Off the Cuff Reviews Brave (2012)

It's time like this I'm reminded how few Pixar films I've reviewed; a fact which must be remedied in the near future. I've seen the majority of them, and I like them all in different ways. To that end: a confession. This wouldn't have been the film I started my Pixar re-watches with. I've seen Brave (2012) once before; shortly after it came out on DVD and, I'll be honest, I didn't care for it. I didn't think it was bad, but it just didn't compare with a lot of Pixar's catalogue of greatness. I think I appreciated it a bit more on this rewatch, and I was able to see a lot more of the good than the bad, but there's a fair bit I do have issues with. Starring Kelly Macdonald as Merida, Emma Thompson as Queen Elinor, Billy Connolly as King Fergus, Julie Walters as The Witch, Robbie Coltrane as Lord Dingwall, Kevin McKidd as Lord MacGuffin and Craig Ferguson as Lord Macintosh.

Brave (2012)

I'll start out by saying that I can easily see why a lot of people might really love this movie, which is a far higher opinion than I had of it before this rewatch. A lot of this movie works because of the general atmosphere surrounding the world that the film creates. The opening titles evoke a 'Lord of the Rings'-esque tone, and while the fantasy world of the movie can never quite measure up to that bar, it doesn't do too bad. The scenery is breathtaking in parts, especially for 7 years ago, but what really sells it for me is the soundtrack. Some of the background music is like silk on the ears, and the handful of actual songs the movie features are actually really good, and fit the tone of the movie perfectly. Talking of the atmosphere, I really like the idea of the Wisps, and they have a great design, but their impact is lost on me somewhat by the fact that they're really only used as a vessel to get Merida where she needed to for the plot to happen. They're more of a plot device than they are an actual, living part of the world, and for being one of the movie's only real 'fantasy' elements, that's a problem.

Kelly Macdonald as Merida

Speaking of Merida, let me be frank for a moment here. On my first viewing of the movie, I didn't end up liking Merida all that much. I thought she was entitled, whiny and the fact that she refused to take responsibility for what she'd done really irked me. On a rewatch, I ended up really appreciating those aspects of her character. They made her feel like a real person, which is a lot more than can be said about a lot of the other 'Disney princesses', and I'm always inclined to like a flawed protagonist more than a perfect one, since those are always more interesting to tell stories about. It was more than that, though. I liked her more subdued moments a lot, like the little comments she'd make with her father, or how afraid she clearly gets when her mother takes a harsher tone with her; that's real s*** right there. Kelly Macdonald plays the character really well, and manages to keep the audience on her side even in the character's more 'bratty' moments, for lack of a better word. On of the few criticisms I have from my first watch that still holds true is that for as much as they built up her archery skills, including in all of the promotional material, they didn't seem to matter all that much by the end of the movie. For as much as the movie was talking about 'taking control of your fate', having Merida use her established skills to solve the crisis would have been more fulfilling than a rock just sort of falling on Mordu (who I'll get to in a minute). In the end, the moment Merida ends up refering to in regards to taking control of your fate is the ill-conceived plan that almost ruined everything, which feels a bit off.

Emma Thompson as Queen Elinor

And, for as much as I've gushed over the movie so far, I do need to address more of my issues; many of which have been solidified after repeat viewings. Because, yes, while the general atmosphere make this feel like one of Pixar's most unique films, it doesn't help that basically nothing else about the movie is unique. Putting aside the 'Disney film in which someone turns into a bear' story which must be incredibly familiar to you, let's just examine the kind of story this is. It's about a rebellious, forward-thinking teenager attempting to break from tradition despite their upbringing by a strict, by-the-book parent figure. I just described about a million movies with that one sentence. It's a tired story, and a lot of the regular beats are hit here. You've got the 'this isn't fair' moments, the characters being unable to talk to each other, the character taking things too far and immediately regretting it trope; it's just so tired by this point. From practically the moment the film begins, you can basically predict exactly how the movie's going to go, and for a company as original as Pixar, that's a real problem. The main obstacle of the story is set up through miscommunication, which is always annoying, and, finally, Mordu is far from the most interesting villain. By his very nature, he's just a bear, and the angle of 'this is what Elinor will become' isn't explored nearly as much as the film needs to in order to make this work. The way his death is handled, beyond not utilising Merida enough, is actually pretty nice though, as we get to see the real Mordu may not have been as evil as the legends told. Little moments like that where the Pixar charm shines back through are what really save this movie in parts.

Billy Connolly as King Fergus

I usually save the last paragraph for things I didn't like about the movie, but I've sort of already done that, for some reason, so let me just go over basically everything else about the film. Emma Thompson is great as the Queen, even if her character is the same 'over-bearing parent' figure we've seen a million times before. Billy Connolly is, as always, incredibly likable in his role, and, speaking of which, the film handles its comedy really well for the most part. They manage to squeeze a lot of great physical comedy out of Elinor as a bear, and her facial expressions are incredibly vivid. The Witch is by far the best character in the movie, and she's criminally underused, which sort of feeds into my last comment about the movie: it should have been longer. Take that as praise or criticism as you will, but you'll notice at several points in my review, I've mentioned that certain elements of the movie, such as the Wisps or Merida's archery, aren't as developed as I'd have liked them to be, and could have been had the movie been given a longer runtime. The same goes for Mordu and The Witch; they weren't nearly as fleshed out as the movie wanted them to be. A lot of that just stems from the genre; it's hard to tell a fantasy-epic in under 90 minutes, but you can't make a kids' film too long either. It's a tough balance to strike, which is probably why Pixar haven't attempted something like this since. I will say, having rewatched the movie, I do appreciate the fact that it exists a lot more than I used to, which is, believe it or not, very high praise indeed.

Julie Walters as The Witch

So, yeah, Brave (2012) may not be the strongest Pixar movie, but it's definitely a good time. It's not as unique or ground-breaking as would like to be, or maybe should have been, but it has its audience, and I can see why. 7.5/10.