Note: This appeared in the print-only TV Guide of The Marshall Independent.
“Brave” is the computer animation film studio Pixar’s 13th film, the latest in an almost unbroken series of critical and commercial successes. (“Cars 2” was the exception.)
As early as 1967, visionary SF author Vernor Vinge published a short story, “The Accomplice” in which a corporate employee steals millions of dollars of computer time to develop a method of computer animation that would enable individuals to create animated works on the scale of the classic Disney cartoon films.
Pixar developed the techniques of Computer Generated Imagery throughout the 1980s and was acquired by Disney in 2006. But while the technology is getting cheaper and more accessible, “Brave” shows that for now animated megahits are still largely the product of big studios with big budgets. A reported $185 million in this case, some of which went to rewriting the animation software.
It appears to have been money well spent. “Brave” is a bit darker and feels different from previous Pixar films. It’s also funny, original, heart-warming, and visually breathtaking.
In medieval Scotland Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald,) is the red headed tomboy darling of her father Fergus (Billy Connolly) who gave her the bow she shoots like a champ, and the despair of her mother Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson,) who tries in vain to get her rebellious daughter to master the graces of a proper princess.
In due course, the royal couple announce their daughter is ready to be courted by a suitable suitor or three. Of course in that day and age this meant arranging a marriage which would cement alliances and insure peace and the continuity of two noble lineages.
Of course Merida rebels, of course she has a falling out with her mother, and of course she finds a way to sabotage her parent’s plans. You saw that coming of course.
You didn’t see anything after that coming though, and you’re not going to because various people connected with the production have begged on their hands and knees that we don’t reveal any spoilers.
OK, I can tell you this because I saw it on a trailer on TV last night. She asks a witch (Julie Walters) for a spell to change her mother.
It does. Into a bear.
This is where things get both scary and hilarious. Scary because it really looks like Fergus is going to unwittingly kill the woman he genuinely and touchingly loves. Hilarious because they’ve made the bear body language so convincing, it really looks like a refined lady discovering that she’s a bear!
Not to mention what they do with the comic situation of how you sneak a bear across the back of a room and up the stairs of a banquet hall full of people.
This is a story of adolescent rebellion, coming of age, courage, duty, and love.
What’s refreshing is, though mom and daughter are at loggerheads, it’s plain Mom has a case. There is a lot more riding on the outcome than Merida’s happiness. Things like the peace and security of the kingdom and its inhabitants.
It’s also refreshing that though Merida is an active girl who likes rock climbing, horse riding, and archery, she isn’t Xena Warrior Princess, she isn’t shown beating larger and stronger men, and only barely escapes with her life after a confrontation with a real bear.
The archery skills are believable if you assume she has a bow with a rather light draw, suitable for target shooting and small game.
Much has been made of the fact this is Pixar’s first film made around a heroine, and there was some question of how this would appeal to boys. My experience with my children was, my son liked it but “Once is enough.” My daughter is clamoring to see it again and I’m more than happy to take her.
Do see it and take your kids. Merida, Fergus, and Elinor are delightful. Julie Walters’ witch is a scream and her answering machine will leave you in stiches. The accents are real from an almost all-Scottish cast, and there is a funny bit of self-mockery about this I’ll let you find for yourself.