I never look at the award list very much. Therefore, when I discovered that "Invincible Destruction King" was not the best animated feature film of the year, I was a little surprised. The same year's "Brave" won this award. After watching "Legend of Brave" with high expectations, my psychological gap was a bit big, and at the same time I felt another surprise in my heart. I think "Invincible Destruction King" is a very good story, but "Brave" is not particularly good in my opinion.
I take the story of the movie very seriously, but I am more tolerant of film editing, soundtrack, acting and other aspects. As far as the story is concerned, I think "Brave" is inferior to "Invincible Destruction King". Of course I know that the criteria for the Oscar review must be different from mine. After all, the "best animated feature film" is not the "best animated story." I have no intention of participating in the debate about awards. I still intend to discuss "Legend of Brave" from a story perspective.
First of all, I need to emphasize that the focus of my discussion may be more inclined to the shortcomings, especially the story. It is not difficult to understand that "Brave" won the Oscar for best animated feature film, and the audience's requirements and expectations will definitely be higher.
In all fairness, "Brave" is not bad, its story is complete. Moreover, from cultural style to plot development, "Legend of Brave" has its own characteristics. Mother pays great attention to etiquette, while daughter is very rash. The conflict between the two makes me look forward to it. When I saw my mother turning into a bear and interacting with her daughter princess, this scene made me laugh. The editing of the dialogue between the protagonist and his mother and the use of some foreshadowings are also remarkable. However, when the psychological expectations are adjusted to the highest value, you will feel that "Brave" is not good enough.
So, what I am going to discuss is, what are the shortcomings that caused this psychological gap?
At the beginning of watching the movie, I felt a sense of disobedience. The world background of the "Brave" story is fictitious. The protagonist is a princess of a kingdom, she is very straightforward. But her mother was a queen, and she repeatedly emphasized that the father-in-law was like a princess. There is nothing wrong with the conflicts in the relationship between the characters, but it is not very convincing if it is placed in the context of that world.
The kingdom where the protagonist lives looks like a small village, and the palace where he lives is just a stone-stacked castle without too much decoration. In such an environment, the mother repeatedly emphasized the image of the princess, which seemed to make a fuss. This is like in reality, the village chief’s wife educating her daughter to be a princess will only add to the jokes.
At the same time, the mother almost demanded the protagonist to accept the reality of the marriage with a tough stance, and said that if she did not do so, it would lead to war. But in fact-why did it cause a war? What is the conflict between the tribes? What situation can marriage change? -Regarding these issues, the film did not give any explanation.
It can almost be considered that the story background of "Brave" is ill-considered. Although the characters' emotional motives seem to be real, the incomplete and unreal background of the story makes the story look like a castle in the sky. The background of the story is not convincing, which means that the mother's persecution of her daughter is not very reasonable. This is a reason for the psychological gap.
Another shortcoming of "Brave" is that the theme of the story is decoupled from the plot, and it has a certain preaching tendency. The title of the movie is "Brave", but after watching the movie, I still don't understand what this courage is talking about. The movie gave this explanation at the end-
"Some people say that destiny is not in our control and that the outcome is not determined by ourselves. But I (the protagonist) has a better understanding. Destiny lies in our hearts, and we must have enough courage to face it."
There is no doubt that this is the theme of the film. But even if you read the topic several times, or even recite the English lines, it is still difficult for people to understand. The theme of the story should not be vague, but must be clear. For example, at the end of "Invincible Destruction King", the protagonist said: "In fact, I don't need a medal to prove that I am a good person." As long as you finish watching "Invincible Destruction King", you can easily understand the theme of the story, and the plot is also very good. Well proved the theme.
In "Brave Tales", the protagonist is asked for a political marriage. But she didn't want to accept this fate, so she begged the witch. The magic comes and the mother becomes a bear, which the protagonist does not want. As a result, the protagonist wants to restore her mother non-stop. In the end, everyone was overjoyed, and the mother changed back to the original state, and the daughter did not need to marry.
