Brave

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In my humble opinion, if Pixar ever had a release that I found incredibly average, it's got to be 'Brave'. There's a lot I really like about it, but it balances that out with a lot of pull back on truly original material. What 'Brave' gives us is a fairly average "princess wants to escape tradition" story, blended with hints of the already established and well-done Disney film, 'Brother Bear'. Don't forget, this is a Disney/Pixar film. In that regard, it's certainly far from my favourite Pixar movie.

With that said, however, there actually is still a lot to like about it. When I first saw this in theaters (which was also the last time I watched it before this viewing), I remember leaving it feeling sort of lukewarm towards it. I liked it, but it seemed to lack that Pixar touch, and following a movie like 'Cars 2', that meant something; Pixar was getting weaker. As expected, the film came out to lukewarm reviews as well. While most enjoyed it, most agreed that Pixar had done much better. Much like 'Cars 2', this one lacks that deeper understanding I've found with many other titles in the library. It's really weird to admit that if this was just a Disney movie, it would have been awesome. But because it was a Pixar release, we focused a lot on the studio in question. While it was a fine movie, it just wasn't a proper Pixar movie. In fact, I feel this fits in far more with the modern Disney Princess movies than it does in the Pixar library.

Taking place in Medieval Scotland, 'Brave' tells the story of Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald). She lives with mother and father, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) and King Fergus (Billy Connolly), along with her three triplet brothers, Harris, Hubert and Hamish. While Fergus often plays role model to Merida, giving her a bow to practice archery with at an early age, Elinor has an opposing and stubborn frame of mind. According to her and tradition, Merida must follow certain rules and regulations to be a proper princess. Of course, Merida doesn't like this, and it all comes to a head when suiters for her marriage come into play. Merida would rather not get married yet, and starts to become desperate to escape her bonds, so runs off into the wilderness with her Shire horse, Angus.

Here, Merida encounters a will-o'-the-wisp, leading her on a path of wisps towards a mysterious cottage where she meets a witch (Julie Walters). She implores the witch to give her a spell that could change her fate as the princess, and it's eventually given in the form of a cake to feed to Elinor. The thing is, it backfires, changing Elinor into a bear. This becomes a real problem considering the family clan is bets known for Fergus beating down a demon bear named Mor'du, losing his leg in the process. It all becomes a race-against-the-clock curse movie as, much like 'Shrek', but here, Merida has to find a way to change her mom back before the "second sunrise", and in the process, hide her from her family and the other clans.

So really, the bad of this movie comes from a lack of originality. You've got the "traditional princess trap", a 'Brother Bear' character copy, and a race against the clock curse like 'Shrek' (it's even Scottish). However, I'll stick to my guns in suggesting that there's still a lot to like about it. I think the witch along with the triplet brothers make for a great dose of comedy, and I appreciate that the film isn't entirely hero vs villain, and Mor'du the demon bear plays such a small part here. One thing it does do well in proud Pixar tradition is keep it a family story. Much like 'The Incredibles' is about a superhero family more than it's a traditional superhero movie, this is about a medieval Scottish family more than it's a movie about knights on the battlefield.

I would probably say the things I appreciate most from this include the sheer beauty of the settings throughout the film. It's a very green, very nature-filled and detailed movie, often taking time away from the family castle. The other being that it follows some somewhat unfamiliar folklore. The idea of the will-o'-the-wisps is intriguing to me, knowing that they exist in traditional folklore, but never remembering seeing them or hearing of them in film before. I remembered them from a card game called 'Magic: The Gathering', which I once played in my teens - perhaps you know it, as I understand it's still kind of a big deal.

'Brave' would go on to eventually receive more positive reviews than negative, and it would earn Pixar their seventh Oscar for Best Animated feature. This may have been right around the time we started realizing that Pixar might not necessarily always deserve the win. It was going up against 'Wreck-It Ralph', 'Frankenweenie' and 'ParaNorman' that year; all of which I would have picked over this. That's not to bash this movie by any means, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get more out of all three of those other titles. Perhaps it's just me, but 'Wreck-It Ralph' had its originality, 'Frankenweenie' was like a Tim Burton dream come true, and 'ParaNorman'... well, I was just plain routing for it that year (I really love that movie).

As far as my deep down personal opinion on 'Brave' goes nowadays, it's quite honestly still sitting where it was when I saw it in theaters nine years ago; it's average. The story is pretty unoriginal, sometimes providing a direct copy of something, but in the end, it's ultimately forgiven. The good of the film actually does outweigh the bad, as it carries a fun sense of humour, breathtaking backgrounds and animation, not-so-traditional movie folklore, and at the end of the day we could claim that it's simply Pixar's take on a princess movie - the fact that it takes so much from Disney isn't too much of a stretch considering their affiliation. I might recommend it to some while suggesting others leave it alone, and in the end, it's just something one has to see for themselves.

3/5

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