Review #456: 'Brave' (2012)

Since the 1995 release of Toy Story, Pixar was the unbreakable house with its stream of hits catering for both children and adults. Now in its seventeenth year of feature film production, it seems that it is the house of Disney that is most effecting their cinematic output. This years Brave, continues the standard of breathtaking animation, but does not innovate in this field - as was usually expected. Unfortunately, whilst previous hits such as Finding Nemo (2003), Wall-E (2008), and Up (2009), brought inventive new animation tricks, they also brought to the screen some fundamentally beautiful innovations to animated storytelling. Not only did they manage to enthral and delight children, the studio managed to amuse and cater for the parents (and adults without children), in a manner that seemed more, well, adult.

Brave tells the traditional fairytale set in the Scottish highlands. A young, red-haired princess, Merida (Kelly MacDonald), is forced by tradition to be married off to a young man from another clan, something that will be determined with an archery contest. Merida, however, does not wish to be married off and argues with her mother, Quenn Elinor (Emma Thompson). Taking off on her steed, she encounters a witch in the woods (voiced by Julie Walters), and she collects a spell in the form of a cake, that will change her mother, so that she will not have to marry. Unfortunately, the cake changes her mother physically, and in the form of a bear, they must break the spell.

Whilst not groundbreaking in animation or storytelling, Brave does have heart. The plucky princess wants to break tradition, making it an interesting feminist concept within the context of children's entertainment. It also holds the strong message that age divisions should stop to listen to each others own wishes (here the mother-daughter relationship is strained due to this lack of communication). But unfortunately, the film seems simply to tread themes and story ideas that have been exhaustively explored by Disney's more traditional output, with slight modernisations. And this is the problem I have with this release. Perhaps it is due to the complete merger between Pixar and Disney that the more conventional stories will begin to be their output. I really hope that this is not to be the beginning of the demise of Pixar's genuine genius. But criticism of their latest releases may aid the studio in developing the kind of stories that bring in kids, and entertains the parents/adults also.

With some other great voice work though (Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd), the film is not a total failure, and will delight children. It does have some genuine laughs, particularly from Merida's younger triplet brothers, whose mischievousness brings some delectable comedy moments. Something other is also happening to cinema, and that is the influence of video games. Whilst Merida is "on her quest", she is often helped by willow-the-wisps (small illuminated apparitions), that direct her through forests to get to her destination. The unfortunate thing about this is that none of them sounded like Kenneth Williams - what a missed opportunity. Although, I guess they simply didn't know the reference. (Sad face).


Directed by: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
Voices: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Marc Ivamy