Ryan McNeil
Being independent and free-spirited is a wonderful thing…but one must always remember that there is no magic spell that will make everything better. Everything comes at a cost.
Merida (voiced by Kelly MacDonald) is princess on DunBroch; daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). At a young age she shows spritely spirit, and is encouraged by her father when he gives her the gift of a bow and arrow for her birthday. While Elinor would rather her daughter was raised to be a proper lady, she begrudgingly endures her daughter’s boisterousness.
Years later, Merida has become even more independent-minded. During any free moment, she peels off from the castle on her horse. She rides deep into the woods, climbs cliffs, stands in the spray of waterfalls and lives life to its fullest…well, as much as she can during these rare days off. One fateful day, she learns that her parents have offered her hand in marriage to three suitors that will come calling. As she learns this, Merida pushes back. Not only does she have no interest in getting married at the moment, but she sure as heck doesn’t want to be handed off with no say in the matter.
As the suitors from the three other clans arrive on the shores of DunBroch, Merida’s defiance reaches a fever pitch. She makes a scene during one of the courting events, showing up all three suitors thanks to her prowess with a bow. Enraged, her mother scolds her harshly, causing Merida to run off. It’s during this venture of anger and self-pity that she decides to change her fate. What Merida doesn’t realize, is that no change comes without consequences.
Were I a betting man, I would wager that a lot of adults will get midway into BRAVE and find themselves with an antsy feeling…as if they were part of something they hadn’t signed on for. That doesn’t mean that what they’ve been signed on for isn’t something special.
We’ve arrived in an age where children aren’t being told faery tales anymore. Children are getting cinematic tripe piled on their plate with the side of celebrity voices…fleets of parrots and magical garden gnomes are put in front of them not to spark their imagination, but merely to distract them. I can’t help but feel that they are getting short-changed. Where a generation or two ago, we still raised our children on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan, it’s as if we don’t think this generation of children deserve the same sorts of grand ideas. Essentially, children aren’t being told faery tales anymore because we have stopped writing them.
Then along comes Pixar.
What the people at Pixar have done with BRAVE is create something with great vision. They could have taken the low road, filled the script with winking references to modern pop culture and stacked it with ‘A-List’ celebrities. It would have been gobbled up by the mass market, but likely forgotten in the growing pile of like-products…a pile that’s growing so fast that WALL-E can’t cube it up fast enough. Instead, Pixar took the high road: they dared to tell a story with a moral, they created a lush beautiful world where magic still exists. We usually take the low road, and Pixar takes the high road, yet they get to Scotland before us.
Merida’s tale is one that has a lot of lessons to be learned. The easy take-a-way is that daughters shouldn’t be afraid to speak up. There’s long been the stigma attached to faery tales that so many of them send the curious message of princesses who sit back and wait for a prince to come along and rescue them (some literally needing to be awaken by a kiss). Merida would never be caught dead in such a story. She wants to run, she wants to climb, she wants to shoot her arrows and enjoy what her splendid country has to offer. One can’t help but admire a story that teaches little girls to seize the day instead of waiting for the day to be handed to them.
Where the story really earns its stripes, is in a detail I don’t fully want to give away (because the marketing never did). While I won’t reveal the detail, I will note that the lesson it teaches Merida (and the audience), is that it is all well and good for our daughters and sons to want…but a whole other thing for them to take without regard for consequences. For ages, children have believed that they knew better than their parents, that they weren’t understood. If their mothers and fathers weren’t going to give in to their wants, then a kid would just shrug and do it anyway. The sad truth is this cuts deep for a parent, and sometimes can have a wider ripple effect than the child realizes.
What Pixar wants kids to understand, is that while it is important to be free-spirited, one must also be respectful to those that love them. Basically, that there is a very fine line between empowered and entitled.
Watching this lesson unfurl in this fable would have been enough. Pixar wraps it in a lush, green, rolling countryside, dots it with a plucky celtic score, and serves it up with that boisterous shock of red hair that continually draws your eye to Merida. They might be forsaking the grown-ups wanting pop culture fodder, but are placing their bets on the children who will cling tight to the film and pass it on to their children. It might not be what mass audiences wanted, but Pixar has made a bold play with BRAVE.
They have chosen to evoke the spirit of Walt Disney himself and bring a faery tale to life: In choosing to write a faery tale of their own, they might have even one-upped Walt himself.
