Too much, too manipulative, too intense for the young end of the expected audience.
Oh, I wouldn't say it was too intense even for the very young. By and large kids like things to be a little scary and a little dark. Even very young children often realize that their media are sugar-coated and "boring."
As an aside, notice how violent action movies in the 90s often led to childrens' toys and cartoons. It was almost as if the toy industry just assumed that the majority of 5-12 year old kids knew who Robocop was (despite its R rating) and had seen the movie or at least grasped the canon.
I understand your point, but I think that there's a big difference between Robocop or Indiana Jones or even the Goonies, where the protagonists are tough hero types pretty well equipped to look after themselves, getting into and then out of danger. There was violence, there was gore, but the heroes were tough and could take it.
There's a whole different emotional dynamic that goes on, in my opinion, when the protagonists are naive, fragile (even though there's a cowboy and a space hero, they're just little kids' toys and they know it) innocents thrown into, well, basically Hell. It was a bit much.
Too much, too manipulative, too intense for the young end of the expected audience.
Have you seen Pinocchio? Snow White? Even something as late as Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Iron Giant? This sterilization of children's films is an invention of the Disney Renaissance and is something that needs to die. Film is a great way for kids to learn skills for coping with things without having to deal with the intensity of it actually occurring to them. Shielding them from these movies is weakening them.
Toy Story has an intended audience, I'd argue, of probably somewhere around 4 to 105. While I'm sympathetic to politically correct over-sanitizing and how harmful it potentially can be, I wouldn't let my 4 year old watch Snow White. My 6 year old? Probably.
Too much, too manipulative, too intense for the young end of the expected audience.
Have you seen Pinocchio? Snow White? Even something as late as Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Iron Giant? This sterilization of children's films is an invention of the Disney Renaissance and is something that needs to die. Film is a great way for kids to learn skills for coping with things without having to deal with the intensity of it actually occurring to them. Shielding them from these movies is weakening them.
Even the Disney Renaissance was not rarkably sterile. It was a number of the other films coming out at that time that were sterile, stuff like a Troll in Central Park for instance.
Too much, too manipulative, too intense for the young end of the expected audience.
Have you seen Pinocchio? Snow White? Even something as late as Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Iron Giant? This sterilization of children's films is an invention of the Disney Renaissance and is something that needs to die. Film is a great way for kids to learn skills for coping with things without having to deal with the intensity of it actually occurring to them. Shielding them from these movies is weakening them.
Even the Disney Renaissance was not rarkably sterile. It was a number of the other films coming out at that time that were sterile, stuff like a Troll in Central Park for instance.
Though that was by Bluth, who (besides being a real estate tychoon with a dysfunctional family) also made such terrifying films as Secret of Nimh. Also, I can't think of any Renaissance movie besides Lion King that would scar a child, and even Lion King is pretty damn mild by early Disney standards.
Hunchback of Notre Dame? How about Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is stabbed to death (and is also one of the few Disney movies with blood)? I'm not arguing that there was toning down, but they were still darker than a number of the other movies that were coming out then.
Haven't seen Hunchback, and I didn't find Beauty and the Beast that scary. I didn't watch these movies until I was already 12 or 13,so I might not be the best judge, but that was also the same time I saw Bambi for the first time, and the movie made me fucking cry.
Oh god, watch Hunchback. It's easily one of my favourites and I also personally know a number of people who were horribly scarred from watching that movie as kids.
I really don't like the idea that children can't see things that scare them. Of course, there is a line for every child, and some children can't handle things that others can. I think that watching Nightmare Before Christmas is kind of a good example of the type of movie that I found both scary and appealing as a small child. Also, I think exposure to films and books that deal with death, although they are upsetting, is important for children. It helps them come to terms with that part of human existence. I really liked Toy Story 3. It may have been emotionally manipulative, but isn't that part of why we like fiction? To get all those feels?
Haven't seen either Cars movies, but at the same time I understand why they put so much focus into it because it is Pixar's most financially success franchise (especially with merchandising!)
Brave is the worst Pixar movie I've seen. And that's mostly because every other Pixar movie I've watched has had some creative plot twist or memorable scenes or even some real emotional depth to it. Brave is pretty much what it is in the trailers, but less action. The motives of the characters, especially with Merida and her mother are never fully explored and explained which is the biggest crux of the movie. And not to mention, he takes old ideas and doesn't do anything new with them when questioning tradition, or female power, or faith. And the key line of the trailer "If you had something you to change your fate, would you?" isn't even really...answered considering where the movie goes with it's plot.
