Brave

Title: Brave

Year: 2012

Directors: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell (co-director)

Rating by MPAA: PG for some scary action and rude humor

Synopsis: Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

For extra info go to its IMDb page.

Official Trailer

STEPH SAID

Rating: 

Review:

This movie was not what I was expecting, and I don’t mean that in a good way. The characters were overall great, the scenery was realistic, the background story was interesting and there were hilarious parts; nonetheless the plot was clichéd and had topics for a more mature audience. Definitely not what you’d expect from a Disney-Pixar movie.

Merida’s father, Fergus, was extremely likable, funny and loving. His relationships with his wife and with Merida were realistic and warm, but funny at the same time. Elinor, Merida’s mother, was awfully realistic, at least when she was in human form. I’m guessing every girl felt identified with Merida’s ordeal and her relationship with her mother. The triplets were so cunning and endearing. (Because they were far away. I wouldn’t want them near me!) One of their funniest shenanigans was when Fergus was telling the story of how he lost his foot and one of the triplets was mimicking him.

Speaking of funny, the first part of the movie was hilarious. It was joke after joke; I was laughing out loud, like I would when watching a comedy. Most of it was physical comedy, which is the best, because you don’t have to rely on the understanding of the joke for it to be funny.

The CGI was marvelous. The scenery would sometimes look like a real place, not a cartoon one. But what I loved the most was Merida’s hair. There is one close-up at the end of the movie in which you can see different kinds of curls and different colors through her hair. It was gorgeous.

The background stories, the one where Fergus lost his foot and the one about the four brothers, were interesting. I love how they were weaved into the main story.

Another good thing is the cast. Amazing actors and actresses were picked for these roles. More importantly the most important characters were voiced by British actors; some of them were even really Scottish. 

Now to the bad. This story seems to me like a bad mash-up between Freaky Friday, Brother Bear and How to Train Your Dragon. I was watching the movie and thinking about how much Brave resembled these movies. I couldn’t help it. Brave has a daughter and a mother that have differences and are enchanted and forced to work things out, just like in Freaky Friday. Somebody is changed into a bear and then is chased by a member of his/her family, just like in Brother Bear. There is a fearsome creature (either a dragon or a bear) that people believe to be deadly and, therefore, want dead; but there’s a kid trying to tell everybody that the creature is not bad, just like in How to Train Your Dragon.

Something else I didn’t like was that I didn’t felt like I was watching a Disney-Pixar movie. When I think about their movies I think about Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Wall-E, and of the sort. However, Brave was nothing like those. First, it had many inappropriate scenes. In one, there are a bunch of men showing their behinds. In many others there’s a woman with a big cleavage, which could have gone unnoticed if one of the triplets hadn’t immerse himself in it. It was not literally shown, but was implied with a close-up of the cleavage. Second, it had much violence and many cruel moments. For example, when Elinor was trapped and when, afterwards, fought a gigantic bear. Elinor might have been in bear form, but she was still a woman and a mother. It definitely had much action and suspense for a children’s movie.

What’s worse is that all of this happened because Merida didn’t want to grow up. She didn’t want to get married and that’s ok. Nevertheless, she had to understand that that is how her society worked. Those were the laws. She may not like them, still she had to abide by them. If she didn’t want to abide she could’ve run away, instead of trusting a witch like she did. People have told me that she didn't now the woman was a witch, or that she was going to turn her mother into a bear. However, she should know that when someone offers you an easy fix to your life problems, it is probably a scam.

The “happy ending” given to the story felt patched up and unfair. Merida shouldn’t have gotten away with what she did, and much less without getting married. It was unrealistic that the society from the story would have change and agree to end arranged marriages just because the queen said so. Merida ended up getting what she wanted without deserving it or working for it. She was selfish and immature, she turned her mother into a bear, almost got her killed and at the end she still got what she wanted. Now, what is that going to teach the kids that saw it and will see it? Throw a tantrum, hurt your parents, make them see things your way ("the right way") and they will oblige.

I think Disney is trying to distance itself from their damsel-in-distress-in-need-of-a-prince reputation. However, in this case it was important and necessary for Merida to have gotten married. It was the law and it was tradition. Sometimes laws and traditions are wrong, but enchanting your mother and turning her into a bear is not the right way to fight or to rebel against them.