Wow lovely review. I agree. I was so pleasantly surprised by the main twist, and the path they chose to take. And well, something like this was a bit awkward for me at times, because I am sort of Merida’s age and want to do different things with my life, but in the end it was just so wonderful and touching.
It looked gorgeous and was very funny. A little misstep on their part, according to me, was showing La Luna before because that was just dripping with Pixar-ness. Brave is a bit different, but I think I’ll love it more as time passes.
Also, Merida and her hair <3
Wasn’t that hair insane? Word is it took Pixar for-ev-er to get it just right.
Given your point about relating to Merida’s age and spirit, perhaps this film will become a touchstone for you going forward.
Bra-vo, dude. Well said. I liked it a lot too, but I had never considered it as an attempt to write a new fairy tale.
Thank you sir. Now that I’ve managed to get all my thoughts down on paper, I’ll drop by FMR and see what you had to say about this fine film.
“We’ve arrived in an age where children aren’t being told faery tales anymore. Children are getting cinematic tripe piled on their plate with the side of celebrity voices…fleets of parrots and magical garden gnomes are put in front of them not to spark their imagination, but merely to distract them. I can’t help but feel that they are getting short-changed. Where a generation or two ago, we still raised our children on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan, it’s as if we don’t think this generation of children deserve the same sorts of grand ideas. Essentially, children aren’t being told faery tales anymore because we have stopped writing them.
Then along comes Pixar.”
I can’t agree with this when Princess and the Frog is only a couple years older than this, also does the ‘transformation’ storyline, and is a much better and more visually striking film.
Brave’s problem isn’t with what it’s trying to say, the problem is that how it’s trying to say it is boring. They don’t properly invest in the mother character given what they intend to do with it, and the film is entirely lacking in adventure and wonder given the character setup. When you’re upstaged in this department by your intro short, there’s a problem.
The key point I was trying to make there though was that BRAVE is an original story; PRINCESS AND THE FROG isn’t.
This was my Letterboxd writeup:
One should not have to leave a Pixar film curious about what’s happening over at the Afro Circus, but well, here we are.
There are problems with Brave, but what is more concerning is what is missing. The adventure and wonder you would expect from the trailer is not here, and neither is the signature Pixar wit, character design, visual interest, or progressive animation. What is here is actually far more conservative, in both story (Grimm storytelling), message (Hey family! love each other!), and in humor (very cheap, blunt, unsophisticated).
I spent the first chunk of the film waiting for them to get to the long archery scene we have seen in the trailer countless times, in order to get the story moving. Our characters are poorly formed, kind of ugly, and unfunny. I want to follow our wisps into the forest with Kelly McDonald (who is the best character in all aspects). From that point forward it becomes a pretty shallow and predictable buddy story with a mute character we never got a chance to actually care for before this important stretch. Most people, even children, will be a step ahead of the characters and what they need to accomplish to complete their quest and undo a spell, and it becomes a tedious task to get there when the journey is as bland as the destination. While Brave has one toe in Miyazaki, it has another foot back in lousy modern animation tropes and it’s just disappointing to watch.
The film lacks an actual villain, and might have brought some actual stakes or additional interest. The big crisis in the film is of our heroine’s own doing. Maybe if it was concocted by someone after the throne, our heroine would seem more well.. brave, and less like a brat. That’s a bit harsh. McDonald is lovely but the script could do a lot more to build her up or push her through a more satisfying arc.
The jokes absolutely stink. While there are a few laughs from some well drawn gestures and expressions, we’re mostly subject to tired Scotsmen in kilts gags and one-dimensional characters going back to the well for the same act. These secondary and tertiary characters don’t get much of a payoff (if any at all), and just stand around shouting or looking stupid, never doing what they should: bringing life to this world or bringing out some emotional depth or nuance to our leads. Our leads are mostly on their own, and every time we cut back to the others it feels like a b-plot on a crappy sitcom.
I’m feeling like Pixar needs to slow their production schedule back down. With more time and care this could have been fleshed out into something special and unique among their stable of features, instead of evidence that something is afoot at Disney, that they are getting something in front of audiences once a year to maximize cash flow.
In the end, for the forseeable future, if I pop in an animated film with “Brave” in the title, it will have the words “Little Toaster” after it. Brave’s biggest crime is being kind of boring. As horrible as Cars 2 is, I don’t think I was bored.