Hell, I dare say the short they showed before it, La Luna, had a better representative of understanding family and bonding through accomplishments than Brave did.
Oh, I don't know. I thought there were some good bonding moments in Brave. I kinda liked it. I thought they were pretty clear about the characters relationships, and how Merida and her mother didn't try to see things from the others perspective. That was what the movie was about: a mother and daughter who don't talk to each other, and then get in a pinch and hang out together, and then come to understand each other better.
Oh, I don't know. I thought there were some good bonding moments in Brave. I kinda liked it. I thought they were pretty clear about the characters relationships, and how Merida and her mother didn't try to see things from the others perspective. That was what the movie was about: a mother and daughter who don't talk to each other, and then get in a pinch and hang out together, and then come to understand each other better.
I think there are two major issues with the conflict with Merida and her mother. Both of them are not given more depth to why their beliefs are important. And there's absolutely potential there into really showing why they disagree with each other, but it came more as ignorance. They have opportunities to really have good conversations or explain why their stances are important...but they just don't. And they are the focus of the film, (All the side characters really don't matter, except the witch)
The other issue is that, they conflict is sort of solved before the major resolution of the movie. Usually Pixar has a good way of someone learning the lesson while they are within the climax, but the fact that they didn't really mesh together kind of frustrated me. And it made me notice more of the plotholes as it continued on.
I think the film is okay, but for Pixar, the writing was below par. (But then again, Brave was riddled with production issues) I do believe the movie was having a bit of an identity crisis whether it wanted to be funny or dramatic and couldn't quite hit that right balance.
I think Brave would have been better if they didn't change it to the standard Pixar buddy movie formula in the second act. It was that second act that dragged the movie down. While the message of trying the understand the other was clear, the road to that was forced comedy and boredom. I wonder how the film would have turned out if the lady director wasn't taken off the project. I think it wouldn't have been the Pixar buddy film. While Pixar is pretty awesome, that formula is getting stale. Meanwhile, Dreamworks is getting better.
With the slate of original Pixar movies coming out (The Good Dinosaur, The Untitled Pixar Film That Takes you Into the Human Mind, and the Untitled Pixar Film About Dia de Los Muertos) I think they're changing up their formula.
Watched Monsters University today. It was very reminiscent of old college films like "Revenge of the Nerds" and so on, which is both good and bad. It is good because it gets some Nostalgia cred from it and doesn't bungle the concept, but it also feels kind of formulaic because of it. It wasn't a bad film and I had my fun, but it wasn't special like some previous pixar films were. Wall-E, Up, Nemo, etc. were just absolutely amazing. Monsters University is still a good film, but it isn't close to their class. I still think it's worth watching, but don't expect to get blown out of the water.
Comments
As an aside, notice how violent action movies in the 90s often led to childrens' toys and cartoons. It was almost as if the toy industry just assumed that the majority of 5-12 year old kids knew who Robocop was (despite its R rating) and had seen the movie or at least grasped the canon.
There's a whole different emotional dynamic that goes on, in my opinion, when the protagonists are naive, fragile (even though there's a cowboy and a space hero, they're just little kids' toys and they know it) innocents thrown into, well, basically Hell. It was a bit much.
Also, I think exposure to films and books that deal with death, although they are upsetting, is important for children. It helps them come to terms with that part of human existence. I really liked Toy Story 3. It may have been emotionally manipulative, but isn't that part of why we like fiction? To get all those feels?
Brave is the worst Pixar movie I've seen. And that's mostly because every other Pixar movie I've watched has had some creative plot twist or memorable scenes or even some real emotional depth to it. Brave is pretty much what it is in the trailers, but less action. The motives of the characters, especially with Merida and her mother are never fully explored and explained which is the biggest crux of the movie. And not to mention, he takes old ideas and doesn't do anything new with them when questioning tradition, or female power, or faith. And the key line of the trailer "If you had something you to change your fate, would you?" isn't even really...answered considering where the movie goes with it's plot.
Hell, I dare say the short they showed before it, La Luna, had a better representative of understanding family and bonding through accomplishments than Brave did.
The other issue is that, they conflict is sort of solved before the major resolution of the movie. Usually Pixar has a good way of someone learning the lesson while they are within the climax, but the fact that they didn't really mesh together kind of frustrated me. And it made me notice more of the plotholes as it continued on.
I think the film is okay, but for Pixar, the writing was below par. (But then again, Brave was riddled with production issues) I do believe the movie was having a bit of an identity crisis whether it wanted to be funny or dramatic and couldn't quite hit that right balance.
No Pixar films in 2014.
Pixar films