TJE 7/11 – Anchorman (2004)

For the first twenty minutes of "Anchorman," I couldn't wait for the movie to be over. There on the screen was Will Ferrell as the 70s news anchor Ron Burgundy, displaying all the intellect and maturity of an eight-year-old boy pretending to be the coolest man in the universe. And there were his friends, the rest of the news team, even more clueless and awful, particularly the way they talked about women. Anticipating another seventy minutes of crude sex jokes and middle school jibes parading as real dialogue, I was ready for the worst. And then Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) came into the picture, promptly shot down every moronic innuendo and Neanderthalic pick-up attempt aimed her way. And then she went out with Ron Burgundy, on a "strictly professional" outing that inevitably turned into a real date. And then the movie went completely insane and never looked back. And it was awesome.

"Anchorman" is a spoof of a certain conception of manliness from the 70s, one that involves being smooth with the ladies, looking great in a suit, having good hair, and sporting a really impressive-sounding name. It exists in a heightened, cartoonish reality where rival news teams will rumble with deadly weapons, and a night of bliss for Ron and Victoria becomes a literal animated sequence where they're romping about riding unicorns in a fantasy land full of rainbows. Song numbers require little provocation, and Ron manages to impress Victoria with a virtuoso jazz flute performance. As the visual gags piled up, and I started thinking of "Anchorman" as a live-action equivalent of "The Venture Bros" with news reporters, the humor clicked for me. I got the joke that these trustworthy looking television personalities were really a couple of numbskulls who could read off a teleprompter, their egos quickly deflated when a real, competent, professional journalist comes into their midst.

Will Ferrell's usual shtick is playing the overgrown idiot man-child, but it only works when he's in the right kind of movie. In "Elf," he got to play off the perfect premise of being a man raised by Christmas elves to be unusually innocent and childish and sweet. In "Anchorman," Ron Burgundy is only a sympathetic lead character because he's part of this bizarro version of 1970s San Diego, where everybody loves and admires him for reading the news, and his bad behavior is enabled by hanging around with field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner), and their remarkably dense weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). They say outrageously sexist things about women not out of any malice, but because they simply do not know any better. When Ron declares that he's in love, the other guys gather around incredulously to ask him what it's like. They're so clearly exaggerated fantasy characters, I could let their offensiveness and stupidity slide. It was all part of the joke.

And the jokes are funny. The best stuff is the absurdity connected to being a news reporter, where buying a new suit is an occasion for happiness, and insulting someone's hair is serious business. However, I was impressed with the level of the little incidental one-liners, and how well the numerous cameos are worked into the film. My favorite running gag involved the phone calls that the news director, played by Fred Willard, kept having just offscreen. It seems odd to talk about it in a comedy like this, but the worldbuilding of the "Anchorman" universe is excellent. Of course Ron's best friend is a dog named Baxter who is his intellectual equal. Of course the ultimate newscaster faux pas involves a teleprompter and a serious slight to local pride. Of course the most important news story of the year is Ling-Wong the panda's pregnancy. And then there were all the little visual delights like Champ’s cowboy hat and the cat fashion show and one really well-aimed trident.

The cast is great all around, and full of familiar faces. Steve Carrell is a notable scene-stealer, a couple years before he really broke out. Ditto Paul Rudd, working the smarm. I was especially happy to see Christina Applegate, who has to play things relatively straight next to the guys, but she's great at it and makes me wish she was in more movies. Will Ferrell is about par for the course - more annoying than he was in "Elf," but less annoying than he was in "Blades of Glory." I think the real winner here is writer/director Adam McKay. After seeing some of his other movies, this is the best thing he's done by a very wide margin. The premise is weird enough and well-realized enough that "Anchorman" really takes on a life of its own. I mean, basing a comedy around larger-than-life news reporters in the 70s? How the hell did they come up with this?

Who cares? Bring on the sequel!
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TJE 7/8 – Brave (2012)

Oh good grief. I totally missed a cross-post. Apologies, guys

There has been a lot of press about how Merida of PIXAR's "Brave" is the studio's first female lead character, and a princess to boot. Now what are the implications of that? The Disney princesses come with a lot of baggage, and are often pointed to as questionable role models for the little girls who love them. Many hoped that Merida would be made of stronger stuff, following the lead of the more active, aggressive warrior princesses that have become so popular lately, while others worried that she'd be another example of overbearing "girl power."

I don't think that Merida (Kelly MacDonald) was really what anyone was expecting. Yes, she is a princess, but she doesn't want to be one. Being a princess, the film tells us, comes with a lot of responsibilities. Merida is being trained by her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) to become a proper and refined lady, while Merida would much rather be out riding and adventuring. A talented archer, she takes after her father, the hulking, jovial King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who lost a leg to the "demon" bear Mor'du. Mother and daughter clash and argue, but things really come to a head when Merida learns she is to be betrothed to the son of one of the clan leaders her kingdom is allied with. The trio of Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane) soon arrive with their offspring in tow, and Merida wants nothing to do with them, despite her mother's best efforts.

"Brave" is not your usual princess story, in that it has very little to do with romance and everything to do with healing the rift between Merida and her mother. Our heroine is also not particularly heroic to start out with. Yes, she's a fiery, red-haired, tomboyish free spirit, and that's a lot of fun, but she's also immature and self-centered, and has to grow into the hero role. I expect that some viewers might be initially taken aback by her behavior, because she's really a bit of a brat at times, grumbling over all of her mother's lessons and expectations. Of course, that's perfectly normal for a teenage girl, and I appreciate that PIXAR went this route with Merida. It makes her much more memorable and emotionally genuine than the bulk of the starry-eyed Disney girls.

Also, her rougher side is understandable in light of the rest of the family. Loveable King Fergus brings his wild and woolly warrior ways to the dinner table. Merida has a trio of impish younger brothers who are expert troublemakers, frequently stealing sweets from the kitchen to fuel their hyperactivity. They also steal the picture whenever they appear. Elinor is the only real civilizing force in family, but she's very strong and formidable in her own way. And they all live on the edge of untamed Scottish wilderness, where hunting and adventuring and going to war with people is pretty much par for the course. And then when the clan leaders show up, with their weapons in tow, some good-natured brawling is inevitable.

The film's biggest flaw is that the story is sort of a mess. The tone and pacing are all over the place, and the logic of marriages and traditions and magic and ghosts is all very arbitrary and convenient. I think the story of Merida and her mother works perfectly fine on an emotional level though, the messages are strong, and there are lots of good action and comic set pieces to keep the energy high. I was surprised at how funny "Brave" is, with its copious slapstick and some inspired minor characters. There is a witch in the film, voiced by Julie Walters, and she - well, better not to spoil it. Also, parents should be warned that there are some scary scenes involving bears that may upset very young viewers.

Of course, as this is a PIXAR film, "Brave" looks terrific. PIXAR's visuals are still head and shoulders above all its competitors. The scenery's gorgeous, the animation is fantastic, and the design work gets a lot of mileage out of the Celtic setting. There are some aesthetic similarities to Dreamworks' "How to Train Your Dragon," particularly as both movies share a couple of Scottish voice actors, but "Brave" looks quite a bit more authentic, in its own heavily stylized way, with a lot of extra little cultural touches. And only in a PIXAR movie would the most impressive visual be Merida's unruly red curls, which immediately draw the eye in every frame she appears in.

I think "Brave" is going to be one of those movies that won't work for everybody, where some people are going to find its flaws too glaring to overlook. I, however, enjoyed "Brave" more than I enjoyed "Up" or "WALL-E." I don't think that it's among the better PIXAR films, but there is no doubt that this is a PIXAR caliber film.
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