Pixar's Elemental was a disappointing rom com that tried to make a bad story work.

Pixar's Elemental was a miss for me. I think this is the first time that I've written those words. I've seen just about every Pixar film, and I've been a fan of the studio for many years. Up until Elemental, the only Pixar movie that I didn't like was Cars 2. I'm going to tell you what I didn't like about Elemental, but first a Spoiler Warning.

Let's get the good parts out of the way first. Elemental is a stunning visual spectacle. Pixar's animation (as always) looks so good on a big screen and Elemental doesn't disappoint in any way regarding these things. However, that's just about the only good thing I can think of that comes from this film, which seems like a forced (if not completely contrived) romantic comedy that tries to thread the needle between kid's movie and adult situations. Maybe it's just Pixar pushing their woke agenda! (Just kidding...but I see this a lot on my social media feeds regarding just about everything).

The story centers around the fire elementals, who live in a district in Element City, and they kind of self-segregate because no one really likes to associate with fire (unless you're a weirdo). Why? Because fire is very destructive. That being said, the elementals in the movie are immigrants from a place that experienced a really bad storm. Rather than rebuild, they decided to move to Element City and start completely anew. However, the majority of their family stays behind presumably living in the community at the base of a big volcano. And the case for this one family deciding to move to Element City seems weak. They take an ocean voyage to get there, which would be like one of us choosing to sail across a sea of poison (as water kills fire), and none of their choices regarding this really make sense.

And this, I think, is where the film really fails. The writers try and think of things that living elements would do if they had a society, and then they try to come up with ways for you to be able to relate to these elements who are just trying to find some connection in a city where the population is so different from person to person. So you have these scenes where the fire element is making food out of wood by turning it into coals, but in the next you also see them bookkeeping and you wonder why none of the books catch on fire (at least I wonder why). The water and cloud elements seem to have the most in common since clouds are just a state of water that has become airborne. And then you see some earth elementals plucking fruit off each other in what must be passing for voyeuristic intimacy, and I'm not sure how I should feel about that scene at all. 

One of the most beautiful things about the movie happens when the fire element demonstrates that she can create tempered glass from sand. However, this never really sells it for me as I know the process to do that is so much more than just applying heat. They also try to patch a dam with glass. I said to my friend (who saw the movie with me), "That shouldn't work as the water weight would just crush the glass." And sure enough, it doesn't work and causes a catastrophe. But it takes a while for that dam to break when it should have just broken instantly. And don't get me started on furniture. How would anything wooden just not burn if a fire elemental were sitting on it, or how would any iron not become white hot over time as it absorbed the heat from an elemental that stood on it? These questions are never addressed. What you do get is the fire elemental turning different colors when standing upon crystals containing different elements, and a water elemental skating on a pond and creating a rainbow with the mist.

Elemental is simply put...a weird movie. Pixar movies aren't supposed to be this weird. The romantic side of it happens when water and fire try to have a relationship, and it feels ultra forced. And most of that is simply because the mother of the fire elemental wants her daughter to fall in love. She also has this weird power to be able to "smell love" when it happens by sniffing in the air. I don't think I ever understood that, and I just put it in my "whatever" box. Plus, the way in which the two meet is when the water guy ends up in the basement of the Fireplace and decides to write them up on their bad pipes (he's a city inspector). Dating the owner of the Fireplace's daughter just seems really awkward after that, and that part never goes away other than as a reason for the father to really object to the water guy getting with his fiery daughter. And there are a few puns that get thrown (naturally) which seem dumb. "You look so hot!!! You're smokin' today!" Ugh...just...no. I'm not sure why the folks at Pixar thought this movie was a good idea.

Anyway, I give Elemental two stars out of five. It's a pretty film to look at, but the writing and the story are not particularly compelling unless you really enjoy stories of "impossible love." However, if that is your kind of jam, I think there are a lot better ways to tell that kind of story than one with animated elements living in a city with hostile architecture.

Pixar's movie called Lightyear makes as much sense as the year 2022 does.

