MY FAVOURITE FEMALE PIXAR CHARACTERS

          Disney Pixar's Brave marked a new era for Pixar movies by being the first one with a female protagonist. But this isn't the first time that a Pixar movie has had fascinating, and frankly brilliant female characters. I saw this list done by someone else and I just needed to do one with my choices.


Honourable mentions: Princess Atta from A Bug's Life, Roz from Monsters Inc., Helen/Elastigirl from The Incredibles and Sally from Cars.

10) Elinor from Brave

This is perhaps the biggest surprise in the list, but I loved Queen Elinor so much. She is strong and kind and loving and a great mother. My favourite scene of hers was when she just walks down a huge room full of brawling Scots and everyone just stops fighting. She is one no-nonsense lady.

9) Jessie from Toy Story 2 and 3

Jessie is a perfect example how Pixar manages to marry joy and sorrow perfectly in their movies and their characters. She is spirited and funny, but in Toy Story 2, we see her backstory and see where she comes from. She is a great addition in the toy gang. Also her scenes with Buzz are just adorable.

8) Ellie from Up

Okay so she's only in like the first 10 minutes of the movie, but we feel her presence throughout. I think Ellie is like the idea of a perfect soulmate. Her relationship with Carl is just beautiful, and her "great adventure" as revealed towards the end of the film is heartbreaking and lovely.

7) Colette from Ratatouille

Chef Colette is a total badass! A woman trying to make her way in the world of men, and she will not stop at nothing. Though she seems scary at first, we see that she is a really nice person and just wants to be appreciated. She is a sensible and smart modern woman.

6) Violet from The Incredibles

I connected with her the most in this film. Shy at first, Violet comes on her own during the course of the film and becomes a super duper young woman by the end of it. I think she's a great role model for young girls.

5) Eve from Wall-E

Wall-E's robotic and cool love interest is actually really cute. Her anger, her power, her love, her concern for Wall-E, everything! She's the great love in the epic life story of Wall-E, and we can't help but love her too.

4) Edna Mode from The Incredibles
Oh she is so friggin' awesome!! "No capes!" She is the Miranda Priestly of the animated world and I want to be her so bad.

3) Boo from Monsters Inc.

Dawwww. I love Boo. I love that big furry monsters are scared of her at first and then love her towards the end. I love the way she laughs. I love love love the way she says "Mike Wazowski!!!!" Pixar has a fantastic record of children in its movies, and Boo is maybe the greatest, and certainly the cutest, of them all.

2) Merida from Brave

That marvelous, gorgeous, odes-inducing hair aside, Merida is a totally incredible character. Free-spirited and feisty, she just wants to live normally and be the person she is, and not what others want her to be. Still she makes mistakes and learns from them. A truly excellent role models for girls, and for film makers because this is exactly how a female protagonist should be like.

1) Dori from Finding Nemo
She is perhaps one of the greatest characters ever, animated or not, brought to life by the superb voice work of Ellen DeGeneres. Not only is she hilarious with her short-term memory ailment (I swear I have regular bouts of that), she is an amazing friend and companion. I mean Finding Nemo is sort of like a road movie underwater, and Marty the clownfish could not have found anyone better to share his journey and search with. She's friendly and helpful and does not have one bad bone in her body, and that is completely believable because she's such a clueless riot too :)

Hope you enjoyed this. GO PIXAR!!

"If you had a chance to change your fate, would you?"

         One of my dream wacky jobs is to wait tables at the cafeterias of Pixar since I'm not actually smart enough to "work" work there, but I'll get to be around pure geniuses and I'm also pretty convinced that I'll get to wear Pixar character costumes as part of my job. So from this one can deduce the following- 1) that I am, in fact, a crazy person, 2) that film and television has romanticized waitresses wayy too much, and finally and most importantly 3) that I love Pixar to death.


         I have watched all the Pixar movies except Cars 2, because I don't want to ruin my perfect idea of Pixar. Okay I did fall asleep while watching Cars, but still. The other ten films have been amazing. Yes, some more than others, but all are brilliant and heartfelt in their own ways. So ever since the first news about their new film, Brave, was released, I have been going nuts with excitement. I finally saw it yesterday, first day first show, and have been pleasantly rewarded.

