Exactly my thoughts! I adored Merida the character, loved everything about the movie - the setting, the looks, the characters. But then...nothing. Nothing happened, the plot was dull, nothing was followed through. A complete dud.
I blame the midway change in directors.
I feel they did to Brave what they did to Imagination: they took something that was once awesome, and managed to turn it into something entirely forgetable with an awesome central character as its main redeeming quality.
Agree with you here.
I kept waiting for something to happen in 'Brave'.
I waited and waited..as seemingly endless story setup / future plot points were set up through the course of the film expecting the 'big payoff' at the end, and then...'nothing' as you noted.
This is why the film was a disappointment to me.
You had the story build up slowly...slowly.. seemingly leading you up to something...some important revelation. When it happens, it felt 'empty' and not as impactful. The problem may have been that i had guessed the ending/revelation about 30 minutes before the movie reached it's climax. I had no prior knowledge of the plot, and avoided 'spoilers'.
Despite this, i guessed the end....half way through the film unspooling!
This is usually a bad sign if your audience is already ahead of your plot points, and already knows the ending half way through. Hard to describe..but it was awkward and somewhat mediocre.
That was my impression, anyway.
Similar to a slick marketing campaign...leaves you expecting so much more then what was delivered. We have all experienced movies like that.
In the end it is not at all as strong as you were being led to believe it was going to be.
Loved the look of it, loved the music....enjoy Merida as a character quite a bit....but not the film. As i said earlier, it was a 'one and done'.
You could have a point there regarding the change in direction mid point.
