A great score and wonderful culture shown, beautifully done backgrounds, though the characters are clashing in how cartoony they are, though all are uniquely designed. Merida, as a rebel/tomboy who doesn't want to be married, was intended to back-hand all previous Disney Princesses and in doing so, Pixar created a pretty unoriginal heroine. However, Merida does show uniqueness in being the ONLY heroine to actually admit she was in the wrong and behaved selfishly, not ignoring her mistakes or self-rationalizing (ahem, Tangled). Elinor is, yet again uncreatively, portrayed as the too-prim mother who should let her daughter behave like a little barbarian if she wants to, but I love her. She was very right to try to groom Merida into a good ruler. She wasn't going to settle for just a decent one.

Which brings me to one of the movie's biggest issues: the lack of a single direct moral. The movie had no real point to it, likely because the original director was fired halfway through and things got lost in translation. There is no one or even two messages; there are several half-muddled ones and they are all contradicting each other. For example, as mentioned, Elinor's excellent message of selfless duty is a wonderful one that modern audiences, used to movies encouraging them to selfishly "follow your heart and do whatever you want", are in desperate need of hearing. However, this is directly contradicted by Merida's message of defying duty, acting however you want if that's what you want, and following your heart. We also have no idea what the witch's intentions are or anything. The movie is never resolved, and it's impossible to buy that the clans would suddenly just accept Merida's refusal of all their offers of marriage so benevolently and carry on their way, instead of, as Elinor realistically said, war.

A bigger problem is the blatant sexism. It's no different than how men, especially fathers, are portrayed on an alarmingly regular basis, but it's still not right. The men are ALL presented as foolish, childish buffoons that need the superior, smarter, more capable and talented women to do things for them while they play. For crying out loud, Elinor leads them away by the ears like four year olds! People would never stand for women being portrayed so foolishly, yet Brave wants you to laugh when it does this to men.

I'm kind of obsessed with this movie because it could have been great. The trailers had us expecting a dark, adventurous fairy tale--a first for Pixar--the result was a muddled, mediocre film that had the promise of a bigger, better movie. The only great thing about is the fact that it is centered on a mother-daughter conflict, one in which the characters are presented as people instead of the mother being evil and the daughter innocent. Both Merida and Elinor make mistakes that they both regret and work to amend. There need to be more movies like this so that little girls can see that their end goal in life isn't romance.

The problems with the film though are plentiful: it has a great premise but it either doesn't develop its themes thoroughly or it rushes through them. You can tell that there were two directors at work on this (before Brenda Chapman was booted from the project), as the tones and themes of the film tend to clash. The two directors' visions for the film are also evident. First we have the stereotypical Scottish lords who are about as threatening as an irate, yappy dog, (Mark Andrews)and then we have the drama of a mother-daughter relationship almost be torn apart (Chapman). It would be more cohesive if the lords were played seriously instead of comically, because I don't believe for a minute that any actual war will break out. Just look how quickly it took them to accept Merida's idea of letting the children choose their own path, all it took was one speech and suddenly they're all on board. There was one scene when Merida mocks the notion that the clans will go to war if she doesn't marry the suitors and this would have been a great way for the film to show her lack of understanding the politics of maintaining a kingdom IF they had delivered on the promise of the clans going to war. The most we get is a fight in a castle that is on par with frat-house hijinks.
Another thing I wished they elaborated is the tradition vs modern ideals theme. In the beginning it seems that Elinor represents traditional ideals with her insistence on arranged marriage and Merida represents modern ideals since she wants her freedom. HOWEVER, in the end we learn that Fergus brought the clans together to fight foreign intruders and in return, they crowned him king, making Merida and the suitors the first generation of royalty to go through this arranged marriage. This raises a lot of questions. How did the clans get along before Fergus rallied them together? Elinor mentions that she was betrothed to Fergus, well what clan did she come from? Was this before or after he became king? Why would they think marrying their kids off was a good idea if they never raised their kids with this notion? Why is it tradition for the princess to select the challenge for her hand if this is the first generation they're doing the arranged marriage thing? These are unanswered questions that throw a wrench in the "tradition vs modern ideals" that the earlier part of the movie suggested.

Earlier I said that the mother-daughter relationship is the strongest thing in the movie. Well, the set up is strong but the resolution is weak. All we get is a fishing scene and a chase from Mor'Du and that is it. How exactly are they have supped to have bonded. I can see how Merida learned her lesson since Elinor can potentially remain an animal forever like Mor'Du (who is less of a character and more like a big red sign saying, "this is what will happen if you don't learn the moral of the story!") and her kingdom is in shambles. But how does Elinor change her mind? How does she see her daughter's side of the story? I think a lot of it is pacing issues. The first 2/3 of the movie just fly by, then it slows down in the middle, and it finally rushes to the end. If it were more evened out then we would have some proper character development.

I have more to say, especially concerning the witch, the poor humor, and the over stereotypes and sexism at play but I will end on just one more point. I expected the film to have a lot more Celtic mythology influences since the whole production team went to Scotland, learned the culture and folklore and essentially recreated Scotland in the film. But the most we get are wisps, stone circles, Celtic music, and Scottish stereotypes. That was disappointing because Celtic mythology is full of strong women and it would have been nice if Brave was actually brave and explored that folklore.

So those are my thoughts, I think it would have been a better movie if they had the film center around Merida trying to establish a kingdom with her parents (like the backstory of the movie) instead of what we currently have. It's not a bad film, just a disappointing one.

I love it! My maternal grandfather is Scottish, and I love him and his Scottish tradition so much, so it was fun to watch. Also, Merida is one of the first decent princesses Disney ever made. She's rebellious, doesn't care about looks, is not just sitting around looking for a prince, and is relatable enough to be real. The story plot, setting, music, and characters are original and enjoyable. Best DP movie ever.