Brave is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It was written by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman, and Irene Mecchi, directed by Andrews and Chapman and co-directed by Purcell. The film's voice cast features Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and John Ratzenberger. To make the most complex visuals possible, Pixar completely rewrote their animation system for the first time in 25 years. It is also the first movie ever to use the Dolby Atmos sound format.

In Brave, set in the highlands of 10th century Scotland, a skilled archer named Merida defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in her kingdom. After consulting a witch for help, her family becomes cursed and Merida is forced to undo the spell herself before it is too late. Brave premiered on June 10, 2012, at the Seattle International Film Festival, and was released in North America on June 22, 2012, to positive reviews.

Preceding the film is a short film entitled La Luna, directed by Enrico Casarosa.

It has been a long three years since Pixar’s last original movie. As good as Pixar fans found Toy Story 3 (though personally I was underwhelmed), it is always exciting to see new material from the groundbreaking animation film studio that brought us classics such as Finding Nemo, WALL-E, The Incredibles and Up. The latter was their last original effort and probably Pixar’s most grown-up film to date. The following two years, Pixar brought us two sequels, the long awaited Toy Story follow-up (good!) and the not-so-much anticipated Cars 2 (not that good). Next year we’ll be treated to yet another follow-up by Pixar – Monsters University (in this case actually a prequel). That’s quite a high sequel ratio for a studio that produced 10 mostly acclaimed and hugely successful CG animated films between 1995 and 2010, but only one sequel among them (Toy Story 2). The idea of Pixar giving us new material is extremely intriguing, considering that their original films prior to Toy Story 3 always attempted to break new grounds and push boundaries of animation. In Ratatouille Pixar made a loveable protagonist out of a rat, in WALL-E, we’ve been treated to the main character that cannot really talk and thus given an almost silent first half-hour, in Up Pixar delved into issues such as crushed dreams, miscarriages and death.

Brave presents something new for Pixar in more than one way. It is the first Pixar film with a female protagonist and their first movie with a period setting as well. It was also going to become Pixar’s first movie directed by a woman (fitting into the emancipation theme of the film). Brenda Chapman conceived the story, but eventually left the project due to creative differences. On top of that, Brave fits more with the classic Disney lore than any of Pixar’s previous works. Not only does it tell a classic fairy tale story, but the film’s protagonist, Princess Merida, is also Pixar’s first contribution to Disney’s Princess line.
The bad news for some fans is that this is pretty much where the innovations end. Audiences have come to expect Pixar to step up their game with each new film. Brave does not advance Pixar’s filmmaking in the way WALL-E and Up did. It doesn’t tread new paths. Instead it is a rather conventional moral tale. The good news is that it is still a blast of a movie marking one of Pixar’s highest points.

The interesting thing about Brave is that the marketing never gave away much about the plot. We knew it deals with a Scottish warrior princess, she is supposed to be married off after a competition among her suitors and a bear somehow figures into the whole thing. It is amazing in our day and age to give away this little about a major tentpole’s plot. What you see in the trailers basically encompasses the first 30 minutes of the film. If you don’t want to know anything about the remaining hour at all, I suggest you to skip this paragraph (and maybe the rest of the review). Brave is set in the Scottish Highlands in the 10th century. Merida (impeccably voiced by Kelly McDonald) is the daughter to Bear King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and his wife Elinor (Emma Thompson). When she was little, a raging bear attacked her clan and fending it off, Fergus gained fame and respect, but lost his leg. Fast-forward several years and Merida has grown up to be a headstrong independent lass with a temper as fiery as her flowing red hair. Her father (thanks to the glory over his brawl with the bear) has become the king of all clans, making Merida a full-blown princess. And a princess’ life isn’t easy. Constantly lectured, reprimanded and controlled by her well-meaning mother (“A princess does not chortle”, “A princess does not raise her voice”) Merida doesn’t have the freedom she is yearning for. If it were up to her, she would just spend all day riding through the Highlands and experience adventures. However when the day comes on which three different clans arrive to present suitors to compete for her, she won’t take it. When secretly enlisting into the archery competition herself enrages her mother, Merida flees the castle and comes upon a witch’s house from whom she buys a spell in the shape of a harmless cake. The spell is supposed to change her mother’s mind about the arranged marriage, but unfortunately it changes her mother’s species instead – into a huge bear. Now Merida has less than two days left to reverse the spell or her mother will remain in this shape forever, losing the memories of her old self in the process.

