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I was excited when I heard about this. The trailer's a little meh though. You'd think that their animation style would have improved since The Incredibles.
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I don't think there's much they can do to 'improve' the animation style. It's honed in on a particular point designed to remain just cartoony enough to bypass problems with the uncanny valley.
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I wanna say AICN got a chance to see a test screening of the movie and they had less than kind things to say about it. I remember that one of the key problems seems to be that half the movie focuses on the whole "reluctant princess deals with idiotic suitors" storyline and the trailer seems to play this up as well. I get that its supposed to be Pixar's take on the classic princess story but I hope they leave enough time for the meatier parts of the story.
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I don't think there's much they can do to 'improve' the animation style. It's honed in on a particular point designed to remain just cartoony enough to bypass problems with the uncanny valley.
Wrong. Tangled did the "princess animation" thing without the characters looking like blocky pencil erasers (as they have in Incredibles, Up, etc). And the art style was supposed to be even more elaborate in Tangled, before they decided to tone it down.
For a princess movie, they sure aren't aiming high.
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How can you possibly tell a difference between Tangled and Brave at the resolution they release these trailers at?
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My problem was the quality of the humor - everything seemed to be very cheap and lacking in elegance - one of the things which raised The Incredibles up was the grace of the screenplay, which did have some easy jokes, but relied heavily on very intelligent, deliberate, carefully planned humor.
As for character design, I personally think Rapunzel's appeal for me is the character they inhabited the body with - so Merida may develop a loveliness about her. I don't really have a problem per se with the way things look right now - just the lack of intelligence displayed in the humor.
Second the accent comment!
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quote:Originally posted by millernumber1: My problem was the quality of the humor - everything seemed to be very cheap and lacking in elegance - one of the things which raised The Incredibles up was the grace of the screenplay, which did have some easy jokes, but relied heavily on very intelligent, deliberate, carefully planned humor.
While I agree with your estimate of the movie, The Incredibles trailer had all the same problems in spades, as did many other of Pixar's films.
My worry is that the trailer is too good... somewhat confirmed by the AICN review. Hopefully it was a test version and not the final edit.
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For the record in case someone's not aware, Tangled wasn't by Pixar... It was Walt Disney Animation Studios.
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Oh, yiss, I know the studios aren't the same (though I think there might be some personnel overlap). I was just commenting on a previous comparison.
I just hope Pixar can match or exceed the high standard set by their older, fuddy-duddier sister, and not get stuck in the Cars 2 rut.
Jim-Me - was that the trailer where Mr. Incredible tries to get into his costume and the belt won't buckle? What do you mean by "too good?" That the movie is even worse than the trailer indicates?
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quote:Originally posted by Aros: Wrong. Tangled did the "princess animation" thing without the characters looking like blocky pencil erasers (as they have in Incredibles, Up, etc).
... You have a beef with character design, evidently. What I said was entirely about animation style, so I fail to see how this is a relevant counterpoint to what I said?
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quote:Originally posted by millernumber1: What do you mean by "too good?" That the movie is even worse than the trailer indicates?
I mean that the trailers for "Monsters, Inc", "Finding Nemo", and "The Incredibles" made me absolutely NOT want to see them and they turned out to be excellent.
I think "Brave" looks interesting, by comparison to those earlier trailers, and so I am worried it won't be as good.
I do not share the opinion that the Brave trailer looks bad, in and of itself... but I also enjoyed the heck out of "Cars", so take it for what it's worth as I am obviously a Philistine
Speaking of what is and isn't good Pixar, I've noticed, curiously, that Wall-E and Up are switching places for me the more I watch them. At first I thought Wall-E was good, but middle-of-the-road for Pixar, and that Up was really brilliant. On further viewings, Wall-E keeps getting better while Up is losing a little luster for me. Anyone else experiencing similar revision of opinions?
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I thought Wall-E was brilliant and UP merely mediocre, even worse than Cars; repeated viewings of all three have merely cemented those opinions.
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The first ten minutes of UP were so depressing I never saw the rest of the movie (my grandparents did basically the same thing, so it really got to me).
I'm hopeful for this one, especially as there is a distinct lack of Scottish themed animated movies out there. I do hope there will be plenty of caber tossing and wild haggis running free across the heather. Is the voice of the queen Emma Thompson? It sounds like it but I haven't been bothered to go check yet.
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You can argue that the vikings of "How to Train Your Dragon" were inexplicably Scottish. They certainly weren't Norwegian.
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I liked How to Train Your Dragon quite a bit, but a perfect film it was not.
I felt Wall-E and Up were both fantastic when I saw them in theaters. Now, that has been cemented by repeat viewing of Wall-E. I've never watched Up again, though, because that would require watching the beginning and end of the movie again, and I don't think I can handle that. I am definitely willing to believe that, aside from the beginning and end of Up, it is overall a worse film.
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Jim-Me - thanks for clarifying. That does make some sense.
