Brave

    I've loved every Pixar flick, some more than others, but there's something very clever, very innovative about their style that I have always appreciated from Monster's Inc to Cars to Up to my favorite, Toy Story 3, mainly because it made me cry.
   I was very excited about seeing Brave and last night we went to our cheap theatre to see it in 3D, which really stayed 2 dimensional most of the movie.  At first, the story line seemed very familiar to The Little Mermaid, both about a wild, red-headed rebellious, but beautiful girl.  But 30 minutes in , I realized that this is NOT your typical princess movie.  You won't find a prince, or singing, or talking mice.  I won't give it away, but be aware of scary bears.
   We took all three kids to the movie and met some friends there.  I was a little leery when right before we left, I heard it may be scary.  Lydia never does well with that. She has always preferred the happy, short 30 minute sagas on PBS to long, good vs. evil movies.  I was concerned.
   I will admit, I jumped several times through the movie, and prepared for at least one child in my lap.  I even said at one time, "I can't believe I brought my 3-year-old to this."  I wouldn't suggest bringing little ones, but we were there already so we stuck it out.

Much to my surprise, here was the response from each kid.

Elijah:  It was a little scary, but it was awesome! I love the 3 little kids who keep pulling tricks and their pants fall down. 
Lydia:  It wasn't scary.  (Even though I saw her and her friend close together with their eyes pinched shut a few times.)
Lanie:  I thought it was soooo funny.  (she went on to tell about a part she liked but no one remembered it.  Lydia thought she was making it up.)

And while I give it 2 or 3 stars for stepping way outside the box of conventionality, I'll reserve my 5 star rating for the sweet stories that make me cry.