Brave

Seventeen years ago a little film studio called Pixar created a little film called Toy Story.  It proved wildly popular with both critics and normal people and led to 12 more films from the studio, the latest being Brave, co-directed by Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews.  It stars the vocal talents of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connelly, and Pixar's "good luck charm," John Ratzenberger.

The story is definitely not as original as most of the previous Pixar films, such as Wall-E or Up.  Obvious connections can be drawn from classic fairytale Disney films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and more recent films, such as Tangled.  Brave takes place in Scotland.  Merida (Macdonald) is a tough redheaded princess who plays by her own rules and shoots arrows.  She is convinced that her mother Queen Elinor (Thompson) does not understand her...another extremely popular plot point in the over century long history of Hollywood.  Merida's parents (Connelly voices King Fergus) want her to marry one of the sons from the neighboring clans.  However, it is pretty slim picking and she wants to be able to choose who to marry.  Oh yeah, and Merida makes a deal with a witch (don't ever do that!) which results in her mother turning into a bear (another previous Disney movie reference!)  Apparently if someone whom you have differences with turns into a bear, then it is easier to relate to and understand one another.

This is Pixar so obviously the animation is absolutely brilliant and beautiful.  Even by today's standards the original Toy Story still looks pretty darn good, but things have only gotten better with each passing Pixar film.  Just about everyone who watches or reviews Brave mentions the main characters flowing red locks of hair.  Yes, it is incredible, every single individual strand is essentially flawless.  Also, all other shots of the film look beautiful, as if Scotland was actually filmed. Pixar has a way of animating insanely realistic outdoor shots...mountains, trees, water, etc...you'll probably be impressed.  Lastly, I think animated people will still never look normal, but that's fine, I've come to understand how friggin hard it must be to animate humans.  

In case you forget that this film takes place in Scotland, there is an endless supply of Celtic style music. It was all quite lovely and really sucks you into the time period, setting, and culture of these characters.  

Also, I feel that this film and last years Cars 2 veered slightly toward too immature humor.  This includes cleavage and bare butt jokes.  I know it's not a big deal, but I always thought Pixar was better than that and it sort of caught be off guard.  

Finally, Pixar unfortunately no larger has a spotless track record, which is fine.  Perhaps I just have unrealistic expectations for them and being perfect all the time must have been getting stressful.


Cars 2 ruined that record.  It wasn't even that bad of a movie and the animation and Michael Caine's voice were wonderful.  However, it was completely unnecessary and I feel like it was made mainly to sell more toys for Disney/Pixar. Brave was definitely better (at least it didn't get an awful rating on rottentomatoes.com!), but still not up to par with Toy Story 3 and all the films before.

I just hope that Pixar can get completely back to it roots and return to making original stories that are the perfect blend of humor and emotion, perfect for every member of the human race...Now we have the Monster's Inc. prequel (Monster's University) to look forward to!

2 and a half stars out of 4...and I still will watch every single Pixar movie...the company just evokes trust.  

-Joseph Sbrilli