![]() Given how important archery is to our main character, it is disappointing Merida never gets to use her skills in any truly heroic fashion. She spends her free days riding at break-neck speeds through the glenn, getting off incredible shots on horseback, and bursts into tears when her mother throws her beloved bow in the fire (another wasted opportunity for great character development – we never get to see Elinor give the rescued bow back to her daughter). Merida is given a bow at an early age and quickly becomes an expert markswoman. ![]() Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity however comes in the form of Merida’s passion and love of archery. Other problems in Brave include a meandering second act that basically turns into one long, predictable chase scene, a delightful, originally-written villain we only see once and a seemingly un-motivated change of heart for Queen Elinor, who out of nowhere suddenly decides it’s okay for her daughter to marry out of love instead of tradition. Any time a character displays a lack of empathy for their loved ones, it makes me like them less. It is true that by the end of the film Merida regrets what she’s done and would never do such a thing ever again, but she should never have done it in the first place. When the spell first sickens and then changes her mom into a hulking grizzly bear, Merida repeats again and again that it’s “not her fault” – selfish brooding from a character we’re supposed to be rooting for. Unlike Ariel, who boldly chooses to take the risk and the danger of Ursala’s life-changing spell onto herself, Merida lays that burden upon the feet of her unsuspecting mother. Feeding the pastry to Queen Elinor isn’t an act of bravery, it’s one of cowardice. Our heroine, the person we’ve just spent the entire first act getting to know and love, suddenly feels it’s perfectly okay to possibly poison her mom. Now, you may dismiss this as simply a necessary plot point, but the act itself didn’t sit well with me. It’s obvious that this pie is both powerful and dangerous, having come from a large cauldron of steaming black goo, and yet Merida thinks nothing of sneaking it back home, presenting it on a plate and having her beloved mother swallow it. In seeking the witch’s help, Merida receives a magical pastry that she is to feed, not to herself, but to her mother. Unfortunately for Brave, that’s where things take a turn for the worse. Both characters are strong-willed women of action and they both enlist the help of a magical witch to help them in their quest to alter their destiny. Like Ariel, Merida is unhappy with her lot in life and longs to be elsewhere. As I watched the amazing first act of Brave, the obvious parallels to another classic Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid, quickly became apparent. The hero, in this case the flame-haired Merida, resents her mother’s attempts to turn her into a prim and proper future queen and in doing so embarks on an adventure to “change her fate”. The story is a familiar one – oppressed child longs to find her own destiny out from the watchful eye of her overbearing parent. Movies like Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon and Despicable Me have proven that PIXAR no longer has a lock on the genre it helped pioneer back in the 1990’s.Įnter their latest film, Brave. Recently however, other studios have come into their own and produced some amazing animated adventures that are just as good, if not better than the best PIXAR has had to offer. For years the studio consistently put out the best animated adventures with masterpieces like Finding Nemo, Toy Story and The Incredibles that pushed the limits of great cinema. PIXAR has spent almost two decades building up a loyal, praise-filled fan base for their cinematic offerings, and with good reason. ![]() The problem with high expectations is that once you have them, it’s very difficult to let them go. If you don’t want to know key plot points, then you should ride on my friend. ![]() SPOILER WARNING: This post contains pretty big spoilers for Disney’s animated adventure, Brave.
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