Last year it was Cars 2 and now this? What's wrong with Pixar?

Rating: 6/10 (6 September 2012)

Ever since 2003 when they started having a yearly release (except for the 2005 break), Pixar films were a MUST in summer movie guides. The fact that they started getting a yearly Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Picture, just convinced us that the appeal wasn't just in our minds, and on top of that two consecutive nominations for Best Picture (which makes Pixar the only animation production company that has managed to get those since Disney with Beauty and the Beast). We wouldn't mind whether the trailer was appealing or not; or if the story seemed good... you may have even thought: "meh... I don't think this one's gonna be better than the last one"... However, you would like it. Period.
But after last year's "Cars 2" and this year's "Brave", it seems like we're gonna have to start analyzing whether to go watch a Pixar release or not, which is something you just didn't do. That's a huge fail for Pixar, cause they're gonna start loosing market. It will be just like Dreamworks. Sure they have "Shrek" and "How to train your dragon"... But they also have "Shark Tale", "Flushed Away" and "Over the hedge"... (Not to mention all the other Shrek films)
You get it? Pixar being good is not a 'law' anymore. Whether the film was good or not, used to be a generalized "Two thumbs up"... Now it depends on opinions. (And most of them are just not good)
I'm glad the Academy punished them last year by not giving "Cars 2" a Best Animated Film nomination. I don't think "Brave" deserves one either, and if they give it, it will be based on graphics and animation more than for the film as a whole. (Although it wasn't nearly as bad as Cars 2)
They're gonna have to do some serious changes in the way they're choosing their stories, for us to get back that "Pixar = good" concept we used to have.
I'm pretty sure "Monsters University" wont disappoint us at all! But it's gonna take them more than one good film to get back to the top, plus, since there's only one yearly release, we're gonna spend the rest of the year with that bad flavor. So Pixar, be careful with what you release after that one...
Now I KNOW THIS ISN'T A PIXAR REVIEW, but the expectations most of us had, were base on the fact that it was Pixar. SO LET ME TELL YOU WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THIS MOVIE, in my opinion.
First, The lack of comedy. After Hilarious Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. I think it's a Pixar trademark. Up and Ratatoille were not comedy- centered but it wasn't a missing ingredient. As far as I'm concerned, the triplets were the only comedy we saw.
Second, The Characters. Besides Merida's Father, none of the characters were interesting. And if they were, they weren't fun to watch. You would expect a lot of fun from watching the queen dealing with becoming a bear but it really wasn't. The Witch scene was more a WTF moment rather than an interesting, mysterious or funny scene. The villain, in this case the giant bear, just wasn't a good one. You would very little fear it, and almost don't know anything about it. It's intentions against Merida and her mom were basically hunger. And don't even get me started with the leaders of the troops and their boring sons.
Third. The Story. It didn't seem so bad. That was before Merida ran into the woods with Angus. Starting with the way her mother became a bear, to the way she broke the spell. It was pretty lame. I got the feeling it was starting to get good when they went into the other bear's cave and the truth about the bear was revealed, but a few minutes later, that was over and the story was lame again.
Fourth. The Trailer. Everything good about the movie just seemed to be squeezed into the trailer. Not to mention I find it very misleading. You never quite find out what the movie really is about until you're in the movie theater. It's like the production company predicted the whole bear thing was going to repeal the audiences, so they decided to avoid putting it in the trailer to trick everyone into watching it.
I really think the movie wouldn't have been as bad with better directing. But what are you gonna do?