Pixar's "Brave" (and Animated Earworms)

Raise your hand if you think it was more sneaky-strategic than any secret intelligence spy movie move ever was to release the trailer to Brave (2012) at the exact same moment when the world was painfully realizing that Pixar is fallible while watching Cars 2.  (Yes, yes, the people of Planet Earth ought to have caught on to this during the snoozefest that was Cars but feeling very very sleepy has a less damning quality than feeling very annoyed; people do like a two hour nap now and then.) Redirect the conversation to a happier place!

So herewith the teaser to Brave which opens next June ...alas, not this one. This one is the one where we get Cars 2, damnit. We can't really break it down like Yes, No, Maybe So since it's only a teaser. We wait until the full trailer for that. But here's the gorgeously verdant tease.

We're all YES thus far.

Plus you know how we feel about red-headed heroines. Haven't been this excited to see a head of hair animated since Tangled was first announced... or maybe even since the first peak at Pocahontas back in the 90s ... that luscious windswept black mane. Oh what a sight it was.

P.S. If you can't get enough animation talk now that you're skipping Cars 2 (you are, right?) you might consider listening in on the Animation Fascination podcast which is talking to the animators Chris Chua and Austin Madison about their work on various Pixar films. That's them in kilts below while working on Brave.

Chris Chua & Austin Madison

It's an interesting background listen. Like, I'd never stopped to think how earworm irritating it would be to hear the same line reading over and over again for days on end while you're animating a movement within a scene!

Austin: For me it was Toy Story 3 working on the Potato Head characters, Mrs. Potato Head in particular. She's -- it's George Constanza's mom (Estelle ). That 'Georgie stop playing with yourself' -- that sort of voice. I had to hear 'MY EYE! IT'S BACK IN ANDY'S ROOM!!!' for about a week straight. You can mute it when you're working on blocking but as you get into the polishing phases you really have to listen to it over and over. I was ready to jump off the nearest bridge. Horrible.  
Interviewer: Does that ever ruin the experience when you watch the full film?
Chris: All the time.
Austin: It's tricky because working on a film -- it's really hard for us get perspective at all on a film and how good it is or isn't. To us it is -- you see it almost like a photo album. When I'm seeing scenes I'm thinking about all the dailies of that scene that's been playing in front of me dozens and dozens of times. I feel like only now I'm getting to the point where I can watch Ratatouille (2007) and fully enjoy it. It takes about five good years to get any perspective on a movie.

Can you imagine?

Comments

[James T]

Really, the teaser is terrible. I hope it was just a bad choice. I never like seeing animals killed even in movies, even animated, even if they look really mean but the "killing a big bear using a bow makes you brave" is just horrific.
By the way, I still feel: great hair, uninteresting face.