“11 things we learned about Pixar’s ‘Brave’”
From Slashfilm and their coverage of the recent D23 Expo, here are a few things you need to know about Pixar’s movie Brave:
2. Merida is a bad ass
Most of us figured this out when we saw Merida, the main character voiced by Kelly Macdonald, stand up to a bear in the teaser trailer but the scene shown at D23 expanded on that significantly. Here’s how it went down. Minor spoilers ahead. The sons of three lords are competing for Merida’s hand (she happens to be a princess) in marriage. They’re all idiots. Meridia, an expert archer, decides she wants them to compete in an archery competition and each character, looking like the comedic rejects from Braveheart, bumble through the challenge. Of course, one randomly gets a bullseye. When her father, King Fergus (Billy Connolly), looks for a reaction, Meridia is gone. She reappears like Sith Lord, approaching the men with a hood on, announcing that she’ll be deciding who wins her heart. She flips down her hood, unleashing her huge mane of red hair (more on that later) and starts walking down the course. As she’s walking, without stopping, she nails the first bullseye. Then the second bullseye. As she approaches the third, her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) screams at her not to do it. She defies her mother as, in slow motion, we see her fire the bow. Direct hit. Goosebumps.
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5. Old is harder than new
In a computer, making something look slick and new is easy. Making it look old and worn is hard. Brave takes places centuries ago and everything in it has been around for centuries before that. So, layer upon layer had to be added to every single the object in every single frame. Trees, rocks, moss, etc. Plus, because all the colors had to look more muted because, in the 10th century, clothing was dyed.
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7. The Pizza Planet truck IS in the movie
Even though it’s the 10th century, Dratter hinted that the Pizza Planet truck will appear in Brave. How is this possible? Well, at one point, Merida visits an old witch and while discussing how they populated the witch’s old, cluttered, rock home, Dratter stopped and dropped a hint. I’m sure there will be a pizza truck on the shelves somewhere.
For more, go to Slashfilm. Next up: “10 things we learned about Pixar’s ‘Monsters University.’”