Review of Brave (2012) by Well A — 19 Oct 2014

Winning the 2012 Academy Award for Best Animated film over Wreck-It Ralph, I had to see Brave to believe that it could be better.

In no way was Brave better than Wreck-It Ralph on any level, specifically in terms of animation, originality or storytelling.

The concepts in Brave were very familiar. The theme about a daughter not wanting to follow on the standard Princess ritual is one that has been explored countless other times in Disney films with one of the finest examples being Aladdin. The difference is that Brave takes a look at the idea more fitting for a contemporary audience in which the princess-to-be does not have a male hero stand up for her but instead asserts her own independence, with the focus being on the mother-daughter relationship as one of the key themes. This theme makes the film less gender-neutral and much more of a female-driven film. This doesn't bother me too much, but the fact that I don't understand much about a mother-daughter relationship makes it difficult for me to empathise with Brave. Brave didn't touch me the way it did for many other female viewers around me, so alongside Frankenweenie, Brave serves as another Academy Award nominated animated feature of 2012 with a target demographic which is not really broad enough.

One problem I have with Brave is just that it defies its potential. It's a $185 million Disney Pixar production, arguably the most popular animation company in Western society. But instead of making a tale about a great journey full of heroism like the trailer suggested that it might be, it was simply a small scale story with fine animation but little creativity. The amazing thing about animated movies is that they have the ability to create visual experiences that no live action film ever could, but Brave doesn't seem to realise that. It simply uses a lot of animation to tell a nighttime fairytale story which has been told one too many times for it to be anything short of thoroughly predictable. I'll admit that the animation in the film was beautiful due to exceptional detail for the characters and scenery as well as the magnificent colour of it all, but it simply did not feature enough versatile scenes for it to stand out as much more than a very derivative piece. The trailer for Brave suggested that it would be an exciting Disney Pixar adventure film and a tale of heroism with the title reinforcing that idea, but the film ended up being too focused on the sentimentality of the relationship shared between Merida and Queen Elinor for it to truly stand up and be anything else. It has its touching sentiments, but due to a limited target demographic the effect of the film is weakened as well as the fact that the story takes itself very seriously in the process without putting enough humour into the feature. Brave is a decent film as a whole, but it lacks enough humour to really overlook its limited story which already comes up short on originality, so it is one of the lesser efforts on behalf of Pixar.

All in all, when it comes to Disney Pixar films, there is a certain level of expectation of precisely what they will deliver. For me, it is a hope for well-animated films with plenty of colour, comedy and adventure. Brave fell short in terms of both adventure and comedy, though its animation was detailed and colourful. The one thing that I did really like though was that the setting of the story was changed to something new for once. It happened in the setting of Medieval Scotland which is a new one for Disney films. The design of it all looks great, and despite the language of the film incuring a lot of fairytale cliches to get to the point, it does have a lot of fairly strong Scottish dialogue to assist in reinforcing the feel of the tale. It all plays out against a great musical score which gives a cultural sense of the timeframe in the film which makes Brave a treat on both the eyes and the ears. So Brave certainly succeeds from a technical perspective, even if to a lesser extent than many other films from either Disney or Pixar.

The voice cast in Brave manage to contribute a strong effort as well.

Kelly MacDonald makes a strong lead in the role of Merida. She puts a lot of strong emotional strength into the role and says every line with serious charismatic spirit. She makes a compelling case in the role, and due to being a genuinely Scottish actress she makes the part seem all the more genuine which makes her fit the profile of the role very well. She pours her heart out in the role and puts a lot of strong emotional spirit into the role which makes her a compelling lead, and her tone of voice maintains an excellent accent which strengthens the character even further. Kelly MacDonald makes a really compelling lead effort in Brave.

The casting of Billy Connolly was a flawless deciosion. While the film itself was not precisely all that funny, he was consistently dead on. The legendary comedian has been able to make a lot simply out of the accent in his voice, and seeing as voice acting is exactly what is required for his role in Brave. His over-the-top stereotypical Scottish voice makes for an excellent gimmick in Brave. Billy Connolly makes an easily likable presence in Brave, and he really easily succeeds as the prime source of humour in the film.

Emma Thompson also makes a nice touch, even though the amount of screen time her character recieves is very small.

So Brave has a lot of detailed animation and the best intentions, but it is limited by its target demographic as well as a lack of originality, adventure or humour.