I'm having a slight meltdown over the Pixar film, "Lightyear," which comes out this Friday. Here's why: Disney "officially" clarified that the movie "Lightyear" is the same one that the character of Andy watched as a child in Toy Story that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy. So this is that story. However, the producers, director, and others involved with the film also clarified that this "in universe" film was live action to the people in the Toy Story metaverse (who appear as animated to us, because its Pixar animation studios). Furthermore, the people who made the "in universe" Lightyear are the same as the ones who made the film that most of us are going to see at some point (I'm seeing it this week). These people are very real, but they are also in the Toy Story universe and they would be real there as well (just like Andy). But if we were to look at them, they would be animated (cartoony).

To be fair, I originally had some confusion, but it wasn't this. I thought that the movie of "Lightyear" was set in Andy's universe. So, I was grappling with the fact that the Toy Story universe has faster than light (FTL) travel. But now I know it's just a piece of media for the Toy Story universe, and it was actually Andy who saw it in a theater. Even though that explanation also explains the Buzz Lightyear TV show that is also "in universe," I think the added bit about "who made the film" muddied the waters really bad for me.

I am psyched to see this movie. But if this in-universe movie has credits that "Buzz Lightyear" is played by Chris Evans, does that mean that in the Toy Story universe Chris Evans looks like how Buzz Lightyear looked? Or does he still look like the Chris Evans I'm used to seeing?

Everything seems so strange now, which somehow is appropriate for 2022.

Soul felt like a backdoor movie about suicide and depression and I loved it.

 

The other movie that came out on Christmas day (I'm clearing out a backlog of ideas here) was the Pixar movie, Soul. Hopefully, you've had time to see it by now. But just in case you haven't, I'm issuing a soft "spoiler" warning as I'd like to talk about some of the themes that I saw in it.

First off, I really enjoyed Soul. It was a beautiful movie that swiftly veered into territory that (I felt) seemed like a backdoor discussion about suicide and depression. Most of this centers around discussions about "the spark," which is an interesting concept. The spark isn't a thing. Rather, it's a passion for living. Joe (the main character) found his spark in music and jazz. But in the afterlife, Joe meets a soul that has yet to experience life and doesn't really want to. This unborn soul is called 22, and they are afraid of living. In fact, they never got their spark until they experience life in Joe's body.

This whole thing about the "spark" then seems to be a love of life itself. It is triggered by something that gets you wanting to step across the threshold and see what's out there. 22 felt like someone who had preemptively lost any taste for the world and any sense of purpose and had decided that life just wasn't worth it. It took having to explore an actual community and to use actual senses in order to be able to disconnect from this negative need to perform, conform, or achieve. In other words, 22 could just be present in the moment, and that empowered them to devour life.

I also like how Pixar went about explaining what the spark was not. Just because a soul found their spark sinking a swish while playing basketball doesn't mean that their spark is basketball. All it means is that something about playing basketball made the soul want to experience life. Another character in the show is named Des, and he's a hairdresser. Des's spark wasn't cutting hair or to be a veterinarian. We actually don't know what Des's spark was, and it may not have been connected to anything they actually do in real life. By this same logic, we don't actually know what 22's spark is. Rather, it's unidentifiable. All that we do know is that during their brief time on Earth in Joe's body, they found their spark.

And maybe...just maybe...this is what happens when people commit suicide. They lose their spark, or lose touch with it. We all like to think of people like Anthony Bourdain (who had a fabulous life), but after seeing this movie I think to myself...it doesn't matter how fabulous his life actually was or whether he experienced joy ten times a day. For whatever reason...he lost the connection he had with his spark. And it probably didn't take long after that before he decided that life was no longer "worth it."

It's also not lost on me what 22's role actually is. In the movie, they're not just an obnoxious kid who doesn't like to learn even though they have access to the smartest people. They are a metaphor for a kid stuck in the education system that inner-city children are most susceptible to: rote learning and recitation with no experience or exposure. The experiencing and participating is something schools are paring down and throwing away, and that is exactly what 22 is meant to symbolize.

