Brave

I enjoyed Brave but it wasn't without a few flaws.

First of all, I never felt like there was much meat to the story. It was enjoyable sure, and had some good morals and family values but I never felt like I was invested in the main characters. Stuff just seemed to happen.

Secondly, and this isn't as much the movies fault as perhaps the marketing that surrounded it, but it was actually a very different movie than I thought it was going to be. I discovered that it's hard to break those pre-conceptions as I kept thinking the story was going somewhere else than it did.

Brave was at its best when it made me laugh which unfortunately, was just too seldom. For example, the entire scene where the 3 clans try to fight for Mérida's hand was...

The following is a long-form review that I originally wrote in 2012.

The film in all was a relatively decent venture. Perhaps Pixar's well deserved success is its pitfall here. Though highly enjoyable, Brave was simply not up to the standard brought forth by the likes of the Toy Story trilogy, Up or Monsters Inc. ?This movie falls more into the category of "Entertaining, acceptable, cute" instead of the higher echelons some of the studio's past work has earned it.

Brave attempts to take the "Disney Princess" line away from its predecessors in which princesses are only good for getting themselves into trouble so that men can rescue them (ie. Snow White, Belle, etc.) or in the case of the Little Mermaid in which she is willing to almost...

A wholehearted animated film from Disney.

'Brave' is very good. The Scottish vibes help a lot, but the meaningful message and superb animation are just a few of the film's other big positives. The casting, characters and music are some too. The premise itself isn't anything breathtakingly new, but is most certainly enjoyable to see unfold.

The cast are excellent, with my personal standouts being Kelly Macdonald (Merida) and Emma Thompson (Elinor). There are also good performances from Billy Connolly (Fergus), Robbie Coltrane (Dingwall) and Julie Walters (Witch).

It's a fun and simple watch, one I thoroughly felt entertained by.

To be honest, I was expecting rather more from this feature. It centres around the tomboyish princess "Merida" who is being groomed by her fastidious mother 'Elinor" into a refined and genteel lady befitting her station. Her father, "Fergus" is a bit rougher round the edges but by and large the family - along with the two younger twin boys - rub along ok. That is, until the king and queen announce to their daughter that it is time for her betrothal - and that she just marry one of the pretty hapless heirs from one of the three great clans of the kingdom. Unimpressed, she runs away and encounters a witch who agrees to cast a spell that will change her mother's mind... Well it does a load more than that, and soon the young "Merida" has to rec...