Pixar Not "Brave" Enough To Take Risks (film review)

     (SPOILER FREE) Pixar’s first female protagonist is a tease. The first trailer showed us Merida, a red-haired lass riding through a dark forest, brandishing a bow and arrow and standing her ground when a bear four times her size stood in her way. The second trailer showed us more of Brave’s cast, Merida adventuring out in the land and wanting to change her fate but contemplating the cost of it. Instead of a an epic tale of a strong woman spitting in fate’s eye and adventuring on her own audiences are presented a tale about breaking tradition and other heavy handed morals. While Brave is a fairy tale that is beautiful to watch on screen it cannot change its fate that it is the prolific studio’s worst film since Cars.
     Pixar rewrote its entire animation system for the first time in twenty-five years and the effort shows. The set pieces are immense and full of life. Within the Scottish castle the 10th century decorations and architecture give off a sense of brutal royalty earned with years of battle. The locations outside of the castle such as the forest or the ruins of a castle offer the most depth and variation. The rivers and forests in the day are colorful and fun with the shining sun and wildlife while the depths of the forest when the sun goes down or the thick fog surrounding the ruins of a castle are dark and foreboding. If one were able to push the camera past the scene one could see deer running through the trees or a bear’s glittering eyes through the fog. The characters are wonderfully animated. The fluid animation gives personality to each character, even when it’s a random guard in the crowd cheering. This film has the best computer generated hair I have ever seen as evidenced by Merida’s large curls bouncing in the wind while riding her horse.

   
     The gorgeous scenery cannot save Brave from its lackluster story. Merida is a young woman who is betrothed to be married to one of three suitors from allied clans. However, Merida wishes to ride through the forest on her horse and shoot her bow, not to be the wife of someone she doesn’t love. She gets her tomboyish nature from her father, the king of the four allied clans but her mother tries her best to raise her “proper” because “a lady must strive for perfection.” Merida feels powerless to do anything about the betrothal so she flees into the forest to seek refuge. It is there that she meets a witch who promises she can change her fate. Seeing no other options, Merida agrees and the witch casts a spell on her family. How this spell affects the family is surprising and it focuses the story more on Merida’s relationship to her family and destiny.
     The story has the makings of an engaging fairy tale in the tradition of the Brothers Grimm but has as much depth as the sanitized versions of those classic tales. There are unexpected and surprising moments sprinkled throughout the film such as the suitors’ test, the witch’s cottage and the ruins but without much change in the pace the rest of the script fails to be as engaging without enough exciting or gripping scenes that last more than two minutes. Most of the characters are bland and forgettable, the animation giving them more life than the script. The film’s most engaging character is the mother. The film does well to give us the opposite point of view through her and it makes Merida look like an immature brat instead of the image of the strong woman that the film tries so hard to convince us and itself of, which makes it so hard to side with her. The comedy is smart at times with Merida and her father’s witty remarks but Brave relies too much on slapstick throughout the whole film. The first couple times I saw the Scots getting into scuffles over or Merida’s small brothers tormenting their nanny I chuckled, but after several times before even half the movie was over I was groaning. The film has three main morals and while good the film heavy-handedly preaches them to the audience. Instead of letting individual scenes speak for themselves Merida states them out loud for all to hear when she had no need to.

   
     One can tell that this film lost its original direction. This could very well be because of the change in directors from Brenda Chapman (director of The Prince of Egypt) to Mark Andrews (co-writer of John Carter) over creative disagreements. The film felt too safe, unwilling to take risks and deviate from the average “rebellious teen learns a lesson” plot.  Despite the troubled production, Brave is a beautifully told fairy tale that will have movie goers pleasantly entertained despite its shortcomings in its plot and pacing. You may not remember the majority of it in morning but you will grudgingly remember those moments when you could feel how great Brave could have been.
FINAL VERDICT: 7/10 (Average)