If you haven't checked out Soul, which is on Disney Plus, I think that you should. It has a lot of things going on, but it is also a story about lost souls, sparks, and black experience. When you are not seeing Joe struggling to return to a life just so he could return to not living it, you get lots of voices: a single black mother, a black barber, a black woman who's an expert at Jazz. There's a lot of people expressing themselves and explaining themselves as black people rather than just riding along with one man imposing himself on the entire narrative with a single-minded obsession. It's honestly quite refreshing and masterfully done.

Pixar hits it out of the park yet again.

Onward opens this week and I can't wait to see it.

Friday, I'm going to see Onward. It's the latest offering from the Pixar studio, and I've been a fan of Pixar films for so long now that I just automatically go and see the newest one. If I'm being completely honest, there have been a few (in the single digits) of ones that I didn't enjoy all that much (Good Dinosaur is one, but it's still a decent film). However, none of these were ever bad enough for me to think that I won't have a good time watching anything that Pixar has to offer.

And with regards to Onward, it looks particularly good. It has Tom Holland and Chris Pratt as voice actors. These are both people I follow on Instagram and deeply enjoy, although their busy lives leave me boggled at how either them (or any A-list actor) connect emotionally with any actual human beings that live in their orbit. Maybe this is why they (as celebrities) get paid so much: so that they can actually afford to get away from the attention that their fame showers upon them. One can only hope that they can enjoy lives that are worth living.

Onward on its surface looks like an excellent buddy flick, with two brothers using a magic spell to spend just a little precious time getting to know their deceased father. It promises to have lots of humor, and I'm expecting them to completely stick the landing in the same way that Coco left me in tears, thinking about what I had lost in my own life. Pixar has always been talented at connecting with me on an emotional level, and I expect nothing less from Onward. In fact, I expect to be thinking about it most of next weekend.

Happy Monday, friends.

What would Walt Disney think of Pixar?

When I was in junior high (I guess they call that middle school these days), we were asked to write a book report on a biography of someone famous. Most people chose presidents. I chose Walt Disney. There might be some people today that don't know that he was an actual person and just think that's the name of the corporation. But Walter "Elias" Disney was one of America's business tycoons that created theme parks and among many animated things, Mickey Mouse. And if there's anything that I remember from writing that report it's this: Walt Disney was most definitely not perfect. Sure he was innovative and successful, but he was the subject of many controversies (not the least of which was that he might have been anti-Semitic and even racist). The debate on those claims (I don't think) was never settled. So yeah...the man was a flawed human just like everyone else.

At the same time though, I ask myself (sometimes) when I think about the man who created the machine that now owns the biggest studios in Hollywood, "What would Walt Disney think of ____?" and then fill in the blank. Because Cars 3 was recently on my mind, naturally that question turned to Pixar, which is a studio I wholeheartedly love. I like Pixar more than Dreamworks and Illumination (Despicable Me franchise), although there may be singular movies in those studios (like the How to Train Your Dragon ones) that I consider masterpieces.

In an interview that his daughter, Diane Disney, gave, she was asked this question: What do you think he'd [Walt] think of all the best animated movies today that are computer animated? She responded that "He'd love that."

Without even having met the guy and only having watched Pixar films, I would agree. Pixar films are designed to transport us not just out of our lives, but out of the theater itself. They remind us of simpler times, the memories and emotions that make us who we are. Pixar takes all of us on trips to our childhoods, our happiest moments, our saddest moments...for some reason this animated studio can tap into all of that through their stories.

Or maybe that reason is simply that the ones who work at Pixar understand that the most important stories resonate with people because they appeal to a core truth of being alive? What do you think (if you, dear reader, are also a fan of Pixar films--to be honest, if you're not we really shouldn't be friends). They also tend to deal with something that might be considered darker in tone in a way that many of us find readily accessible.

