- Story
- Characters
- Scottish Accents
- The Bad Guy
So I finally got to go see the movie Brave. And for $4! I’m going to go ahead and just say this movie was absolutely brilliant. But I mean what else would you expect from a Disney/Pixar collaboration? I’m going to go ahead and review this movie with the assumption that people reading this have seen it already. So yes, there will be spoilers, but here’s why I really loved this movie.
1) The Scottish accents. Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good Scottish accent. Now take a movie and make every character actually Scottish, well they could all be sitting around a knitting circle talking gossip and I’d have a great time. But yes, this is mostly just me in love with all things Scottish.
2) The Characers. I love a good movie where you can just connect with the characters. This movie definitely builds the audience up for the troubled relationship between a mother (Elinor) and her daughter (Merida). The main character is a princess who is told to follow tradition instead of what she wants while the mother is the opposing force that pushes that tradition. Then there’s the father who is busy being a man in a land filled with war stories. And I love the comedic relief the three younger brothers bring. The family is just so well woven into this scenario of old Scotland.
3) The Story. The story turned out to be something really unexpected for me but was none the less very well written. Merida pushes her stubbornness even further as she seeks aide from a witch. Ultimately her choice turns her mother into a bear with a time limit for turning back her mistake. And just like most Disney films, this story ended very with tears but a happy ending. I’m not going to lie though, I felt the story would have been so much more meaningful if the mother remained a bear and each day Merida would go out to the forest and just reflect on the mistake she made. I know it’s a depressing ending and definitely not one fit for Disney, but it would be a little bit more of a better story because of the lack of convenience to the character.
4) The Bad Guy. Most every Disney movie has some evil person behind all the conflict. Jafar went out of his way to ruin Aladdin and pretty much all of Agrabah. Ursula was simply a mean wench with selfish wants. The evil step mother was way too into her self image. Even Mulan had to face Shan Yu, with his creepy bald head/mustache combo. But in brave, the bad guy is less tangible. This is an amazing story about overcoming your own comfort zones and learning to do more than just what you want. This story fits so well more than just the obvious mother daughter drama. And the movie points it out in the end as the four clans are at the brink of war.
Overall, the movie blew me away. I am most definitely excited to get it on Blu Ray and enjoy it over and over again. Disney and Pixar, you guys have definitely created another top notch movie that I am more than excited to add to my collection. This may not be another Toy Story, but it definitely is a story worth watching.