Interestingly, I liked Cars a lot, but really disliked the sequel. And I think Toy Story 3 is the best of that series, so I shall join in in self-proclaimed Philistinism.
As for Up, other than the first ten minutes, I was extremely unengaged by the film. Wall-e I've grown to love more and more every time I watch it (which is sadly not often, since the stupid copy-protection means I can't watch it on my computer, despite having a completely legal copy...)
Emma Thompson is indeed the voice of the queen.
We shall see about Brave - I'm not sure if I want to read reviews, since my glimpse at the Cars 2 review played a large part in my negative expectations for the film, which were unfortunately confirmed, and I'm not sure exactly how that process worked in my processing.
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: You can argue that the vikings of "How to Train Your Dragon" were inexplicably Scottish. They certainly weren't Norwegian.
On many occasions I pointed this out. My pet theory is they wanted Gerard Butler, and since he's a Scottish native, they just went in that direction. Also, American audiences would be confused if they heard real Norse accents. It's not a familiar one to our ears.
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quote:Originally posted by millernumber1: Interestingly, I liked Cars a lot, but really disliked the sequel... I'm not sure if I want to read reviews, since my glimpse at the Cars 2 review played a large part in my negative expectations for the film, which were unfortunately confirmed, and I'm not sure exactly how that process worked in my processing.
It worked by Cars 2 being a bad movie. If you think of Cars 2 as a direct-to-DVD sequel that got mistakenly sent to large theaters the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
About "How to Train Your Dragon" I know a guy who is very into his Heritage, which he says is a Scottish clan originated by Viking immigrants. Ironically, he hasn't seen the movie, but I couldn't help but think they must have done some of the same research as he had done.
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My own heritage is that of a Scottish clan originated by Viking immigrants. But by the time they had Scottish accents, they had stopped being vikings. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I have a clan, but I know next to nothing about it.
edit: well, amazing. I never anticipated that it was anything special, then I google it, and it's actually a huge clan with a bunch of preserved and restored castles and everything?
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: You can argue that the vikings of "How to Train Your Dragon" were inexplicably Scottish. They certainly weren't Norwegian.
When you get Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson - who are both from Scotland - voicing the two adult leads, what did you expect? Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Oooh, that trailer makes some of the things I thought were dumb make more sense. Still not quite the feel I'm hoping for, but my hopes are climbing again...as opposed to the epic plunge they took after Cars 2 and the first full trailer.
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The first couple teaser trailers were only slightly interesting to me. I've liked every Pixar movie so far, so I planned on seeing it. This most recent trailer shows enough character development to me that I'm now really excited to see it -- It looks like it's going to be a fun ride.
(FYI - I am not unbiased.) Tangled was Walt Disney Animation Studios. Brave is Pixar. That's probably the reason for different animation styles. I recommend checking out the extras on Tangled, they offer a bit of insight.
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I'd heard that many of the Pixar animators worked on Tangled. But I can see how different art directors would change the style. They actually were trying to break the mold with Tangled.
My only point is that Pixar's character design hasn't changed all that much since The Incredibles. They WERE pioneers, granted. But they're way behind the curve. Both Tangled and Tin-Tin are examples of 3D cartoon / realism that makes Pixar look hokey.
Then again, their track record is a little worn. Critical darlings as they were, Up wasn't that good and Toy Story 3 was just more of the same. And every time someone tells me they liked Cars 2, I wonder if they're being facetious.
Maybe my expectations are just too high after Wall-E. But the real animation innovations last year were Rango and Tin-Tin. What did Cars 2 give us? I used to think that Pixar was the "total package".
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quote:Originally posted by umberhulk: movie looks whatever.
Best pixar material was the first hour of WallE.
I think it's honestly a crime that UP and Toy Story 3 scored nominations for Best Picture from the Academy, but one of the most gorgeous films which most perfectly integrated music, animation, and a lack of dialogue did not. WALL-E is one of the most artistic films I have personally ever seen.
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One thing that annoys me slightly about Brave is that while it is about a girl it, of course, had to have a character who is defined by her gender (or rather, determined not to be).
Until there is a Pixar movie with a central female character who does stuff which isn't any more significantly influenced by her traditional gender roles than the male characters then it's not going to be really balanced at Pixar. Ideally, she doesn't fall in love in the story so let's hope that's the case*.
Because they've made a big deal about Brace's protagonist being a woman/girl, that's going to highlight more than usual her gender when people think about the movie.
*While it's realistic to assume that someone escaping marriage will find a more suitable match elsehwere in real life, it's more than slightly repetative when women are constantly escaping marriage only to find that it is in fact the thing that truly makes them happy, even after they've also accomplished the 'masculine' goal of killing the dragon and getting recognition.
However, since some of my childhood favourite stories use some version of this storyline, I suppose I shouldn't really complain that Pixar might have gone with it. If they didn't, however, I will be pleasantly surprised as an adult.
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