           Brave is about a free-spirited and tomboy-ish Scottish princess, Merida, who wants desperately to change her destiny of being a well-mannered and lady-like queen, like her mother Elinor. When suitors from the various clans come for her hand in marriage, Merida defies all the traditions and takes drastic steps to so that she can change the mind of her mother, but something goes terribly wrong and it's up to Merida to save her family, and the day.


           Now this synopsis is based on all the trailers so far. In the movie, the relationship between Merida and Elinor plays a huge role, but I don't want to ruin anything. Pixar has its own brand of the unexpected and new. While the whole tomboy rebellious princess thing isn't very novel, the way the movie handles it was. I truly feel that in terms of heart, Pixar movies are second to none, and Brave taps into this wonderfully complex and dynamic and beautiful bond between a mother and daughter and circles everything around it. Like when everyone kept comparing this to a Dreamworks animated feature, the film nerd in me wanted to clarify that the core difference between it and a Pixar feature is that the former is about great, magical adventures and the latter is about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, and Brave will be no different. I was wrong. Brave is an adventure story- yes; it is about something relatively common like the relationship between a mother and her child- yes, but then that isn't something ordinary. It is among the most incredible things in the world! The fact that it takes something as extraordinary as that, and then makes the film about it, and not just rebelling and fighting and kilts and magic- that is why it wins for me. True it isn't as original as Ratatouille or Finding Nemo, or as impactful as Toy Story 3, but heart is heart, and Brave has loads of it. And I loved it for it.

            Speaking of love, Merida is the red-haired queen of my heart. I have been going crazy about her ever since the first concept art pictures were released. Her hair is a work of art. I recently wrote about the critical eye versus eye candy, and god, I love this film for her hair alone! But then again, she is super awesome even without it. I have written about my Disney-loving best friend many times on this blog, and she had a whole argument with me about how Merida isn't a Disney princess. My best friend is right- Merida is not one because she doesn't sing and doesn't have a prince, but who cares?! She is perfect the way she is. She is exquisite and feisty and funny and caring and independent. Right from the beginning her curiosity and joy entices us to fall in love with her, and as we see her grow up and be rebellious and make mistakes, but then change too, we are very much with her till the end. And beyond. Princes Merida is already a legend, being the first female protagonist in a Pixar film ever. Also as luck would have it, this is the year of Katniss Everdeen as well, and between the two of them, we have the beginnings of a new era of female heroes. Kelly Macdonald did a fantastic job of voicing Merida.


          I loved everyone else too. Emma Thompson voiced Queen Elinor, and she was at the other end of the spectrum of strong women. I mean yes she isn't adept with bows and arrows, but she is one respected and fierce lady. Billy Connoly was King Fergus and he was very funny, especially when he mimics Merida. Kevin McKidd, Robbie Coltrane and Craig Ferguson (!) voiced the various clan leaders, who were hilarious. Julie Walters voiced the Witch. My absolute favourites were Merida's three younger brothers Harris, Hubert and Hamish, who were just adorable.

          The story was by Brenda Chapman, who was also the co-director, along with Mark Andrews. She's the first woman director in Pixar's history so far, and she did an splendid job. The film looked absolutely gorgeous. The Scottish backdrop was rich with colour and details, everything brought more to life by Merida's hair (I'm sorry- I can't stop gushing about it!). The music was superb- very Celtic and appropriate. It just added so much to the feel of a film like this. The film was also really humorous, thanks to the mostly brilliant gags of the genius triplets.


          If I had to talk about any flaws, it would be the decision of showing the totally stunning La Luna before the movie, because that just drips with pure Pixar magic! I mean I was in tears before Brave even started. Brave is definitely less brilliant, but with a fiery-haired and fiery-hearted heroine for the ages and an excellent emotional story, it is definitely a return to form for Pixar and a really lovely experience.


          Go watch it :D