My two-year old son is adamant about clearly identifying the world into two categories: boy things or girl things. He will tell my wife that she can't watch a certain television show (usually baseball) or play a certain game (usually baseball) because it's for boys, Mom. He will then insist that certain songs on the radio are girl songs and that we can't listen to them. The list goes on and on and I find myself routinely trying to convince him that it's okay for boys to like girl things and girls to like boy things. Being that I am his father and he inherently tunes me out, I enlisted some professional help. Who are these parenting wizards, you ask? Well, the good folks at Pixar, naturally.
Okay, not really. But I wanted to expose him to the less princess-y side of female characters, and more pressing, to entertain the kid for a few hours. Tuesday's film, Brave , succeeds on both fronts.
Outside of the previews, I didn't really know what I was getting us into. I did the relatively responsible thing of looking into the questionable content aspects of the reviews and stumbled upon a major part of the story I wasn't prepared for. That being the curse that Merida asks for (but ultimately must undo), of course. Perhaps that was clear to everyone else in the world, but I didn't get that out of the trailers I had seen. I thought we we're in for let-me-be/I-can-take-care-of myself movie. Brave is that, but it's more of an examination between the relationships between children and their parents, more specifically, between mothers and daughters. Cue the John Mayer (or just punch me in the balls, either one).
The bar is impossibly high, but for my money Pixar delivers yet again. Coming off of last year's soulless Cars 2 [review], they were bound to return to form, and they did. I had read somewhere that this film may seem lacking in that the fantastic isn't as front and center as some of their other films, but the emotional core that makes Pixar films matter sure is. I wasn't the wreck I was near the end of Toy Story 3, but I was certainly vested in the relationship between Merida and her mother. Combine that touching story with the trademark adventure tale and you've got yet another winner from the most bankable force in movies this side of James Cameron (speaking of, do we need three more Avatars?). Goodness.
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| I seriously wonder how many millions of dollars were spent on Merida's mane. |
Outside of the previews, I didn't really know what I was getting us into. I did the relatively responsible thing of looking into the questionable content aspects of the reviews and stumbled upon a major part of the story I wasn't prepared for. That being the curse that Merida asks for (but ultimately must undo), of course. Perhaps that was clear to everyone else in the world, but I didn't get that out of the trailers I had seen. I thought we we're in for let-me-be/I-can-take-care-of myself movie. Brave is that, but it's more of an examination between the relationships between children and their parents, more specifically, between mothers and daughters. Cue the John Mayer (or just punch me in the balls, either one).
The bar is impossibly high, but for my money Pixar delivers yet again. Coming off of last year's soulless Cars 2 [review], they were bound to return to form, and they did. I had read somewhere that this film may seem lacking in that the fantastic isn't as front and center as some of their other films, but the emotional core that makes Pixar films matter sure is. I wasn't the wreck I was near the end of Toy Story 3, but I was certainly vested in the relationship between Merida and her mother. Combine that touching story with the trademark adventure tale and you've got yet another winner from the most bankable force in movies this side of James Cameron (speaking of, do we need three more Avatars?). Goodness.
