'Brave' presents a unique Disney princess

Thursday, June 28, 2012

In Theaters:

Brave

The year was 1995 and Disney Studios was coming off of their largest earner of all time, The Lion King. They had to find a way to go bigger and better, and their solution was the inclusion of the Pixar Studio.

They released the first ever Disney/Pixar masterpiece, Toy Story. Fast forward 17 years and 26 Academy Awards later, Disney/Pixar is releasing their 13th with Brave.

Set in the highlands in the 10th century, Princess Merida is set to enter into a time-honored tradition of betrothal from the firstborn son of one of the three allied clans.

With her mother pushing her to embrace her duties and her pushing to rebel from the tradition, they find themselves far from peace. Princess Merida does all she can to derail the tradition before she is forced into an unwanted marriage devoid of love.

While the storyline is very Disney, along with the moral of the story centered on improving communication between mother and daughter, Princess Merida is far from the Disney norm. With company like Cinderella, Ariel and Aurora, Merida stands out with her wild and crazy red hair, her tomboy antics and her affinity for independence.

This is the first Disney princess I have seen that isn't accompanied by a prince, but also a girl who isn't waiting for a knight in shining armor, since she can do all of that herself.

For showtimes visit Fortcinema.com

Coming Next Week:

Magic Mike

Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer get together for one of the most girl-ticipated movies of the year.

Each one of them plays a male stripper. One of them finds love and tries to balance the pressures of his career and the budding relationships of his girlfriend and colleagues.

I would say that the plot seems a bit wanting, but with the three of those actors ripping everything off but their unmentionables, girls everywhere are asking, "Who needs a plot?"

On DVD:

21 Jump Street

The "Year of Tatum" continues with the TV to movie adaptation of the Johnny Depp springboard 21 Jump Street. The characters were rebooted to allow for Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill (The Sitter, Superbad) to team up as an unlikely comedic duo.

Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) are two "friends" from opposite ends of the spectrum who find themselves in a valley in their careers with the same police department. They are given the opportunity to alter their paths as undercover agents for the Jump Street Unit. With the unit, they are sent undercover to the local high school to squash a ring of a new synthetic drug before it spreads uncontrollably to the street.

As small to big screen adaptations go, the previous attempts (A-Team, Miami Vice and Charlie's Angels) left most people wishing they would have stuck with the TV show. With this attempt, Jonah Hill puts his writing talent to work and does the show justice.

There are surprisingly hilarious moments from Channing Tatum and Ice-Cube and even the appearance of James Franco's little brother Dave in what is sure to be a breakout role.

Releasing Next Week:

The Hunter

Without a lead role for what seems like a decade, Willem DeFoe finally steps up playing Martin David, a man sent to the Tasmanian wilderness to hunt the last Tasmanian tiger.

With nothing more to go on plot-wise, the feeling about this movie has to come down to the cast led by DeFoe and Sam Neil (Jurassic Park, The Hunt for Red October).

With those two leading the way, no plot and no budget shouldn't be a problem since they can carry any movie on their own.