Interestingly enough, of all recent animated features, the one that Brave resembles most isn’t a work by Pixar, but by their main (and usually inferior) competitor DreamWorks. It is How to Train Your Dragon that I was constantly reminded of throughout the film. Both films feature a protagonist that doesn’t quite fit in with his/her surroundings. The Vikings from Dragon aren’t far off from the similarly brawny Scotsmen in Brave and the scene-stealer is a non-human, in Brave’s case the changed Elinor who, even in her ursine form, initially refuses to give up her ladylike demeanor and has to be taught by her daughter how to catch salmon. But the biggest similarity comes from the both films’ striking visuals and the focal points of their storytelling. Whereas How to Train Your Dragon depicted a troubled father-son relationship, Brave takes upon itself to deal with a centuries-old conflict – that between a mother and her teenage daughter. Luckily for us, How to Train Your Dragon is DreamWorks’ best film and there could be far worse movies for Pixar to work its ideas from.

The movie truly excels when it comes to the images seen on screen. The necessity of 3D can once again be disputed, but there is no denying that the animation of the Scottish Highlands is strikingly beautiful. The color palette is extremely rich and the sweeping shots of Merida riding through the forest are simply breathtaking. At least in the animation aspect Pixar might have just outdone itself again. Its second great strength is its memorable main character. I did say before that Brave tells a rather classic tale and does not break new grounds for Pixar. That, however, doesn’t mean that they didn’t put a spin or two on that classic tale. Merida is the first Disney princess that does not strive for a man of her dreams. In fact she could care less for marriage. Merida is feisty (even more accentuated McDonald’s very Scottish voice work), independent, but at the same time not entirely mature. Another spin is that the movie doesn’t offer a main antagonist. The witch that has set the events in motion did so because of her incompetence and not because of any ill wishes. In fact, the person Merida and her bear-mother need to fear most is king Fergus who would love little less than killing the bear and decorating his castle with his trophy, refusing to believe that the bear might be his beloved wife.

Aside from that, Brave does not attempt much new, but even the recycled plot points are done so in the typical Pixar manner. Humor doesn’t come short here, chiefly provided by the hijinks of Merida’s wee triplet brothers and the slapstick hat ensues once Merida and her turned mother try to flee the castle. The movie also appropriately and effectively tugs at heartstrings as well when Merida is faced with the prospect of losing her mother for good. The mother-daughter relationship is supremely worked out here. One might argue that the reconciliation comes too fast and Elinor’s sudden change of mind about her daughter is too well-rounded, but it is the process portrayed here that matters. Both realize the injustices they have caused upon one another, one out of love for her daughter, the other out of love for freedom. The mother-daughter bond is believably portrayed and should resonate not only with all mothers and daughters in the audience, but with all parents and children.

In the end, Brave might not be one of Pixar’s artsier works (the beautiful short film La Luna playing before the main feature comes closer to that description) and it admittedly does play safe most of the time. Moreover, its female empowerment aspect is just too simple and gets somewhat sidetracked by the mother-daughter story. At the same time it delivers in pretty much every other aspect. From great characters over lavish animation all the way to its very sincere emotional core, everything in this film works the way intended and should establish Merida alongside Buzz Lightyear, WALL-E, Nemo and Remy as one of Pixar’s iconic characters – and that not only because she is the first female among this band of brothers.

"We've kind of had to fight the princess thing — like, 'Oh, well, she's a princess, it's a princess movie' — because we've seen the princess thing done so many times," admits Brave producer Katherine Sarafian.

