It’s shocking how well animated “Brave” is. Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrew’s action drama is filled with an immense scale packed with Scotland terrains as far as the eye can see. “Brave is also packed with great animation featuring our hero Merida’s hair which was intricately narrated for her specific character. All of the ballyhoo about the wonderful animation is all for a narrative that’s—fine. It’s a fine movie. It’s a perfectly mediocre, often confusing movie packed with such a wonderful and brilliant animation style.
Merida, the impetuous but courageous daughter of Scottish King Fergus and Queen Elinor, is a skilled archer who wants to carve out her own path in life. Her defiance of an age-old tradition angers the Highland lords and leads to chaos in the kingdom. Merida seeks help from an eccentric witch, who grants her an ill-fated wish. Now, Merida must discover the true meaning of courage and undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.
For a movie that flaunts itself as a unique and original Pixar movie, it doesn’t offer up a single revolutionary thread in its narrative. Everything about “Brave” feels so low stakes and rambling. Even when it becomes abundantly clear that Merida’s mom is a bear that might transform in to a ravenous beast in two days, even when it’s made clear to Merida that her being married means her saving the long held alliance of once warring kingdoms, there’s little to no emphases on the immediacy of it all. Merida is such a selfish and self involved individual who seeks independence and immediate dismissal from the traditional betrothal.
But even when her mother urges her that the marriage is less about domestication and more about preventing war, Merida schemes to undo everything; she’s completely oblivious to any consequence. The real highlight of “Brave” is the supporting characters which “Brave” is also shockingly bereft of. There’s Merida’s raucously loud warrior father, and her rambunctious trio of brothers, and her loyal horse and—well—that’s about it. Merida is one of the least supported Disney princesses ever conceived, so her lack of support and council makes her so much less empathetic when all is said and done.
“Brave” has so much history and fascinating lore behind it, but the movie feels like it barely mines its potential for some truly exciting entertainment. It’s a fine movie from the Pixar library (the collective of Kelly MacDonald, Emma Thompson, and Billy Connolly are incomparable), it just never hits the highs of “Wall-E” or “Inside Out.”