Or maybe Pixar movies are great because of the influence of one creative genius. In particular, I'm thinking of Brad Bird, who is someone that (I think) Walt would have championed. Brad Bird's IMDB profile gives him eight Pixar credits (all very influential from senior creative team to director) that include: Inside Out, Monsters University, Brave, Toy Story 3, Up, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles 2 (due out in 2018). Brad Bird is a great technical director but more importantly his films always have that touch of a tender heart which separates the pedestrian animated films from those which will last and resonate emotionally for years to come.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Please let me know in the comments.

I will be taking next week off from blogging as I have a friend coming into town and all sorts of things planned.

Wednesday in October means we get Toy Story of Terror!

Wednesday in October means we get TOY STORY OF TERROR! Seriously guys, I'm excited for this Halloween special. I love all things Pixar and can't wait to see it. Here's a trailer for you, and let me know what you think after you watch it tonight. All I gotta say is, it has to "out do" Charlie Brown. And I think we could all use a little humor given how our government is completely dysfunctional and is ruining our lives. Have a great day and remember, ghosts aren't real. Woody said it, so it must be true.

Insecure Writer's Support Group Dating Tip #24

Are you insecure about meeting new people? I know I am. And that's a detriment for those of us that actually want people to read our books because marketing is all in the hands of the author these days. Maybe it all comes out of a fear of rejection. This Dating Tip from Ken, I think, is applicable to most situations, including those we face as a writer. I know I take his advice to heart. It's so simple. Know yourself. Be Yourself. Who knew?

Remember. Solid. That is the key. Thank you, Ken :).

I'll be on a blogging break until Monday. My friend Tomeka is flying in from Detroit, and my friend James from Idaho is driving into town too. We're all going to go see Prometheus at the IMAX, I'll show them the KIA Optima (which is most likely the next car I'm buying), and probably eat really good food.

Love people. Feed them good food.

I think that's a good  motto.

Up by Pixar

If only all stories, and all lives were this perfect. UP was a great film because of the age of its characters. Not only that though, it touched on issues of Ellie not being able to have a child, loneliness, and how two people can be so perfect for each other right from the very start. Whatever writers at Pixar came up with this story are absolutely brilliant. It's really the first movie I ever went to with my father where he said afterward, "I really liked this movie."

This is the octogenarian story that stole my heart.

No Capes

I saw 1000 Ways to Die and stopped to watch. A man was impersonating a superhero, and he had the costume complete with cape. He saw some delinquents on top of a building smoking illegal drugs, and decided to interfere. He pushed one of the kids and the kids began to approach him. Outnumbered, he backed up. However, he tripped over his own cape and fell off the side of the building, landing in such a way that his ribs ripped his heart open.

I think any of us that write can understand how we sometimes include unnecessary details in our stories that really just gum up everything and basically, almost kill it. I've had to look long and hard at questions brought up by beta-readers and ask myself, "Is this a cape? Does this thing have any purpose? Or is it just something that's gonna drag me into a jet engine."

As an aside note, encouraged by feedback I got on my picture of Kolin that I posted a week or so ago, I decided to draw my protagonist, Jordan. This is 100% original artwork. I did it with Prismacolor coloring pencil on illustration board. Then I scanned in the original on my scanner and enhanced all of the colors, added effects, and redid problematic areas using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Please be kind, I am not a professional artist. I wanted to make sure that Jordan looks 17 and not how a "high school student played by 27-year-olds" looks (Think GLEE, SMALLVILLE, etc.). I'm happy with the result. Have a great Monday.

Monsters Inc and the important questions of life

For those days when you are on a diet, and see a hamburger...

And for those days when you think Tentalus...

Just might be the result if Celia and 

Thaladius Bile from Monsters, Inc. had a baby...

Then, my writer friends, you are ready for the ultimate truth.  Why something is "cool" depends exclusively on how well it is marketed.

Have a great day!