Sarafian says Pixar actually experimented with making Brave's main character, Merida, not a princess at all.

"We tried making her the blacksmith's daughter and the milkmaid in various things," she says. "There [are] no stakes in the story for us that way. We wanted to show real stakes in the story where, you know, the peace of the kingdom and the traditions are all at stake."

Now, you'd think someone could find stakes in the story of a blacksmith's daughter or milkmaid, but apparently not Pixar (which is owned, of course, by Disney). Still, Pixar didn't seem to have the same problem with ordinary civilian boy heroes in movies such as Up.

Superior to the dreadful Cars 2, but otherwise this is another flawed venture for Pixar, often thought of as the world's greatest animation studio or at least the Western world's. Perhaps they have become victims of their own past genius (on display in such gems as Ratatouille, WALL-E, and the Toy Story trilogy), but just as one expects more from Cormac McCarthy than Dan Brown, more from Radiohead than the Fray, one desires not just suitable entertainment from a new Pixar film, but top-notch entertainment with an original, nuanced story and rich characters. Brave, though not without certain qualities and a far more interesting enterprise than Cars 2, does not represent Pixar in top form.

The film is, however, an unqualified audio/visual triumph. The Celtic original score, with its romantic strings and thunderous bagpipes, establishes a mystical and regal atmosphere and rouses when called upon. And the environments, or at least the natural environments, are a sight to behold: a grounded, yet fantastic land of misty lochs and dense forests.

Even though the dynamics are familiar (the free-spirited girl who rebels against limited gender roles and expectations, the loving and frustrated mother who can't understand why her daughter causes so much trouble), the characters are fine, elevated by strong vocal performances by, among others, Kelly Macdonald and Emma Thompson.

The serious flaws are found in the plot and structure. The central incident, in which a key character is transformed into an animal, stifles the film. What could have been a proper adventure, one unfolding in the great outdoors with magical twists and turns, becomes a laxly paced, pestering chamber piece defined by a low-simmering anxiety instead of genuine excitement, wonder, or transcendence. Princess Merida's (Macdonald) actions also verge on the criminal, to say the least. Without being too specific: what if the pie had cyanide in it? The result definitely would have changed her fate, I daresay. Remember, ladies, if you didn't see it prepared...

Frequent attempts at humor, including the introduction of three clans who can't share the same space without over-the-top fistfights erupting, are for the most part not amusing. The comic side of the film leans heavily on the protagonist's siblings, red-headed triplets who love causing destruction. It is obvious they are intended as a major crowd-pleasing element, and they are indeed adorable, yet not as effective on the whole as, say, Despicable Me's minions.

Instead of a proper antagonist, the film has two or three almost villains, including a witch who vanishes from the plot too soon and a menacing, disfigured bear who seems shoehorned in only for the purpose of an actual physical threat and an obligatory third-act action sequence.

To its credit, Brave finds a sweet and satisfying ending, and the journey is not without pleasures and surprises, but a few very misguided storytelling decisions prove damaging.

C+

Oh, I agree with erikdean regarding the miscalculation of following the mother's transformation into a bear (a plot miscalculation in and of itself) with ten or even fifteen minutes of racing, chasing, and broad physical humor. This decision undercut the gravity of the transformation.

I also found myself highly annoyed with Merida during the scenes right before the transformation. The mother is keeling over, her internal organs no doubt turning to jelly, and there is dear daughter saying, "Ma! Before ye go ta join William Wallace in the great Highlands in the sky, tell me: have your feelings on marriage changed? Has my FATE been CHANGED?" Psycho bitch.

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Never met a teenage girl, huh?

Bringing up Prometheus? WTF?

The scene just didn't sit well with me. I know the core contrivance of the film demands the word "change" always be said ambiguously, but Merida seems villainous here, continuing to prod her mother even as it becomes clear the woman is in intense physical pain. Merida should have been written as concerned at this moment. "What have I done?," etc. Not continuing to demand if her FATE has been CHANGED.