Watched two movies this week.

In the theater, I watched Brave.  I am a huge Pixar fan and have loved just about every movie they have ever done.  This one however, let me down.  Specifically, I loved the graphic design and attention to detail like the girls hair, but it was the story that left me flat.

In Finding Nemo and Up, there were significant deaths in the first 10 minutes of the movie.  It created the whole backdrop to tell the story.  Those deaths were shocking and moving.  In Brave, I really thought the girls mom was going to be killed (as a bear) by the father.  I know they considered that idea.  How could they not?  But they chickened out.  That would have made a serious drama to tell a story.

Why was the girl “brave”?  What did she really have to overcome?  She was never alone, never forlorn.  She was never at the point she was going to give up.  There just was no drama, no story.  Nothing bad actually happened!  The story let me down.  I hated this movie.

Alternatively, I watched Son of Rambow on DVD.  This is the most charming movie I have seen in a long time.  It was brilliant.  The story brought me back to my childhood in a way that left me smiling the whole time.  Even my kids were mesmerized.  Every hijinx made them laugh out loud (literally) and say, “I am going to do that!”

We liked it so much, we watched the interview of the actors and producers.  Those kids had never acted before.  Literally, this was their first time in front of a camera.  They were brilliant.  The movie was a mix of Napolean Dynamite and Stand By Me.  One of the kids looked just like a young Rover Phoenix.  I loved every minute of this movie.

It doesn’t take millions of dollars to make a great movie.  Just a great story.