God of the Gaps

In the opening scenes of Pixar's Wall-E, the robot returns home from a full day of garbage cleanup with a little pile of treasures to add to his extensive collection. Carefully, Wall-E puts each item in its place, but a spork stumps him. Does it go with the spoons, or with the forks? He's never seen it before, so it will take some investigation to determine exactly what it is. This type of questioning is at the root of good science.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, author, speaker, and professor says: 

"In contemporary America, the notion that a higher intelligence is the single answer to all enigmas has been enjoying a resurgence. This present-day version of "God of the Gaps" goes by a fresh name: 'intelligent design.' The term suggests that some entity, endowed with a mental capacity far greater than the human mind can muster, created or enabled all the things in the physical world that we cannot explain through scientific methods. 

But why confine ourselves to things too wondrous or intricate for us to understand, whose existence and attributes we then credit to a superintelligence? Instead, why not tally all those things whose design is so clunky, goofy, impractical, or unworkable that they reflect the absence of intelligence? 

Take the human form. We eat, drink, and breathe through the same hole in the head, and so, despite Henry J. Heimlich's eponymous maneuver, choking is the fourth leading cause of 'unintentional injury death' in the United States. How about drowning? Water covers almost three-quarters of Earth's surface, yet we are land creatures--submerge your head for just a few minutes, and you die. 

How about the silent killers? High blood pressure, colon cancer, and diabetes? It's possible not to know you're afflicted until your coroner tells you so. Wouldn't it be nice if we had built-in biogauges to warn us of such dangers well in advance? Even cheap cars, after all, have engine gauges. 

Stupid design could fuel a movement unto itself. It may not be nature's default, but it's ubiquitous. Yet people seem to enjoy thinking that our bodies, our minds, and even our universe represent pinnacles of form and reason. Maybe it's a good antidepressant to think so. But it's not science--not now, not in the past, not ever. 

Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to a problem. Once upon a time, people identified the god Neptune as the source of storms at sea. Today we call these storms hurricanes. We know when and where they start. We know what drives them. We know what mitigates their destructive power. The only people who still call hurricanes "acts of God" are the people who write insurance forms."

As a person that does not believe in intelligent design, I want to explain myself. I'm not against the people who do. But people who believe in intelligent design are trying to put this into the classrooms to teach children ideas that do not stand up to scientific questioning, and that's wrong. Keep it in your Sunday schools. Science has never knocked on the doors and insisted that evolution be taught alongside whatever it is that you teach. So why then is religion knocking on the doors of the science classrooms and trying to get their agenda passed?

Yesterday I got reviewed by Ben at the book blog, Dead End Follies. Please go read his review of SLIPSTREAM if you are so inclined (and introduce yourself to very intelligent young man). I will see you on Monday for my "H" post in the A to Z challenge.

Feeling struck by a tsunami of rewrites

In that crazy moment when you feel struck by a tsunami of rewrites (like when you get fifty pages of corrections from a beta-reader that means months of edits--I love you Jeff and Donna >,<)...

And you feel that you've been swept out to sea...

by your own Attention Deficit Disorder (ummm A.D.D. is bad for a writer...) OH SHINY OBJECT...I shall write two hundred pages about shinies and then my W.I.P. will only be 150,000 words and no one will mind that, right? Right?

Sorry...

for a moment I got taken over by Briane Pagel who writes 200,000 word blog posts...

Back to my Pixar-infused narrative... Ahem...

And you feel that you've been swept out to sea 

as if the whole world has turned against you.

And the most obvious solutions in your writing
escape you, and you look like an idiot...

Remember the words of Dory the fish

And keep in mind that if, while you're singing this,
someone you meet ever says to you these words:

"You are my Nemo". 

That you should stop typing and go with them.
Because these words mean that they would search

every inch of the world just to find you.

When you get back, all the crap your betas gave you
will still be sitting there in the pile of dung that used
to be your manuscript.  It's all good.
Sometimes when stuck, all it takes

is to make the best of a situation. Criticism gives you the
freedom to explore areas that you hadn't. Like maybe your story...
in case you wrote two-hundred pages about hockey games.
And when it's our writing, grab that shovel with both
hands, apply spit, and get to shoveling.
Writing is hard. George R.R. Martin said so. Hence,
it must be true. Have a great Friday.

