Pixar Not a Level Above the Rest Anymore

Rating: 6/10 (1 July 2012)

As I was finishing watching the new Pixar movie, I was trying to figure out how the title "Brave" fit into the film. It wasn't clearcut, other than a final bit of narration. I understand the original title was "The Princess and the Bear", and that is a more appropriate title. About half the movie follows the shenanigans of the young redhead and said bear. Does it work? Sure, the bear is given human qualities, but still can evoke a sense of danger. In general the complaint seems to be that the arc of the story doesn't push the envelope, things that you expect to happen with the story pretty much happen as planned. I decided to watch this movie in 3D, because I heard that the lush visuals helped make up for the simple story. This was true, so my final verdict is thumbs up, but it still fails to live up to the competition. The competition I am talking about is the excellent "How to Train Your Dragon", released a couple years ago.
HTTYD was a surprise hit, combining memorable characters with some good fairy tale dragons, as well as teenage rebellion, etc. "Brave" ventures into similar territory, and frankly didn't entertain me as much as HTTYD. I think another story layer was missing. I think also that this director was not at the level of sophistication as former Pixar director Brad Bird, for instance. I can't say there was any point where I got bored, or where a character became annoying. The crowd I was a part of in the theatre was full of kids, and they laughed at every pratfall. There were only sparse moments of adult level humor, certainly not enough to deem this a mature film in any way.
One thing I thought was a bit of a letdown was the confines of the film's environment. The scenes in the forest break new ground in terms of texture and colour. Half-rotted tree trunks with a variety of shades of green moss create super-real visuals that benefited from the 3D effects. But most of the film takes place in your run-of-the-mill castle, including an extended action scene that feels like a video game where you chase around endless hallways and stairwells.
There is certainly nothing to bemoan this latest CG animated film now seemingly lost in a glut of animation releases these days. We all know Pixar can do better, and I certainly won't declare that the Pixar magic effect has worn off. On the other hand, the usual captivating animated short that precedes all Pixar films was not all that as far as I was concerned. 3 men cleaning the moon was more simplistic than average and had a ho-hum payoff. For me, the fast-paced short that appeared before "Wall-E" called "Presto" is one of the best.
Kids will be fine with this film, and adults will not get too bored, but all you really have left is the striking visuals (sometimes).