'Brave' Review

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One thing I can’t get past when people are talking about "Brave" is how it looks too similar to the old Disney Princess formula. That is about as far from the facts as you can get. Sure, Merida is a princess but she is nothing like a Disney Princess.

The classic Disney Princess is someone who is looking for their Prince Charming and normally has a witch or evil stepmother cursing them, a handicap they have to overcome. In "Brave," Merida is not a victim in this movie and everything that happens is at her own hands.

"Brave" is not a Disney Princess movie but is instead a coming-of-age story exploring the difficulties in a mother-daughter relationship. There is a witch, but she is not really evil – more of an artist with an infatuation for bears, that also happens to be a witch. She does cast the spell that complicates things but the switch here is that Merida pays her to do it.

Merida is a princess who is told she will be married off to a prince from another realm in order to keep peace between the realms. She does not want to get married and believes her mother is trying to force her to become more like her. This causes her to find the witch and strike the bargain, which backfires on her."Brave" is easily the scariest Pixar movie to date for younger children. The movie itself starts off with a vicious bear attack that costs Merida’s father his leg. There is another bear attack late in the film with a scary, disfigured monster of a bear. There are also some distressing moments with Merida’s mother that might be a little much for younger audiences.

There is also the warning that this is a movie geared towards the female audience, although there is plenty of action for the guys. This is about female bonding between a mother and her daughter and some men might be turned off by this (as evident by the lower rankings by many male film critics).

However, for anyone worried, this is typical Pixar, a story that is unique and not like many other films out there. If you want to compare it to other films, it is similar to "How to Train Your Dragon" when it comes to the settings, but thematically, it is also similar to the subplot of "The Incredibles," where a family has to work together to survive.

It is not the best you will see from Pixar but it is still better than much of their competitor’s offerings.