Excited and hopefully not misunderstood

I'm excited. My first book is already on sale on Amazon and other websites. But I have apprehensions, and I thought about Ken and his note to the other toys on Toy Story 3. At how they probably don't understand him (as colorful and wonderful as he is).

When in your excitement, you write something

But the people that read it have gotten

the wrong impression of who you are as a person.

You are just being you. You try

to convey it through your blog.

But might be sorely misunderstood by those

who have never seen your kind before.

So...I hope this doesn't happen. My story is about a boy. He's seventeen. He's cute. He's smart. He's athletic. He has six pack abs, blond hair, and blue eyes. But unlike random chance, there are reasons for all of these things. But all is not perfect for him.

He does a lot of hard drugs. He makes awful choices.

He is immature, self-centered, but lonely.

He's gay, but it's not something he admits right away.

He's bright and that sometimes makes him smug.

He's proud to the point of it being a vice.

He falls for a very bad boy.

He loses his virginity; it's not a lovely experience for him.

But he helps broken people.

He redeems them. He fixes things.

And in so doing, he learns to understand who he is.

And maybe, he can learn to fix himself.

The world of SLIPSTREAM is dark and evil.

I'm excited for you to read it. But I'm also afraid. Please don't misunderstand who I am. SLIPSTREAM is not a book written for Catholic nuns. Senator Rick Santorum would hate my book. Michelle Bachmann would decry it.

No matter what our differences are, I think you are wonderful. Thank you, from this "Ken" who hopes you are on the same page as me. But even if you aren't, I appreciate you anyway.

Cars, Confidence, Communication, and the Celebration of You

This post is taken from a Tumblr called Long Live Lemons which is no longer around.

"The car who has her headlights as her eyes from Cars 2.

I drew her the way I see her in my mind - beautiful; like all the of the lemons. I even gave her a name, Claudette. 

One of the lessons of Cars 2 can be interpreted [as] bullying is a bad thing. The movie gives us the examples of cars from an era of which they just couldn’t catch a break; this is true. The movie shows these characters as what we’re supposed to see as mature men...so it leaves us to believe that their bullying happened the most when they were younger.

As the years passed and they progressed into the adults they are today, they finally broke down...and they took it to drastic measures. 

One of my signature things in the Cars fandom is drawing the characters the way they want to be seen. I don’t draw the lemons with rust and angry faces. At the same time, I don’t draw them as incredibly happy cars as well. Here we have a lemon because her eyes weren’t built the way the other cars were built. I guess we should interpret this as a disability. At least, that’s the way I write it in my fan fiction. I didn’t draw her rusty and crazy like the movie portrayed her to be. I drew her casually. 

The thing about Cars is that when you change the way they look, you’re changing their character. Each character is made to look a certain way. If people did more research and looked up the meanings of colors, one would find that the color of their paint jobs actually means something that has to do with their personality (besides the tuners and modified cars). I can see how some would think that I change the characters when I draw them the way I do. I agree, I do change their character. I make them more confident, but they’re still the same character. 

If you were someone who didn’t feel so great about himself, you would tend to wear clothes that match your mood; your own looks will mimic your own feelings. However, that one day you smile and your clothing and appearance matches your attitude now, does that mean you’ve changed your character? No, it doesn’t. Confidence does not equal a personality change and I say that because people think that moods are the same as personalities. Personalities are permanent while moods are not, no matter how permanent they seem. If you’re feeling sad one day, even if you’re entire day feels like it’s been sad, there was a change in your mood at some point in the day, even if it were for a split second. 

Not everyone can be the super cool, super agent car

I think most people don’t sit there and take the time to analyze the Cars movies. They just see that it doesn’t work and they don’t give it the chance they deserve. There’s a lot to pull from both of them. Yes, I said both of them. 

