Brave Review

Young Scottish Princess Merida has reached her teen years, and as is customary in her kingdom, she must pick a suitor in order to preserve peace between the lands. A visibly and vocally unhappy Merida would rather choose her own fate and future though, as opposed to following what her family (specifically her mother) wants her to do. These choices may bring about turmoil and trouble to her family and kingdom, however, and soon the princess must undo a dangerous curse that could change everything for the worse.



I'd like to start off this review with the usual praise reserved for any and all Pixar films (outside of the Cars franchise), but I'd be lying to myself if that were the case. Brave is Pixar's thirteenth full length feature film, and perhaps thirteen really IS an unlucky number. Don't be mistaken, this isn't a terrible film by any means, but it has it's fair share of flaws. Let's start off with the positives.

For starters, the film is wonderfully gorgeous to look at at. I almost feel dirty praising visuals in anything nowadays, seeing as how it isn't a valid excuse for a film being lackluster anymore (case in point, The Last Airbender looks pretty, but is a hollow piece of excrement inside). Pixar's animators and the like continue to get better, and scenes that explore the splendor of the outdoors are truly breathtaking, even if it is in a cartoon. The voice acting is top notch as well, with Kelly Macdonald and Emma Thompson doing fantastic jobs as Merida and her mother Elinor. Billy Connelly is entertaining as Merida's father, but was on the verge of crossing over into the "over-the-top" realm. Thankfully the Scottish accents aren't reaching the level of incomprehensible either, so you won't be asking for a rewind of any particular scenes. The score is fine too, with a mixture of flutes, bagpipes, and various other instruments that add to the atmosphere and occasional fun vibe of the film.

I feel like I absolutely have to address the negatives though, as much as I am opposed to doing it. This is friggin' Pixar, I fear I may burst into flames with any criticism. All things considered, the story and the structure it has is rather simple, which is surprising for this studio. It plays out in a fairly predictable manner, with no real surprises to speak of. It felt more akin to a Dreamworks production at times. I also thought the film ran rather quickly, and had they decided to add on another twenty minutes or so, we could have gotten more well rounded characters and less throwaway ones. Finally, this film lacks a strong villain. We're alluded as to who it may be earlier in the film, and when we finally meet the villain, they have a total screen time of perhaps ten to fifteen minutes. It is massively underwhelming and incredibly disappointing, especially considering how vital and vibrant someone like Lotso was in Toy Story 3.

All of those complaints aside, I can still recommend Brave, though not strongly. When this film is finally released on DVD and Blu-Ray, give it a rent and judge it for yourself. It does have a better message than most pieces of media targeted to young girls in 2012, so surely that can't be a bad thing.