Psycho's Movie Reviews #132: BRAVE (2012)

Brave is a 2012 American computer-animated fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Mark Andrews (in his feature-length directorial debut) and Brenda Chapman and co-directed by Steve Purcell. The story is by Chapman, with the screenplay by Andrews, Purcell, Chapman and Irene Mecchi. The film was produced by Katherine Sarafian, with John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Pete Docter as executive producers. The film's voice cast features Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, and Craig Ferguson. Set in the Scottish Highlands, the film tells the story of Princess Merida of DunBroch who defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in the kingdom by expressing the desire not to be betrothed. When Queen Elinor, her mother, falls victim to a beastly curse turning into a bear, Merida must look within herself and find the key to saving the kingdom. Merida is the first Disney Princess created by Pixar. The film is also dedicated to Steve Jobs, who died before the film's release. Brave is Pixar's first film with a female protagonist, and the first one animated with a new proprietary animation system, named Presto.

Chapman drew inspiration for the film's story from her relationship with her own daughter. Co-directing with Mark Andrews, Chapman became Pixar's first female director of a feature-length film. To create the most complex visuals possible, Pixar completely rewrote their animation system for the first time in 25 years. Brave is the first film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format.

Brave premiered on June 10, 2012, at the Seattle International Film Festival, and was released in North America on June 22, 2012, to both positive reviews and box office success. The film won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Preceding the feature theatrically was a short film entitled La Luna, directed by Enrico Casarosa.

Plot

In Medieval Scotland, Princess Merida of the clan Dunbroch is given a bow and arrow by her father, King Fergus for her sixth birthday to the dismay of her mother, Queen Elinor. While venturing into the woods to fetch an arrow, Merida encounters a will-o'-the-wisp. Soon afterward, Mor'du, a huge demon bear, attacks the family. Merida flees on horseback with Elinor, while Fergus and his men fend off Mor'du, though the fight costs him one of his legs.

Ten years later, Merida, now sixteen years old, discovers that she is to be betrothed to the son of one of her father's allies. Elinor explains that failure to consent to the betrothal could harm Dunbroch, reminding Merida of a legend of a prince whose pride and refusal to follow his father's wishes destroyed his kingdom.

The allied clan chieftains and their first-born sons arrive to compete in the Highland games for Merida's hand in marriage. Merida twists the rules, announcing that as her own clan's firstborn she is eligible to compete for her own hand. She easily bests her suitors in an archery contest, shaming the other clans, and after a heated disagreement with Elinor, runs away into the forest. Wisps appear, leading her to the hut of an elderly witch. Merida bargains for a spell to change her fate, and the witch gives her an enchanted cake.

When Merida gives Elinor the cake, it transforms her into a bear, unable to speak but still retaining most of her human consciousness. Merida returns to the witch's cottage with Elinor, only to find it deserted, and discovers a message from the witch: unless Merida is able to "mend the bond torn by pride" before the second sunrise, the spell will become permanent. Merida and Elinor are led by the wisps to ancient ruins, where they encounter Mor'du. Realizing that Mor'du was the prince in the legend, Merida vows that she will not let the same thing happen to her mother, and concludes she needs to repair the family tapestry she damaged during their argument.

They return to the castle to find the clans on the verge of war. Merida intends to relent and declare herself ready to choose a suitor as tradition demands, but Elinor prompts her instead to insist that the firstborns should be allowed to marry in their own time to whomever they choose. The clans agree, breaking tradition but renewing and strengthening their alliance.

Merida sneaks into the tapestry room with Elinor, while Fergus, looking for his wife finds out she's gone. Elinor, who is losing her humanity, attacks Fergus, but suddenly regains her composure and flees the castle. Mistaking the queen for Mor'du and thinking it has eaten his wife, Fergus pursues the bear with the other clans, locking Merida in the castle. Merida escapes with the assistance of her identical triplet brothers, Harris, Hubert, and Hamish, who have also eaten the enchanted cake and are now bear cubs. Merida repairs the tapestry and rides out after her father. Fergus and the clans capture Elinor, but Merida thwarts them before the real Mor'du arrives. Mor'du batters the clan warriors and targets Merida, but Elinor intercedes, holding off Mor'du and causing him to be crushed by a falling menhir. This releases the spirit of the prince, who silently thanks Merida for freeing him. Merida covers her mother in the repaired tapestry, but she remains a bear. As the sun rises for the second time, Merida realizes the mistakes she has made and reconciles with Elinor, unknowingly fulfilling the true meaning of the witch's message and reversing the spell's effects on her mother and brothers.

