Brave

2012 - 3/5

Got to see this in the VIP Cinema.

This was probably the one movie of 2012 that I was most looking forward to, so I can’t say that I went in with no expectations whatsoever. It was a Pixar movie, and because they have set the bar so high when it comes to computer animated films, it’s hard not to have at least some expectations.

It was about time that Pixar had a female lead and I thought it would be interesting set as a period piece. I was hoping that Pixar would do a good job with regards to portraying that era and that culture. I also really liked the accents; I thought they were done well. Oh, and I also really liked the choice of music and songs. When it comes to the animation – it was a Pixar movie. Need I say more? I loved the contrast of colours; the fiery red of Merida’s hair against the washed out blues and greens looked fantastic!

Before I get into talking about the movie itself, I wanted to mention the short. I absolutely LOVE how Pixar always creates a short for each of their feature films. They are so fun to watch, and the one that was shown before this movie was so cute. I did like it but I will say that there are other shorts that I liked a lot more.

I had seen the trailer for this movie a long time ago and every other time I had seen the trailer I was excited to see the movie. When I took my seat in the theatre, I realized that I wasn’t really sure what the plot was. What I took from the trailer was that the tomboy’ish princess, Merida, didn’t want to get married, so she goes on some journey and fights in an epic battle in order to change her fate, but eventually learns a life lesson and goes back to her parents kingdom with a renewed sense of life. My friends thought that the story had more to do with Merida finding a suitor.

I will say that the weakest part about this movie was the plot; the second half to be exact. Everything was going so well up until Merida wanted to change her fate. From that point on it became a very childish movie and it didn’t live up to what I had expected from the trailer and more importantly, what I expected from Pixar. Their storylines are always so unique and creative, so the plot was a bit of a let down but the amazing animation helps me look past that…to some extent. When it comes down to it, this movie had a plot that we’ve all seen before (even in past Disney movies: Mulan & Pocahontas), so I can’t give this movie anything more than a 3/5, but I can’t give anything less because everything else was pretty much superb.

Usually when you leave the theatre after having seen a Pixar movie, you feel like, wow, that was great, but I can’t say that for the entirety of this movie. Up until Merida changes her fate, it was a solid movie and what I had expected from Pixar, but the tone of the movie and the general vibe changed very suddenly, and it was just whatever.

A friend mentioned that this movie shouldn’t have been called “Brave” and I agree, because there really wasn’t much in terms of bravery. I was on IMDB and I had seen that the original title of this movie was supposed to be “The Bear & the Bow” and to be honest I felt as if that that had more to do with the movie than the title “Brave”.

At the end of the day, I know it, and you probably know it too - I will buy this movie. :)

***SPOILER ALERT***
When it comes down to it, I really wasn’t expecting that Merida’s mother, Elinor would turn into a bear. I was completely blindsided, and had no idea that was coming. When it did happen, it seemed so random, and only a bit later you learn why she was turned into a bear. The story with the Prince (that was also turned into a bear) wasn’t well incorporated into the movie.

I have to admit that my favourite part of the entire movie was when Merida and her mom, as a bear, go back to the witches house and the witch is no longer there, and the cauldron is some sort of answering machine in which Merida was told to pour either vile 1,2,3,ect. into the cauldron for different messages (as in Line 1,2,3,ect.). I thought that was clever and I enjoyed that.