GeekDad’s Jim McQuarrie has been critiquing the archery in this year’s movies. Pixar’s Brave gets a good score:

The folks over at Pixar & Disney have released a new clip for Brave, and what’s on display warms this archery coach’s heart. It’s obvious that the filmmakers have taken considerable care to get the details right, which helps to make the story more believable and exciting.

McQuarrie goes on to talk about how the protagonist, Merida, does well, and how the animators depict the other characters’ beginner mistakes accurately.

The Hunger Games’s Jennifer Lawrence does well, too:

Ms. Lawrence has done her homework: her shooting form is excellent — she is completely believable as an archer. Like any good athlete, there is an economy of movement; no flashy gestures or dramatic release; she draws the bow deliberately and quickly, lines up the shot, and releases smoothly.

But The Avengers’s Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner, fails the test:

Frankly, he shoots like a rank amateur. Does this ruin the movie? No. But if they’d gotten it right, the film would be even better; attention to the details is usually an indicator of attention to the big picture. In a few interviews last year, Renner said he was taking archery lessons in preparation for the role, but from what I see here, it looks like he (a) had no coach and was entirely self-taught; (b) had an incompetent coach (there are many out there); or © is a terrible student and refused to do what his coach told him. The simple fact is, I see these exact same mistakes with first-time students all the time.

Lots of criticism (with diagrams) in the link.