Title:
Brave
Director:
Mark Andrews
Year
Released: 2012
Running
Time: 93 minutes
Classification:
PG
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Kids and Family, Animation
From the
trailer, I thought Brave
was about how a princess avoids marriage by defeating an evil bear,
or something. What the movie is actually about is how Princess Merida
(Kelly Macdonald) “changes” her mother via witchcraft so that her
mother doesn't push for her to get married. The film in essence is
about this mother-daughter relationship. This adds a original spin to
the usual “hero's quest” story, and provides a refreshing change
from the usual romantic focus in princess stories.
I am
perhaps showing my age here, but I found it problematic that I sided
with Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) pretty much from the get-go. I did
not find Merida to be very likeable, at least at the beginning, and
indeed thought her rather selfish for being so resentful of her
(privileged) life. However, I doubt many others will have this same
problem. I had expected a bit more historical realism and I realise
that I was wrong to do so. Brave
is
a children's movie after all, and it will of course result in a happy
ending in line with modern values. I suppose it's meant to be a
celebration of ~girl power~ and ~independence~, but for me this
message didn't carry any real weight: Merida's life isn't exactly
horrible to begin with and her problems are mainly self-inflicted. On
the flip side, the mother-daughter opposition allows for both
characters to grow during the course of the film, and this was one of
the film's strengths. The heroine is brave and all, but her journey,
like her mother's, is ultimately one of learning to compromise. I
suppose “Taking Responsibility” or “Humility” just aren't nearly
so catchy as “Brave”.
Though it's
an interesting enough story, I didn't particularly like the way it
was told. As soon as I got a sense of what the film was about, the
narrative structure became so obvious that I was often just waiting
for things to happen – things like the “What Have I Done?”
moment and the Bonding Activity Montage. While being predictable is
not of itself a bad thing, I felt in this case there was a lack of
wonder to make up for it. There was a sense of rigidity to the plot,
a sense of “this is what has to happen next” rather than “oh
no, that event has caused this other thing to happen”. I suppose
I'm making it out to be worse that in it is, but frankly I'd expected
better storytelling from Pixar.
Still, it's
a fairly funny film, with many physical gags that both kids and
adults would enjoy. In this instance, the trailer does a fairly good
job of showing the flavour of humour that's in the film more
generally. It also looks fantastic. Everything, from Merida's hair to
the forests to the fabric of the queen's dress to the snowy
landscapes, looks great. The Celtic music also added to the feel of
Ye Olde Scotland, and there is a charming, cheerful atmosphere to the
whole film. Further, it was also pleasant to hear Scottish accents
all around (rather than just for a couple of old people – you know
how it is when there's an animated film involving an ethnic group...
*cough* Mulan,
Gargoyles,
Avatar:
The Last Airbender
*cough*).
Enjoyable
as it was, however, I didn't like this movie as much as I hoped I
would. There's a lot of charm in the window dressing, but the
business-like plot drags things down somewhat, and the characters so
compelling so as to negate this. It's not Pixar's best, but it's
still pleasant and fun.
Remember to
take my review with a grain of salt as I am clearly not the film's
intended audience. I believe that kids will find much to enjoy this
film, as they are highly unlikely to be as cynical and genre savvy as
I am. Though... if your kids are like me, then, well, good luck with
that.
NOTE: If you're watching this in the cinema, be sure to
get there in time. The short film La
Luna is
shown before this one, and it's just the most adorable thing ever. I
enjoyed it much more than Brave
itself.
Alex's
Rating: 3/5
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