Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell, Brave is Pixar’s first foray into the world of fairy tales and they take the challenge in stride with what I would say is their most mature work to date.
Set during a mythological age in Scotland, Brave tells the story of Merida (Kelly Macdonald), an adventurous Princess who, against her will, is being groomed to be a proper queen. With three clans arriving to present their suitors for Merida, she becomes determined to change her destiny which involves remaining independent, adventurous and tomboyish. After a big fight with her mother (Emma Thompson) about Merida defying the marriage traditions of the land, luck strikes when she encounters a witch who, after making a deal, creates a spell for Merida that would change her destiny and allow her to live the type of life she wants with the only catch being that the spell remains permanent after two days.
Once back at the castle, Merida feeds the spell, which is a small pastry, to her mother in hopes it will simply change her mother’s mind with regards to being married off so young. Instead, her mother turns into a giant black bear, the creature that her father hates most thanks to Mor’du, the bear took one of his legs. The only way to turn her mother back is to mend that bond that tore them apart and it’s through their adventures of protecting one another that they learn the importance of their relationship to each other.
When it comes to the location, Scotland was the perfect landscape for a Pixar film as it gave them free reign to make one of their most lavish and beautifully constructed sets to date. Much like the story itself, the visuals of the film were magical, filled with lush and naturally vibrant colors, with the landscape acting as character itself, something which I really enjoyed.
Brave’s strongest attribute is its plethora of dynamic and interesting characters. Merida, as stubborn as she is, was highly entertaining because of her adventurous and, at times, badass nature, especially with her bow. Her mother, Elinor, was great but only when she was a bear, she had so much more personality and comedic value since she tried acting like a Queen in a bear’s body. The most comedic moments involved the three clans, Merida’s father Fergus (Billy Connolly) and her triplet brothers who were always out to cause trouble and initiate chaos. They made me laugh every time they were on screen.
While most would agree Brave isn’t Pixars best film, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the messages it was trying to get across to the audience. It isn’t necessarily Pixar’s 
most entertaining film but, outside of Wall-E, I think it’s their most mature film, thematically speaking. Unlike Finding Nemo or The Incredibles, Brave isn’t really a film for kids, I found it to be more for teenagers and their parents to help them understand the importance of seeing things from your “opponents” perspective as only then can a bond grow stronger, as is the case with Merida and her mother.
Even with its female protagonists and feminist undertones, this movie shouldn’t deter even the most chauvinistic men because this is a story that we’ve seen on screen many times before. Just think of how many father son battles we’ve witnessed where the ideas of tradition versus progression/independence are the cause of conflict, add a dash of teen angst and that’s Brave. Sure, most stories don’t have parents being turned into wild animals that the other parent wants to kill, but that’s where the originality and humor of Pixar’s talent is injected into the picture, giving it its nice blend of humor and drama.
Overall, Brave isn’t your typical Pixar film. It has some laughs and takes you on an adventure through a magical place but this film is more about the journey of our main characters and the challenges that they must overcome to restore order and change. Like 11 of the 13 Pixar films to date, this one is a must see and a worthy addition to the Disney Princess fairy tale archive.
The discs:
Disney did a fantastic job with this release as they decided to go all out and release an Ultimate Collector’s Edition up front, a five disc set that includes a 3D Blu-ray disc, a regular Blu-ray disc, a Blu-ray Bonus Features disc, a regular DVD and a digital copy. They cover every format to allow the film maximum exposure for when you want to show people the film.
I don’t have a 3D blu-ray player so I can’t talk much about that disc but I can talk about the regular blu-ray. I mentioned earlier that the film is stunning and since this is an animated film it was made for high definition playback making the home entertainment experience so much more exciting and visceral.
All the discs come with two short films, La Luna and The Legend of Mordu
. Praise for La Luna has reached me by now but since I didn’t see Brave in theaters I didn’t get to see the short. Like practically every single one of Pixar’s shorts, this one is clever, heartwarming and humorous and is a great generational family piece that compliments the film well.
The Legend of Mordu is a simple six minute educational short film that delves further into the mythology of how Mordu rose to power and, after receiving a spell to change his destiny, turned into a vicious bear, the same bear that ripped off Merida’s father’s leg. It discusses how the four brothers were initially supposed to rule together but one got greedy and initiated a war. The short is narrated by the comical witch who made the spell.
In addition to the shorts, the discs come with a ton of behind the scenes featurettes that cover everything from the fight sequences and how they were visualized and orchestrated to Pixar’s employees and the fun things they do during work to keep them motivated and stress free, like kilt Fridays instead of casual Fridays. There’s one featurette called Once Upon a Scene which shows how many different details are changed during the making of the film. It discusses the story making process and how there are at least 100 deleted scenes from the film because there are so many iterations of the same scenes. It’s really interesting to watch.
Lastly, the discs come with art galleries, extended and deleted scenes, alternate openings and a plethora of other content truly making this a definitive home entertainment release from the studio.
Movie Rating: A mature and exciting adventure that’s full of heart and a lot of bushy red hair (7.9/10)
Disc rating: 10/10
Brave is now available on Blu-ray and DVD from Disney/Pixar Home Entertainment
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