With Mor'du gone, Merida and Elinor work together on a new tapestry when they are called to the docks to bid farewell to the other clans, and ride their horses together.

Production

Announced in April 2008 as The Bear and the Bow, Brave is Pixar's first fairy tale. Writer and director Brenda Chapman considers it a fairy tale in the tradition of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. She also drew inspiration from her relationship with her daughter. Chapman conceived the project and was announced as the film's director, making her Pixar's first female director, but in October 2010, she was replaced by Mark Andrews after creative disagreements between her and John Lasseter. Chapman found the news of her replacement "devastating," but later stated that her "vision came through in the film" and that she remained "very proud of the movie, and that I ultimately stood up for myself." Chapman then stated in an interview in 2018 that while she was still bittersweet about being taken off the film and believed that there was no reason to do so creatively, she felt that it "opened more doors for me to have that happen". Brave is also the first Pixar film with a female protagonist and Pixar's first film to have two credited directors.

Following his involvement as director, Mark Andrews did a heavy lifting to the story to give more focus on Merida and her troubled relationship with her mother. Among others, he cleared away many magic elements, which he found affected the environment. However, he wanted to stay truthful to Chapman's story. He said: "The bones of the film were totally fine. That was not the issue. What was hanging off the bones, there were problems. There were things that were not working. The focuses and balances that were out of whack."

The end credits include a special tribute to Pixar co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.

Casting

Brave is the first Pixar film starring a female protagonist. In that respect, Brave was followed by Inside Out, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and Turning Red, all of whom featured female protagonists. In 2010, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, and Julie Walters joined the cast, with Witherspoon set to voice Merida. According to Andrews, Witherspoon was on the project for "quite some time. She was getting her Scottish accent down, she was working very hard and it was sounding great but as we were continuing with the movie she had other movies lining up, so unfortunately we were unable to continue with her and had to get a replacement." Instead, in 2011 it was revealed that Merida was to be voiced by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald. In 2017, during a press junket for Illumination's Sing, Witherspoon mentioned that she had to leave the film due to failure to master a Scottish accent.

Music

The score for Brave was composed by Patrick Doyle and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was conducted by James Shearman. To bring some of Scotland's native flavour to the music, Doyle used traditional Celtic instruments such as bagpipes, a solo fiddle, Celtic harps, flutes and the bodhrán, with an electronically treated dulcimer and cimbalom to give it a more contemporary feel. "I employed many classic Scottish dance rhythms such as reels, jigs, and strathspeys, which not only serve the action but keep it authentic," said Doyle. As part of his research, he spent time in the Hebrides studying "unaccompanied Gaelic psalm singing."

Doyle also composed several songs for the film. The lullaby duet between characters Princess Merida and Queen Elinor entitled "A Mhaighdean Uasal Bhan (Noble Maiden Fair)" appears on three occasions in different variations within the fabric of the score, and uniquely includes Gaelic vocals by Emma Thompson and Peigi Barker, the first Disney film with music featuring the language.[citation needed] The drinking song "Song of Mor'du" (lyrics by Doyle and Steve Purcell) sung by Billy Connolly, Scott Davies, Patrick Doyle, Gordon Neville, Alex Norton and Carey Wilson, features a rich variety of words, sung authentically in Scots, which is distinct from Scottish Gaelic. (Scots being a Germanic language, while Scottish Gaelic is Celtic.)

In addition to Doyle's music, the film features three other original songs; "Learn Me Right" written by Mumford & Sons and performed with Birdy, "Touch the Sky" (music by Alex Mandel, lyrics by Mark Andrews & Mandel) and "Into the Open Air" (music and lyrics by Alex Mandel). Both "Touch the Sky" and "Into the Open Air" were performed by Julie Fowlis, as Merida's off-screen musical thoughts. These two tracks were produced by composer and arranger Jim Sutherland, who is also featured as a performer.

Along with introducing Doyle to a number of specialist Celtic musicians who feature in the score, Sutherland was responsible for discovering the young Gaelic singer Peigi Barker; the voice of Young Merida.

Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack on both CD album and digital download on June 19, 2012.

Release/Reception/Box Office

The film was initially set for release on June 15, 2012, but the date was later changed to June 22, 2012. On April 3, 2012, Pixar screened the film's first 30 minutes, which received a positive reaction. The film premiered on the last day of the Seattle International Film Festival on June 10, 2012. It had its Australian premiere on June 11, 2012, at the Sydney Film Festival, its domestic premiere on June 18, 2012, at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, its European premiere at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on June 23, 2012, and its British premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 30, 2012, with Kelly Macdonald, Robbie Coltrane, Craig Ferguson, Brian Cox, Kevin McKidd, Ewen Bremner, Kate Dickie, Julie Fowlis, Patrick Doyle, Daniela Nardini and Alex Salmond in attendance.

