I haven't watched many films that switched directors, so I can't really say "You can change directors and still make a good film". The switch is very blatantly there, so a lot of Brave's problems (pacing, how dark it is, Merida's character swinging from brat to feminist icon to lonely teenager) could be blamed on the fact that Brenda Chapman was at the helm for half the movie, and Mark Andrews for the other half. It's really dissonant and thus doesn't seem like a very good film, especially by Pixar standards.
However you can take this to the logical conclusion, and a lot of the good moments of the film are by themselves. The holding the floor scene, for example, showed an excellent degree of character development in both Merida and Elinor, displayed some hidden depths in the sons of the lords, who were formerly just caricatures, and added some decent humor in the form of Elinor's classic comedy attempt to disguise herself as a statue while playing charades with her daughter.
Another good example is the scene where Merida is trapped in the castle. It's a classic horror scene, and not only that, it's DARK. Dark as in "the prince turned into a bear and killed his entire family, and was powerless to stop it". It's probably the most horrifying scene in the movie.
And as a final example, the entire tapestry plot. Is it the tapestry that needs to be mended, or is it the bond between Merida and Elinor? Is it both? Is it neither, and she would have turned back anyway like the twins did? It's never answered, and that is exactly the way it should be. None of the magic is explained, from the Wisps to the Standing Stones, and that creates a great atmosphere.
All in all, it's a decent movie with excellent parts. If they'd stayed with one director all the way through, it would have been a Pixar classic. As such, it's dissonant overall, but since the bits by themselves are so good, it convinced this troper that it could have been a masterpiece. And when there's only one real problem with it (and for all you know, it could have been unavoidable), it's definitely worth a watch.
Bit schizophrenic, but good moments
I haven't watched many films that switched directors, so I can't really say "You can change directors and still make a good film". The switch is very blatantly there, so a lot of Brave's problems (pacing, how dark it is, Merida's character swinging from brat to feminist icon to lonely teenager) could be blamed on the fact that Brenda Chapman was at the helm for half the movie, and Mark Andrews for the other half. It's really dissonant and thus doesn't seem like a very good film, especially by Pixar standards.
However you can take this to the logical conclusion, and a lot of the good moments of the film are by themselves. The holding the floor scene, for example, showed an excellent degree of character development in both Merida and Elinor, displayed some hidden depths in the sons of the lords, who were formerly just caricatures, and added some decent humor in the form of Elinor's classic comedy attempt to disguise herself as a statue while playing charades with her daughter.
Another good example is the scene where Merida is trapped in the castle. It's a classic horror scene, and not only that, it's DARK. Dark as in "the prince turned into a bear and killed his entire family, and was powerless to stop it". It's probably the most horrifying scene in the movie.
And as a final example, the entire tapestry plot. Is it the tapestry that needs to be mended, or is it the bond between Merida and Elinor? Is it both? Is it neither, and she would have turned back anyway like the twins did? It's never answered, and that is exactly the way it should be. None of the magic is explained, from the Wisps to the Standing Stones, and that creates a great atmosphere.
All in all, it's a decent movie with excellent parts. If they'd stayed with one director all the way through, it would have been a Pixar classic. As such, it's dissonant overall, but since the bits by themselves are so good, it convinced this troper that it could have been a masterpiece. And when there's only one real problem with it (and for all you know, it could have been unavoidable), it's definitely worth a watch.
4/5 stars overall.