I think that’s what I like about Brave. It doesn’t have a villain and it doesn’t have a prince saving her or her falling for a guy. She (and her mom) is solving their own issues (we do make mistakes and have to solve them too in real life). This is a new territory for Disney/Pixar team, an independent girl trying to learn from her mistake. I don’t see how having a villain would work better.
…because the stakes are so low in the film.
Maybe for me Disney has gone to this ‘turned to an animal’ well so many times in the last few decades for me to care, or at least I end up comparing them, and in this case Elinor is significantly less worthy of caring about. Beauty and The Beast, Brother Bear (I mean seriously, that was a decade ago and we’re with the same animal), Emperor’s New Groove, and Princess and the Frog.
Brave in no way pissed me off as a filmgoer, I won’t even think of it by end of year I think. I agree with Matt Price’s guess that this got Emperors New Grooved. This was the director’s passion project and she got let go, and like New Groove, it feels like they abandoned a deeper mother/daughter tale that went into darker scarier places in order to push goofy humor. The kilt jokes, the toddler mayhem, none of it worked for me. The toddlers were essentially the Despicable Me minions without the creativity.
I might forgive all these weaknesses if I was entertained or was laughing, but I was neither. And it’s hard to invest in the characters journey when I knew exactly how it was going to play out, and was correct. I was way ahead of the characters and it’s tedious to sit through when you’re that far ahead. Pixar in the past has ended up at their destination in surprising and creative ways, and here is just so conventional, even with the specific gags. Like the bear freezing against the back of the wall when everyone turns. Old crappy gag. Hence, boring. Ryan was making fun of the flying dogs on twitter, and I’m not as huge an Up booster as others, but in that situation at least they were creative with how the dogs were working these machines, and the actual action scene is effective. The big bear fight here is not even as good as the Golden Compass bear fight, which is hardly any good to begin with.
Even the casting is more conventional than Pixar usually does, it’s like they just opened up their rolodex to the Scottish voice section. They otherwise would be smart enough to not use Craig Ferguson after he was a heavy contributor to How to Train Your Dragon.
I ultimately agree with Matt Brown’s initial reaction. That Maridor is a great character, but I want to see her in a better movie.
It could be a mix. I don’t grade these Pixar films on a curve, but I see enough animated films to know that Pixar have not been living up to their potential, and not even just this film, I think since 2007 their films have had more flaws than their previous output. Many attribute this to the death of Joe Ranft, the talent drain of contributors seeking outside projects who are not being replaced by equal talent, and their current production schedule.
I guess what I’m saying is when you know what they have done, what they are capable of doing, and what some of the top talent outside of Pixar are currently doing, you notice when the special details and creative touches wane. You don’t suddenly say “This wasn’t as good, so this therefore sucks”, but it definitely opens the door to critique.
Brave and Cars 2 are the only Pixar films I don’t like. Cars 2 is way worse than this though, not even close. I could see myself bumping Brave up to a 3/5 on rewatch, maybe more, but I’m not at all hungry to revisit it anytime soon. Instead my mind goes back to how great The Pirates: Band of Misfits was, and think ahead to the potential of Wreck-it Ralph, which presents itself like more of a Pixar film than this was.
I don’t think Pixar have even made the best animated film of the year since 2008. (Cut/paste from RowThree):
2008: Wall-E vs Kung Fu Panda and Bolt? Kung Fu Panda. Bolt is close.
2009: Up vs. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, Princess and the Frog,? All of those are better. Up is probably better than Secret of Kells I’d say though. I think Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs was out this year. I think I like this more than Up as well.
2010: Toy Story 3 vs How To Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist? Both of those are better.
2011: All nominees were better than Cars 2.
You’ve given me a lot to chew on here, and I can’t possibly go point by point in the comments section.
I will ask one thing though:
Is it fair to say that your points of discontent aren’t necessarily in response to BRAVE itself, but more in response to your own expectations and in comparison to all of these other films you mentioned?
I’ll just say this. Brave is not a movie anyone should go out of their way to hate. At worst its a disappointment. There’s absolutely nothing in here that is offensive or so terrible that I’d tell people not to see it. If I had a kid and they liked it I’d gladly sit with them and watch it as many times as they wanted.
