Brave justifies a trip to the multiplex simply as an opportunity to groove on the textures and details Pixar's team of artists took the care to get just perfect. Like the way the animators capture Princess Merida's wild cascades of red curls bouncing about her shoulders, or the way every item glimpsed cluttering up the shop of a batty old woodcarver is intricately designed and beautiful in its own right.
After seventeen years and a dozen feature films I worry that Pixar's unparalleled commitment to quality is starting to get taken for granted. When Buzz and Woody first burst open the computer animation floodgates, critics were falling all over each other to compose epic poems to the visuals. "Pixar has done for plastic what Bambi did for nature!" I remember EW proclaiming. Now I read a lot of reviews that pay lip service to the pretty pictures before quickly moving on to pick apart the story.
So let's hold on a moment before we dig into the story structure and gender roles and acknowledge that there is movie magic of the highest order illuminating every frame of this, Pixar's thirteenth feature film. It is the reason Brave is an event film even though it falls short of joining the ranks of the studio's recent masterworks.
So with that out of the way, yeah, about that screenplay...
The problem is that underneath the finely rendered surface, we sense a lot of familiar plot gears turning. Merida is a princess of the Scottish highlands who, as she approaches adulthood, balks at the thought of sacrificing her freedom for the sake of an arranged union. So right away Brave calls up powerful memories of Ariel, Belle, Jasmine and a half dozen other willful animated heroines who objected to having their fates chosen for them. When Merida rides through nature at the story's beginning, firing off arrows and reveling in the majesty of nature, the only thing separating it from the Disney Renaissance of the early 90's is the lack of a good show tune.
Also less than shockingly original is Brave's second act plot device involving Merida resorting to a magic spell to remedy her problems with disastrous results. (Helpful hint to headstrong princesses everywhere: When making magical wishes on which your fate and the fate of all your loved ones depend BE SPECIFIC)
Brave attempts to take these well-worn elements, shake them up and alchemize them into something new. I understand why Pixar was so confident that they could pull it off. With a small army of the film industry's most talented artists at their back why wouldn't they conclude they could transcend the routine material to move and thrill audiences?
Yet no matter how expert the presentation the formula is still the formula. It is tough to generate much excitement when we surmise early on that if a story hinges on mother and daughter reaching heartfelt reconciliation or else suffer the permanent effects of black magic, then said reconciliation will take place, most likely at the last possible moment following a frenzied race against time.
There was an opportunity around the halfway point to really raise the stakes and have the movie achieve takeoff velocity. A moment when the audience braces itself with anticipation to discover where the story will turn next, like WALL-E crashing out of Earth’s atmosphere clinging to the side of that spaceship. Nothing inspires that level of awe here. Brave keeps things on a more modest scale - at times it feels like it might have been adapted from a stage play with the carefully choreographed entrances and exits of various characters scuttling around the castle.
If this were one of Pixar’s great films it would take more seriously the idea of Merida being forced into a horrible marriage or the magic spell causing permanent disaster. The consequences of Merida’s abandonment of her duties are mostly played for chuckles with the buffoonish clans descending into slapstick brawling every time they are on screen. Likewise, the dark history Merida uncovers surrounding the magic spell strains for significance but succeeds mostly as ominous atmosphere.
When Merida digs deep to come to an understanding with her mother or finds the courage to stand alone against her people we are pleased because we like the character and are involved with the story. But we are nowhere close to being as stirred as when we watched the critic eat at the end of Ratatouille or moved like when Andy left his childhood behind at the end of Toy Story 3.
When Merida digs deep to come to an understanding with her mother or finds the courage to stand alone against her people we are pleased because we like the character and are involved with the story. But we are nowhere close to being as stirred as when we watched the critic eat at the end of Ratatouille or moved like when Andy left his childhood behind at the end of Toy Story 3.
Having said all that, within its conventional framework Brave deviates enough from the expected that it is well worth seeing, unlike, say, the Cars films.
It's is a welcome innovation to not only give Merida two functioning parents but to also have the mother-daughter relationship as the story's centerpiece (A first?) More intriguing still, is the total absence of a romantic interest for the Princess. Even Belle, the best, most strong-minded of Disney heroines, found herself ballroom dancing in the arms of a prince by film's end. When Merida declares she wants no part of an arranged marriages she means it, and not because she has her eyes on some hunky street urchin like Jasmine. It's easy to imagine Merida ruling as a Warrior Queen for a long while before she finds any man worthy of striking her fancy.
It's is a welcome innovation to not only give Merida two functioning parents but to also have the mother-daughter relationship as the story's centerpiece (A first?) More intriguing still, is the total absence of a romantic interest for the Princess. Even Belle, the best, most strong-minded of Disney heroines, found herself ballroom dancing in the arms of a prince by film's end. When Merida declares she wants no part of an arranged marriages she means it, and not because she has her eyes on some hunky street urchin like Jasmine. It's easy to imagine Merida ruling as a Warrior Queen for a long while before she finds any man worthy of striking her fancy.
Verdict: So Brave won't have the usual throngs of critics falling on their knees in praise of its glory like other Pixar films. It is still a fine example of a major Hollywood film and it provides a platform for a lot of artists to do stellar work around the margins of its familiar tale. 7 out of 10
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