Merida, princess from Brave
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(O.K., you can come back now.) Brave is organic in another important sense. It jettisons the sleek old Pixar shapes of toys, cars and robots--all relatively easy to animate--for images of untamed nature, from Merida's hair to the coppices and crags of imaginary Scotland. Visually the most ravishing and complex Pixar movie, Brave evokes memories of Walt Disney's early experiments with the multiplane camera but contains the more persuasive intricacies available to CGI artists.
This is no WALLE or Up, but it's not far below the recent--and superb--Disney animated features The Princess and the Frog and Tangled. Once it finds its true theme, Brave merits the vaunted Pixar brand. And deserves a good (bear) hug.
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