The overall plot is like this, but it is difficult to see the connection between the plot and the theme. What is the fate of the protagonist? What is the fate of the mother? What is the fate of the kingdom? -Regarding the word "destiny", the movie did not express it clearly. If destiny is talking about marriage, then marriage is not necessary at the end of the story. How does this reflect "the courage to face destiny"? In which plot does the word courage manifest itself?
Just as the background of the story appears to be a castle in the sky, the story theme of "Brave" also appears hollow. In fact, good stories generally avoid too big themes, and vocabulary such as fate and courage often appear empty. The length of the movie is limited, and the more specific the theme of the story, the better. Grand themes are often the result of seeing the big in the small.
The above are the two root causes of the psychological gap in "Brave". Although there is no major problem with "Brave" in terms of plot logic and character images, the relatively vague story background and theme will make the story lack support. In contrast, "Invincible Destruction King" has a rich imagination for "personification of game characters". Although the story background of "Invincible Destruction King" is fantasy, it is more complete and specific, making people more comfortable to appreciate the plot.
Okay, let's stop here for the discussion about the psychological gap. Next, I want to further analyze the issues that the main creative team may overlook. Let us think from the perspective of the creator, what kind of story should "Brave" be?
From the perspective of the plot, "Brave" can be classified into the ten story types of "Save the Cat" as the "getting what you want" type. Or to put it another way, a magical story. This is my favorite type of story, and also the most imaginative type. Generally speaking, this type of story is composed of three main elements, namely wish, magic and lesson. At the same time, the theme of magic stories often falls on "return to origin." Let me give you an example, everyone will understand.
"Looking for a Dream" belongs to this type of story. The protagonist’s wish is that his family will not hinder him from playing music, while magic has entered the world of the undead (you need to be blessed by the family to return), and the lesson is "family and music are equally important." Looking at the theme of the story again, the protagonist returns to the original point, realizing that happiness is all around him. What he wants is what he already has at the beginning of the story. Making people aware of the beauty they have is the most profound moral of magical stories.
Of course, the magic story also has some tricks of its own. Many magical stories will have a "confidant" role, who explains magic to the audience and is also the object of the protagonist to confide in. In "Dream Quest", the skeleton grandfather is the confidant character. In addition, when designing the wishes of the protagonist of a magical story, one must also be expressed: beware of your wishes.
Combining the above genre introduction, let's look at "Brave Legend" again. The protagonist’s wish is to change his mother, and the witch has long reminded him to be careful of your wish. The magic is self-evident, and the mother becomes a bear. The lesson is that the protagonist realizes that the relationship with his mother is precious and returns to the original point. They all seemed okay, but they didn't deal with it properly in the magic link.
On the one hand, the protagonist is always denying magic. Recall, isn’t there a lot of fun in the undead world of "Dream Quest"? The protagonist once enjoyed it. Even with cursing magic, the protagonist has a process of enjoyment. After tasting the fun, the story gradually reveals the negative effects of these magics, pushing the story to the third act.
The protagonist of "Brave" almost immediately refused to accept the magic when he saw the magic. Even if there is an insignificant part of the game, the protagonist always denies this magic. If the protagonist never accepts this magic, then this magic appears unattractive. I don’t think the magic of a mother becoming a bear is very creative.
On the other hand, the interaction between the protagonist and the mother is not very convincing. "Brave" did not design a "confidant" character, and the protagonist could not find someone to express "the influence of the mother becoming a bear". Although everyone knows that bears are mothers, talking to animals is no different from talking to walls. They are talking to themselves.
At the same time, although the relationship between the protagonist and the mother is the focus of the story, the mother cannot be told after she becomes a bear, which means that the protagonist and the mother cannot interact effectively. The difference between the two was so big, but the film did not give them the opportunity to communicate with each other, which is not a very reasonable design. Even if you let the bear speak, the story space will be bigger. After all, I think the magic of "Brave" is not a very good design. The creativity of turning into magic is not special, and magic has no qualitative influence on the plot.
All in all, "Brave" has a high degree of completion in the soundtrack, painterly, and style, but in terms of storytelling, I think it is not very good, and there is room for improvement. As the best animated feature film for Oscars, "Brave" can only be said to be quite satisfactory.
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