There aren’t rules against delving into the conventional, though. This is why I keep saying Pixar’s spoiled its fanbase; one step back into a more traditional mode of storytelling, and suddenly Wall-E is inferior to Kung Fu Panda, a movie I also liked but which is just as guilty of the sort of “conventional” humor you’re lambasting Brave for employing. There’s a disconnect here.
I cannot at all agree with the discussion of stakes. There’s plenty at stake. Forget that the stuff that happens in the castle tastes mildly undercooked; this is about a girl on the verge of losing her mother forever, and this is established as a pretty damn big deal despite their conflicts with one another. On top of that the kingdom is on the brink of civil war, again courtesy of Merida’s actions. Other than slightly better development and tension in the castle scenes, Brave makes it very clear what’s at stake from the outset, which is to say nothing of Mor’du, who plays “antagonist” here quite effectively.
Haven’t seen BRAVE yet, but this is a great review. Nicely done.
Will be curious to know what you think once you do see it. Thanks for reading, buddy.
I didn’t love the film as much as you do, but it’s a perfectly fine film. The first act is a little conventional, but once the second act starts, the movie really gets going. There are a lot of ‘Miyazaki’ touches with the nature/magic stuff, which is all good to me. Merida is a wonderful and original character, and I can’t wait to see her having another adventure (let’s hope it wouldn’t turn into Shrek territory).
As the story played out, I found myself thinking that a lot of little girls will gravitate towards Merida. I can imagine how popular a fixture she’ll be at Disneyland over the next few years, and can forsee her being a very popular Haloween costume.
Creating such an iconic character isn’t easy, and for that alone I think that Pixar deserves a lot of props.
Great review, sir. I’ve seen the movie twice now and I can seriously see it becoming one of my favourite Pixar movies in terms of re-watches. In some ways I wish I was a mother with a daughter so we could watch it together.
Seriously, if you have a daughter, especially if you’re a mother, go watch Brave with her.
I’m with you – I think there’s a lot to like about this movie when you weigh it on its merit and avoid thinking about what you want/expect it to be.
I’ll definitely be going to catch BRAVE again before the summer is out.
I just saw the film earlier this morning and… I was moved. It actually had a really great story. Conventional but at least it did enough for the audience to care about the characters and be invested in all of the adventures Merida had to go through. I loved the stuff between Merida and her mother. I’ll admit, I was in tears for part of the film. It was better than I expected it to be. I’m still in the middle of writing my review which I’ll release later today.
There’s a scene where one character is talking and another one is feeding them the words. Somehow, both in this post and in the podcast about the film, I forgot to make mention of it…which is sad since it was one of my favorite moments in the film.
Looking forward to reading your post sir.
Oh my gosh wonderful review, you are getting me even more excited for this film… Won’t get to it until Thursday I’m afraid.
I hope I haven’t stoked it up too high for you!
We’ll discuss it endlessly when we skype for Matineecast 62
This is a fantastc review, and I totally agree with it. Especially what you say about Pixar compared with the people who make celebrity-voiced animated flicks to distract kids. Never thought about that, but I couldn’t think of anything on this earth that is more true.
Also – congrats on being runner up for Best Blog. Huge achievement, huh?
Congrats yourself young lady!
It’s funny, I wrote this after our conversation on the podcast. Along with the feeling that I should give you partial credit for helping me flesh out my thoughts, I think it also stands to show the difference between talking about a film immediately, and what can come when one stews on it for a day or two. (My friend Matt Brown went through something similar).
We’re very close in our reactions to this…I wrote my quick review yesterday and it just went up a few minutes ago as part of a combined review on RowThree.
We hit many of the same points (regarding Disnay, the characters, etc.). I see additional aspects within the message of the film – it goes beyond just the mother / daughter tale. I see it as a view on the dangers of the way humans relate to each other – talking over each other, rarely actually listening or accepting contrary views. I like how they’ve tied the concept of bravery to not only following the path you choose, but also to being brave enough to accept other people’s ideas and even occasionally admit that you might be wrong…
Even film bloggers can take something away from that…B-)
We agree??? And Corey Atad is in line too??? Someone might want to check the thermostat in hell.
FYI – you have back-up because this piece is now embedded on R3 as well. You’re right (it’s like an epidemic now), the courage that the film subtly drops in is the courage to consider someone else’s side…and in a lot of ways it feels like very few find that bravery within themselves (myself included). Not sure if it’s too subtle a point, or for some perhaps too heavy-handed, but it’s a point that’s being missed.
