okay for a Disney movie, poor for a Pixar

Rating: 4/10 (23 July 2012)

Pixar execs used to say that the story was indispensable in their filmmaking. They were right. It is too bad they didn't follow their own advice in making Brave. As a formulaic Disney movie, it would be average (though with above average visuals). But our family (kids' ages from 10 to 18) doesn't bother seeing formulaic Disney movies anymore. We saw it yesterday, and everyone was disappointed. "Cliche," one of our children said. "Easily the worst Pixar movie I've ever seen," said another (though none of us has seen Cars 2). I chuckled once.
Even though the moral of the story is that we're free to change our fate, the stock Disney characters were firmly locked into their roles and we could see the ending coming less than halfway through. I'm sorry I saw it at all.
In a wonderful documentary called "The Pixar Story," John Lasseter tells the story of how Disney suits almost ruined "Toy Story," which had to be remade radically in order to be saved. It feels like this time the Disney suits succeeded.
Is this a sign of things to come? Has Pixar been domesticated? With tickets so ridiculously priced, I'm not going to a theater next time to find out. We'll wait and rent.