Tag Archives: Pixar

Brave (2012)

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Princess Merida’s expected always to be lady-like
By her mum Queen Elinor, who nags her constantly.
Weapons are forbidden on the dinner table too;
Merida must act the way that princesses should be.
 
Marriage is the straw that breaks the loaded camel’s back;
Merida can’t stand the fact that it must be arranged.
Archery decides the ugly clan chief’s son she’ll wed
Till she then outshoots him, hoping fate will now be changed.
 
Words are frightful weapons when they’re aimed at those you love;
Elinor and Merida prove this to be a fact.
Merida runs off into the forest in her grief,
Finding wisps that lead her to the way she will react.
 
Locating a cottage and a wood-engraving witch,
Merida finagles quite a vague and shady spell.
When she gives her mother this enchanted little cake,
Fate indeed is altered, for her mother isn’t well.
 
Elinor is changed into a giant, clumsy bear,
Merida insisting that it’s not at all her fault.
Siblings help them both to flee the castle right away,
Dodging their bear-hating father’s guaranteed assault.
 
Merida attempts to find the witch, but she is gone,
Nothing to assist her but a strange and cryptic rhyme.
Though her mother’s getting used to being more relaxed,
Merida is worried she won’t find a cure in time.
 
Learning that the spell brought down a kingdom long ago,
Altering a prince into the demon bear Mor’du,
Merida attempts to mend a tapestry she tore,
Thinking this will heal her mum, but quandaries ensue.
 
War among the clans is stopped when Merida decides
Everyone should get to choose their own selected spouse.
Happiness is short-lived, for her father finds her mum;
Fergus thinks she killed his wife and drives her from the house.
 
Elinor is hunted by her husband and his men.
Merida, however, will not let them follow through.
Suddenly they are assaulted by the demon bear,
Elinor defending them and vanquishing Mor’du.
 
As the sunrise dawns to make the spell a lasting change,
Merida can merely now apologize and wait.
Love succeeds in bringing back the Elinor she knows,
Changing both of them and truly bettering their fate.
_____________________
 

The second Pixar film on my list, Brave is a Scottish-set fairy tale that feels different from all previous Pixar projects. It’s a fine film to be sure with beautifully animated scenery that is alternately lush or barren, often extremely realistic, as well as lovely Celtic music and an exciting climax. Nonetheless, when people list off Pixar films (Toy Story, The Incredibles, WALL-E), Brave will almost certainly be one of the last to come to mind.

It’s an excellent movie, but it’s a strange mix of inspiration and unoriginality. The young hero/heroine straining to be themselves under the oppression of an overbearing authority figure has been overused in plenty of films, from The Sword in the Stone to The Little Mermaid to Ratatouille. The fateful bulls-eye that splits a previous arrow is borrowed directly from the Robin Hood stories. Plus, the plot twist of a bear transformation was already used in Disney’s earlier Brother Bear, as was the recycled line “I don’t speak bear.” Considering Brave was an original fairy tale, I wonder why Pixar didn’t think of something other than a rehashed bear. Brave was originally to be titled The Bear and the Bow (a better title, in my opinion), but it might as well be Mother Bear.

On the other hand, it’s refreshing to see a strained parent-child relationship that doesn’t call on the parent alone to change. Everything is set right only when Merida owns up to her mistake and accepts that all of this is her own fault. The part with the woodcarver witch has the funniest scenes, and the buildup to the transformation is nicely handled. While the Scottish accents were previously applied to the Vikings in How to Train Your Dragon, here the Scottish brogue is more than just a way of talking but a way of life, along with colloquialisms like “dinnae” and “gammy,” as well as realistic highland games.Also, not many films have a touching mother/daughter relationship with both parties being at fault and sympathetic at the same time.

Brave may not be Pixar’s best, but it is a gorgeously rendered addition to their string of hits. Ignore the uninventive elements, and you’ve got another Pixar classic.

Best line: (King Fergus, to Elinor) “Pretend I’m Merida; speak to me…. [in a girly voice] I don’t want to get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen firing arrows into the sunset.”

 
Artistry: 6
Characters/Actors: 6
Entertainment: 6
Visual Effects: 10
Originality: 3
Watchability: 6
 
TOTAL: 37 out of 60
 

Next: #250 – Citizen Kane

© 2014 S. G. Liput

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#280: A Bug’s Life (1998)

01 Tuesday Apr 2014

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Flik is an ant on an island of ants
With a tree rising over each head.
They spend their days harvesting grain from the plants
To keep hungry grasshoppers fed.
Considered a fool, poor Flik just wants a chance
To prove that he’s helpful instead.
 
