Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012
Closing Night Gala Film / European premiere of Disney Pixar’s Brave
The glitz and the glamour of the Edinburgh Film Festival 2012 came to an end on the weekend of the 30th June. Taking place at the Festival theatre in Edinburgh city centre, the European premiere of Disney Pixar’s Brave hit town, accompanied by a host of big names; alongside the Scottish voice cast of Kelly MacDonald, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, and Craig Ferguson (sadly no Billy Connolly or Emma Thompson), were Scottish First Minister, Alec Salmond, who introduced the film with a typically erudite tribute to Pixar’s depiction of Scotland, and also in attendance were the Pixar representatives of (kilted) director, Mark Andrews (who spoke briefly, and introduced the voice cast), and producer, Katherine Sarafian.
Before the film began, the audience were treated to two songs from Scottish Gaelic singer, Julie Fowlis and her band. Possessing a voice both at once beguiling and lilting, she set the tone for the film to come. After a quick, nervy introduction by film festival director, Chris Fujiwara, the presentation began. In typical (and most welcome) Pixar fashion, Brave itself was preceded by a short film, La Luna, a silent surrealist piece involving three generations; old man, middle-aged man, and boy; (grandfather, father and son?) Their occupation: sweeping stars off the moon! It is a hard film to capture in clumsy words but sure enough it is one of Pixar’s most touching and genuine works in some time, since Up perhaps.
Now, let us be clear about the level of expectation that greets a new Pixar film: when it comes to this incredibly talented and diverse pool of animators, certain expectations are in place. In terms of output, they are one of the most consistent with regards to quality. Here is the shocking news: Brave feels like their first major slip-up. It’s not that it isn’t good. It’s just that it isn’t as good as its forebears, or as successful at being itself; each past Pixar film felt complete in its concept, and even the much maligned Cars falls into this category.
Knowing that the production of Brave had a change of director relatively late on does shed some light on the film’s problems. Brenda Chapman was in control for approximately at least four years of the film’s pre-production, replaced in 2010 by Pixar stalwart Mark Andrews, who stepped up from the storyboard department (interestingly enough, Brenda Chapman was in attendance at the screening, and was paid tribute to by Mark Andrews). Pixar have had a similar problem in the past, when Brad Bird replaced Jan Peklava on Ratatouille. In that instance it worked fine, but with Brave such disruption hasn’t solved anything.
The big problem is with the narrative. For the first half an hour we have a good, well-paced period action adventure (new ground for Pixar), revolving around a young princess, Merida, who is due to be married off to an eligible gent of a rival tribe. There is humour aplenty (witness Merida’s triplet toddler brothers), the pace zips things along, and everything is building nicely, leading us to the middle third, which sags terribly, when the PLOT comes into focus. This is triggered by the effects of a spell cast by a witch that Merida has enlisted in an attempt to get out of her forced marriage; the spell was aimed at Merida’s mother Queen Elinor… I’ll not ruin it for you, but things go a bit awry in the family home… At the last, the final push pulls things back for a decent finish – but by then the damage has been done. What makes matters worse for Brave is that the central plot conceit is straight out of Brother Bear, a decent Disney animated feature from 2003. There is a brief dalliance with a hanging plot thread of lycanthropy but this is all too quickly explained away. For Brave feels like a film where the main plot points are weaker than than all the side attractions.
Said attractions are the colourful and varied character list; they are a memorable, diverse assortment, for the most part stylishly designed in that exceptional Pixar way – but the quality does vary wildly though, where some characters feel just right, in that Pixar tradition, where other characters feel like they’ve popped in from an average DreamWorks flick. Thankfully Merida herself is a strong enough character visually and narratively to keep us with the film, and is voiced perfectly by Kelly MacDonald (interesting to note that Reese Witherspoon was on original voicing duties before having to pull out). Merida is a break from the norm, for Disney especially, as Merida couldn’t be further away from the merchandising phenomenon that is the Disney Princesses… She is a refreshing change; feisty, independent and certainly not waiting for a prince to sweep her off her feet! In this Brave sets new ground; there is no romantic subplot.
As for the (fictional) clans featured in the story, they are distinctive, and the lairds are each voiced by a recognisable Scottish actor (Robbie Coltrane, Craig Ferguson and Kevin McKidd). Billy Connolly, as Merida’s pa, Chief Fergus, does what he does best: being Billy Connolly. Emma Thompson has a decent twang as Queen Elinor, Merida’s mum, and plays her part well as the overbearing mother. Even that Pixar voicing regular, John Ratzenberger, has a brief role…
BUT, after a promising, eventful half an hour or so, the majority of the cast list gets jettisoned in favour of a rambling middle third that never feels confident in its own presence (Merida’s encounter with the Julie Walters-voiced witch in particular; the visual gags here are contemporary style Dreamworks-Shrek era, not the kind of thing you’d associate with the classier Pixar). By the closing stages, interest picks up (a showdown in a ring of standing stones) to bring around a satisfactory ending. The nearest comparable film is How To Train Your Dragon, which is a much more confident and vibrant example of a similarly themed adventure, that sticks to its narrative strengths and wins out.
Brave is enjoyable to an extent but struggles in comparison to its Pixar stablemates; it is a shame to say that, even after six years of production, it feels like it has come to the screen too soon. Too many structural issues stop it from attaining that classic status held by the likes of Up and The Incredibles, the Toy Stories, and Ratatouille.
Andy Jamieson, Editor-in-Chief, www.geekzine.co.uk
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