You know what else doesn’t work? Talking toys, fish, rats, and so on. None of it works because none of it is real. This, my friends, is the beauty of fiction. To be able to be pulled into a world that is crazy; that is completely insane. That’s why it’s so fun."

I have nothing to add to this.

I agree totally.

Learn from Cars.

Celebrate you.

Write fiction.

Buy the book that critics say
is a "mind-blowing sci-fi read from
start to end." $4.99 from Amazon
now. Begin your journey today.

Brave

This is our first sort of fairytale,” John Lasseter told an eager crowd on the of Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, “This is our first period piece. This is our first female main character. This is Brave.”

The first clip showcased featured the lead, Merida (Kelly Macdonald) riding on her giant horse through the forest, shooting down targets hanging from the trees with her bow and arrow. The horse stops short of a log, throwing her into the mud. In anger, she throws a clod of mud at the horse’s nose, and he snorts it back to his face. She approaches him, angrily, but then kisses his muzzle.

Lasseter was joined on stage by the film’s director, Mark Andrews (clad in a kilt) and producer, Katherine Sarafian. They pointed out that they had two different research trips to Scotland to get everything down.

“We’re inspired by all the stories that are already there,” Andrews told ComingSoon.net backstage after the presentation, “There are stories about every landscape and every tree and every rock. It was inspiring to try and fuse that idea of how it connects us all.”

Sarafian told the crowd that Scotland’s phenomena of blue bog gas, called Wil-o’-the-wisp, will feature prominently in the story. The wisps have the power to “change your fate”, and lead Merida to the cottage of a witch. Seeing this as an opportunity to get away from being married, she insists the witch cast a spell. Naturally, everything goes wrong and the spell starts a chain of events that brings the highlands closer to war.

Concept art for the witch in BRAVE

Macdonald and fellow voice talent Kevin McKidd then took to the stage. McKidd pulls double duty in the film, voicing both Lord. MacGuffin and his incomprehensible son, Young MacGuffin.

“He’s a lovely guy and his heart is in the right place,” McKidd told us, “but no one can work out what he’s saying because he has a strong Scottish accent.”

The next clip featured King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who has called Merida’s suitors together to compete in a game of her choosing, the winner will receive her hand in marriage.

“[Merida] is reeling against her mother,” Macdonald said backstage, “She doesn’t want a suitor. She’s quite happy and wants to live her life, but her mother is trying to create this perfect princess. It’s a bit of their battle and their reconnection.”

Concept Art for Queen Elinor

“Merida sees an opportunity here,” Andrews told the audience in reference to the clip, “Do you know what game she picks?”

To which the crowd shouted back, “Archery!”

Unfinished, the scene played with some parts featured only as animatics and others roughly rendered. Most of the parts with Merida in them played beautifully. As the suitors shoot their arrows, Merida and King Fergus laugh about their ineptitude.

First is Macguffin. He timidly shoots his arrow and barely hits the target. Next is the Gene Simmons-esque son of Lord Macintosh, who fares better than Macguffin but misses the bullseye. He angrily tosses his bow into the crowd, where a young girl shouts “I caught it! Yay!” Finally, the aptly named young Dingwall goes next, barely enough brains in him to knock the bow. King Fergus angrily shouts at him to get on with him, and the spooked by looses the arrow and miraculously gets the bullseye.

Enraged, Merida appears on the field and shouts that she will be competing for her own hand. As she gets a perfect bullseye in the first target, her mother screams at her to get stop. Merida ignores her, and goes to the second one. At Dingwall’s, she not only splits the arrow, but her arrow cuts all the way through to the scaffolding of the target. Merida then turns to face her furious mother and the clip ends.

“We have our own take on Scottish lore,” Sarafian said of the overall tone of Brave, “It’s really Pixar lore, but it’s set in Scotland and its inspired by Scottish storytelling and designed to be a story that’s perfectly set in that landscape.”

Brave hits theaters on June 22, 2012, right after Prometheus :)) Oh summer...how I love thee.