There was a Cars 2?

Yes. And despite how cool it is to hate it on Fark (and Cars 1 for that matter) I think both are great movies.

Trocadero: Am I the only person on Earth who thought the Incredibles was awful?

Yes, and it means that you are a truly bad person.

Disposable Rob: Replace . . . pig with Larry the Cable Guy.

"Let's see if they notice the difference!"

FTFA

...but it's almost disturbing how the film utterly ignores the darker implications of such a concept. This isn't even a conventional arranged marriage, but rather a scenario where a young girl is basically sold off into marriage (and, um... sex), by her mother no less, to the winner of a token athletic competition. It's "Gee, poor Merida may have to marry a loser who might not let her race around on her horse and shoot arrows at trees" not "Gee, poor Merida has to get married to someone who has no interest in and will be expected to consummate said marriage."

Um, yeah? Because it's a film meant for kids? Though, he goes on about Aladdin covering that kind of thing better and I have absolutely zero recollection of any kind of plot line like that being in that movie, so maybe kids wouldn't pick up on it if it were hinted at... All the same though that particular criticism doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. They don't have to spell out the consummation thing, kids will pick up on what's presented, I'm sure adults know what married people do, seems straightforward enough to me.

/thought it was alright, saw it with my roommates and a bunch of their friends from school. They're all digital animation majors so they were all geeking out over it.

Give Disney a break. They are still figuring out how to write stories where both parents are still alive.

The one that I don't like is Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo just didn't set well with me. I enjoyed How to Train your Dragon much more than Nemo, actually.

Though all bow down before WALL-E.

/haven't seen BRAVE, yet

DamnYankees: soporific: It's not in the league of Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, or Up. That being said, it's still a good movie.

Don't leave Ratattouille of that list. One of the most purely enjoyable movies I've ever seen.


What is amazing is they had made 12 feature films before this and you just named 7. So to be an average Pixar movie you have a very high bar to meet.

/unless they keep making Cars movies

I liked Cars. It was a heartfelt homage to a bygone era when people treated the journey as important as they did the destination.

Cars 2 was a cash grab. I'd rather watch all the Mater's Tall Tales shorts back-to-back twice than sit through Cars 2 again.

I saw it this weekend and enjoyed it. Is it one of the absolute best Pixar classics? No. It's not in the league of Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, or Up. That being said, it's still a good movie. There are a lot of good character moments that work, and it did some things that I've never seen in an animated feature. I think people were expecting another Mulan, and I was as well. Instead we got a more personal story.

The La Luna short was one of the best they've ever done, and I'd love to see an entire movie about those three. That alone made it worth it.

Pixar makes kiddie movies, They are fun to look at, and provide grateful parents the opportunity to get their crotchfruit to leave them alone for a couple hours a day.

To call them bereft of intrigue or substance is to criticize water for being tasteless, or air for being breathable.

DamnYankees: Surool: Anyone who thinks this is worse than either of the Cars movies is too stupid to be listened to.

I don't think anyone has said that. More disappointing, not worse.

How could it be more disappointing than a Doc Hollywood ripoff followed by a shallow cash-grab?

Dougie AXP: If the end of TS3 and the beginning of Up don't reduce you to tears/choke you up, regardless of gender, then you have no soul.

I sat through all of Toy Story 3 and thought to myself "This is weird, I didn't get choked up once! Yeah, it was kinda sad when they all held hands there, but...."

Then Bonnie had Woody wave goodbye to Andy and Andy....reacted to it?

I exploded! I bawled like a little girl.

Cars and Cars 2 have minted more money for Pixar than any other set of movies (including tie ins, dvd sales, theme park, etc). So this movie isn't targeted towards you - that doesn't mean its bad and you'll get over it.

/still haven't seen it - but enjoying all the false outrage over it

I really liked it. It's a little predictable, but that didn't take away from it. Looked fabulous, likable characters, touching mother/daughter relationship. Kinda similar to "How to Train Your Dragon" and that's not a bad thing.

It wasn't bad, but geared towards girls.... The nudity was unexpected though.

It did make my 7 year old cry, which is always nice, but I almost lost it during Toy Story 3, so perhaps it's inherited.

If it's Scottish, it cannae be crap, ya buftie reviewer man!.

It's a girl movie. So, of course it must suck.