Pixar’s Brave Trailer

UK Release Date: 13th August 2012

Brave (originally named The Bear and the Bow) is Pixar’s first original feature length film since Up in 2009. It is Pixar’s first fairytale, however it will be a lot different from Disney’s fairytales where the Princess is just a very poor or stereotypical representation of women. Brave also features Pixar’s first female lead character, Merida.

Brave is set in Scotland during a mythical time and focusses on Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty. Merida makes a reckless choice that unleashes unintended peril in the kingdom and forces her to spring into action to set things right.

There is hype around this film as there is for any Pixar production and whilst nearly all of Pixar’s films have garnered huge critical acclaim and they are seen as a studio that always achieves high standards, their most recent offering, Cars 2, failed to impress as much as previous films. Hopefully, Brave takes Pixar back to their best. It will feature the voice talents of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Robbie Coltrane and Billy Connolly: not a bad cast at all.

From the trailer I have my doubts whether Brave will really be that good. The animation, as always, is second to none and will be visually pleasing at least, if nothing else. But the trailer really does nothing to hint that any of the audience’s expectations might be met; it all just seems a little lacklustre and below par. Like it or not, every Pixar offering is always going to be compared to Toy Story, and this is far from Toy Story by the looks of things, in terms of character and story but of course, this is only judging from a trailer. By the time summer comes and I have seen this film, I may be inclined to disagree with these comments.

Billy Connolly joins The Hobbit.

So the final addition to the cast has been made. Billy Connolly will be playing a dwarf by the name of Dain Ironfoot, described by director Peter Jackson as ‘the staunchest and toughest of all the dwarves’.

Billy Connolly joins other Middle Earth newcomers Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins), Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug/Necromancer) and Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield) in The Hobbit. The newcomers will be supported by some very familiar faces returning including Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Hugo Weaving as Elrond and of course, the brilliant Andy Serkis as Gollum.

Part 1: “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is released December 14th 2012.

Part 2: “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” is released December 13th 2012.

And as an audience we can only hope that The Hobbit is as good as the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.