Brave

Set in the Scotland of legend, Brave is the thirteenth film from the world-renowned animation studio Pixar. The story follows the young princess Merida, voiced by Kelly MacDonald, as she strives to change her fate once she learns she is to be betrothed.

Battling against her mother’s will (Queen Elinor, voiced by Emma Thompson), but often encouraged by her one-legged father (King Fergus, voiced by Billy Connolly), she flees the battle of the suitors and comes across a witch’s cottage.

Caught up in anger over her mother's decisions, Merida buys a spell from the witch (Julie Walters) that she hopes will change her mother enough to call off the marriage.

Unfortunately, with witches what you want and what you get are very different. Merida has to realise that her selfishness impacts more than just herself, and ultimately has to hurry to fix both her mother and save the kingdom from ripping itself apart.

It’s very odd to see Pixar emulating such a classic Disney plot, when Disney itself has tried so hard to change due to Pixar’s fresh look at family storytelling.

There really isn’t much original in this film; it’s a new, but still formulaic fairy tale. It kind of seems as if the studio hasn’t put their heart into this one. Perhaps Pixar is finally showing its age and ending its time as the most constantly well received filmmakers.

 

The environments and characters look absolutely beautiful, as you’d expect. The amount of technical detail really draws you in. However, in places Brave almost stumbles into the uncanny valley. There are a couple of cases of animation that seem out of place, like Merida’s horse Angus, who is quite stylised in appearance, but has very smooth animation.

There is another animal character that seems to move much too fast for the weight of its body, but it can be forgiven as it’s not entirely natural.

 

Merida’s triplet brothers bring the slapstick laughs, and a great last act makes up for most of my previous points, especially the final chase and battle scenes. It’s good to see that there is no real ‘bad guy’ here, just misunderstood people and the tragic mistakes they have made.

 

With four more films already announced, we can only hope that thirteen is Pixar’s unlucky number.

Brave is good family fun, though unoriginal. It still carries a moral message and Merida is a suitable addition to Disney's Princesses.

7/10.