When Flik inadvertently ruins the food,
The grasshoppers’ chief, who’s named Hopper,
Demands they pick double to keep them subdued,
Which he says for an ant is quite proper.
But Flik has the chutzpah to swiftly conclude
They need warriors or a crime stopper.
 
While Atta, the princess, is dubious still,
It’s a way to get rid of Flik fast.
So while they start picking, Flik leaves the anthill
To prove himself useful at last.
A nearby bug city yields little until
A “warrior” posse rolls past.
 
Flik begs them to come, for he thinks that they’re tough,
But they’re really a lame circus show.
Back home, Flik tells all that these bugs have the stuff
To make Hopper finally go.
Yet all the bugs balk when it’s made plain enough
They’re expected to battle a foe.
 
They all want to leave, but a bird intervenes,
And their actions impress the ant crowd.
Flik has an idea that’s approved by the queens,
And the warriors speak it aloud.
They all build a bird in a montage of scenes,
And, once finished, everyone’s proud.
 
They plan to scare Hopper away with the bird,
And they celebrate into the night,
But soon the shocked ant colony gets the word
That clowns are assisting their plight.
They banish both Flik and the bugs he referred,
As they lose their conviction to fight.
 
The food they collect doesn’t please Hopper’s crew,
So the grasshoppers lock down the ants,
But young Princess Dot flies to Flik, who withdrew,
And he makes a plan in advance.
The circus bugs help to distract Hopper’s view
While Flik gets their “bird” to advance.
 
The “bird” scares the foe, but Flik’s scheme is revealed,
And Hopper’s enraged at this cretin.
Yet, seeing their numbers, the ants take the field
And the grasshopper hordes are soon beaten.
In seeking revenge, Hopper’s own fate is sealed
When he finds a real bird and is eaten.
 
With the grasshoppers gone and their freedom restored,
The ants honor Flik and his friends.
The circus bugs wave, and, with extras aboard,
They leave as their wagon ascends.
And Flik at last gets a true hero’s reward,
Romance and the gladdest of ends.
_____________________
 

All of Pixar’s films are wonderful to varying degrees, and the fact that A Bug’s Life (or any film) is this low on the list doesn’t mean it’s a poor film, just one I like less than others. This insect fable is the lowest Pixar movie on my list (I’ll admit that Cars 2 wasn’t good enough to make the cut, and I haven’t yet seen Monsters University), but it remains a funny and endearing classic. While the main plot is clearly drawn from Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and the concept is quite similar to DreamWorks’s Antz, released just a month earlier, A Bug’s Life has enough lovable characters and subtle humor to be original enough to blow Antz out of the water, though Woody Allen’s film still has its good points.

One amazing aspect of the film is its many diverse characters. There are a ladybug, a walking stick, a caterpillar, a butterfly, a praying mantis, a rhinoceros beetle, a spider, two pill bugs, a flea, two main grasshoppers, and at least seven named ants, and every one is given a distinct personality and great character moments. As many times as I’ve seen A Bug’s Life, there continue to be little details I hadn’t noticed; for instance, my VC pointed out that the awesome score would have fit well in a western, leading to observations of similarities to westerns, such as good guys being called in to stop outlaws, the desert location of Hopper’s vacation spot, and the flea’s stagecoach-like circus wagon.

The large cast of uniquely developed individuals has become typical of Pixar’s films, started by Toy Story and continued by the likes of Cars and Finding Nemo. A Bug’s Life also sticks out in my mind for the unusually gruesome death of the villain. Hopper is actually devoured alive, setting a precedent, followed by other cartoons like The Incredibles and Up, that animated bad guys can meet almost any horrific end as long as it is offscreen.

A Bug’s Life may be Pixar’s least original film and one of its least memorable, but it is still a fun adventure with lovely, though still developing CGI animation, countless laugh-out-loud insect-themed jokes, and a hilarious voice cast.

Best line: (a fly at the circus) “I only got twenty-four hours to live, and I ain’t gonna waste it here.”

VC’s best line: (waitress) “Who ordered the poo poo platter?” (Flies swarm all over it.)

 
Artistry: 5
Characters/Actors: 8
Entertainment: 8
Visual Effects: 5
Originality: 4
Watchability: 7
Other (I just like other films better): -4
 
TOTAL: 33 out of 60
 

Next: #279 – The Muppets

© 2014 S. G. Liput