Woo hoo! I’m glad you gave it a full five stars, Ryan. I could’ve easily done the same as I ADORE this movie. I don’t know what the critics were saying about this not being on par w/ other Pixar classics. Heh, I think it’s already a Pixar classic to me, one I’d watch over and over again in the years to come. I laughed so hard throughout, but also teared up during the emotional mother/daughter scenes. Overall, it’s a magical time at the movies, on top of that exquisite La Luna short!
I don’t want to knock people who aren’t in love with this movie – because a lot of people I respect very much aren’t in love with this movie. I will say this though, it feels like in many ways the unhappiness isn’t coming from what the film is, but rather from what people wanted it to be.
Like you, I got a lot of laughs, even during moments I’d already seen.
There’s beauty in simplicity.
Glad to see you loved this too! It’s so crazy to me that people seem to be evaluating this solely based on its place within the Pixar canon instead of on its own merits.
Holy moly – two comments in a week! Easy there woman, people are going to start sending your mail here.
I kid of course.
You echo a lot of what I just said to Ruth, and I think that’s a hiccup that many films – not just Pixar – have to work around these days. I know we don’t live in a vacuum, but still…a little perspective.
Brave boasts a weird kind of tension between being a Pixar film and being a princess film. For many, I think that’s going to be kind of a big deal; Pixar historically doesn’t deal in convention, at least not on the surface and with notable exceptions here and there. (I mean, The Incredibles is a straight superhero movie that hits all of the superhero beats we expect it to.) And the princess film is a pretty big convention.
But while this movie might not take us to outer space or explore a professional kitchen run by a man who’s run by a rat, it does make good use of its familiarity. I think you’re right, Ryan, that a lot of people will feel like Brave is something they didn’t sign up for, but I also think that those who can divorce themselves from their skewed expectations will end up finding Brave to be a really lovely, if “small”, little fairy tale about responsibility and growing up.
Plus– best animation in a Pixar film thus far? Could well be. Merida’s hair, the fur on Mor’du, and the bend an arrow takes as it launches into flight, all look spectacular, which is to say nothing of how good the locales look.
Hey man – been a while!
It’s amazing that the grumpiness for this film is coming mere months after many were charmed by MIRROR MIRROR, which is so close to this film in many ways (albeit with a tad more visual lushness).
I’m not trying to say that it’s the best film Pixar has ever done (not all 4-star films are created equal), but I truly believe that there is still a place for classic storytelling. Speaking of the rating, I shudder to think what wrath I’d be inviting if I still tagged the score in the headline.
Thanks for reading sir – always nice to have a bit of back-up.
Glad to provide it, Ryan. And yeah, I checked here a while back and got a virus warning from AVG and got blocked from the site– so I decided to wait a bit.
I definitely agree that this isn’t Pixar’s best, but I don’t really care. Pixar can’t always be making “bests”; that means every movie they output has to be better than the last one. While that’s a hopeful goal, it’s not reality for anyone. One question I’ve been asking people: if you’re cool with Hugo, a film that does not reflect Scorsese at his best, why aren’t you cool with Brave? (Hugo and Scorsese being the first comparison that immediately came to mind. No relation beyond that.)
Great review, man! “We usually take the low road, and Pixar takes the high road, yet they get to Scotland before us.”
Awesome.
I was beginning to think I forced that line a little. Thanks.
When does this hit theatres down there?
I have no idea, actually. I don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer. Pixar movies are always big hits around here, so I don’t see the point in putting it off.
Wow, I love your opening sentence. I think I missed the real value of the movie. Yes, getting what you want must in balance with the people around you, should remember to consider their feelings. Great review!
I actually think a lot of people were caught off-guard by the story BRAVE decided to tell…if my piece can help one or two see it a little differently, so much the better.
Thanks for reading Andina!
I had a lot of fun watching this. I kept reading and hearing (on podcasts) that ‘Brave’ does not put much emphasis on comedy, but I and the crowd I saw it with laughed a whole bunch. I guess it’s easy to tickle my funny bone. I agree that the story is pretty well told, and the voice acting was top notch.
With a few weeks to digest it now, I really do believe we’ve seen a wicked case of expectations-versus-reality where the grumpiness surrounding BRAVE has come in. My audience too was amused, delighted, and ate it up.
This is a very pretty film – I can’t wait to get my hands on the blu-ray.