In the United States and Canada, Brave is the first feature-length film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format. Almost half of the 14 theatres set up to show the film in Atmos are in California (Burbank, Century City, Fremont, Hollywood, San Francisco, and Sherman Oaks), with the others located in seven other states (Lake Buena Vista, Florida; Kansas City, Missouri; Paramus, New Jersey; Las Vegas, Nevada; Chicago; West Plano, Texas; Vancouver, Washington) and Toronto, Ontario. It was released in other theatres with Dolby Surround 7.1. In total, it was released in 4,164 theatres, a record-high for Pixar. The previous record was held by Cars 2 (4,115 theatres). 2,790 of the theatres included 3D shows.

Brave was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and digital download on November 13, 2012. It includes La Luna and a new short film, The Legend of Mor'du, which explores the history of Mor'du, from The Witch's perspective. The DVD contains audio commentary by director Mark Andrews, co-director/screenwriter Steve Purcell, story supervisor Brian Larsen, and editor Nick Smith. In 2019, Brave was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.

Brave has an approval rating of 78% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 251 critics, and an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Brave offers young audiences and fairy tale fans a rousing, funny fantasy adventure with a distaff twist and surprising depth." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore during the film's opening weekend gave it an average grade of "A" on a scale from A+ to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, in his final review on an animated film before his death, gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. He wrote, "The good news is that the kids will probably love it, and the bad news is that parents will be disappointed if they're hoping for another Pixar ground breaker. Unlike such brightly original films as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and Up, this one finds Pixar poaching on traditional territory of Disney." He said that the film did have an uplifting message about improving communication between mothers and daughters, "although transforming your mother into a bear is a rather extreme first step". Peter Debruge of Variety gave a positive review of the film, writing that the film "offers a tougher, more self-reliant heroine for an era in which princes aren't so charming, set in a sumptuously detailed Scottish environment, where her spirit blazes bright as her fiery red hair". Debruge said that "adding a female director, Brenda Chapman, to its creative boys' club, the studio Pixar has fashioned a resonant tribute to mother-daughter relationships that packs a level of poignancy on par with such beloved male-bonding classics as Finding Nemo".

Conversely, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave it a negative review, stating that the film "diminishes into a rather wee thing as it chugs along, with climactic drama that is both too conveniently wrapped up and hinges on magical elements that are somewhat confusing to boot". Leonard Maltin on IndieWire said, "I'll give it points for originality, but that story twist is so bizarre that it knocked me for a loop. The movie tries to make up for this detour with a heart-tugging, emotional finale, but the build-up to that moment has been undermined, so it doesn’t have the impact it should."

Some reviewers saw the Merida character as a novel break from the traditional line of Disney princesses. There were some dissonance and criticism among viewers and organized feminists when her character was scheduled to be "crowned" a Disney princess, only for artists to render her thinner, with less frizzy hair, and rounder eyes, more like the other princesses from previous Disney movies. This inspired girl-empowerment website A Mighty Girl to file a petition that Disney not alter their character. One of the 262,196 signatories was Brenda Chapman, the director of the film, who felt that Disney had "betrayed the essence of what we were trying to do with Merida — give young girls and women a better, stronger role model", and that the makeover was "a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money". The online petition was considered a success, as shortly after it appeared Disney removed the redesigned image from their official website, in favor of Merida's original film appearance. Disney later clarified the situation, assuring that Merida would remain in her original form.

Brave earned $237.3 million in North America, and $303.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $540.4 million. It was the 13th highest-grossing film of 2012, the eighth highest-grossing Pixar film, and the third highest-grossing animated film that year behind Ice Age: Continental Drift ($875.3 million) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted ($746.9 million).

In North America, pre-release tracking suggested the film would open between $55 million to $65 million in North America, which is slightly below average for a Pixar film, as trackers initially suggested that as a "princess story", the film might not appeal as much to male audiences.

It opened on June 22, 2012, with $24.6 million and finished its opening weekend with $66.3 million (the same amount as Cars 2, Pixar's previous film), at the upper end of the numbers analysts predicted. This was the seventh largest opening weekend in June, and the sixth largest for a Pixar film. Despite pre-release tracking indications, the audience was estimated to be 43% male and 57% female. In North America, it is the ninth highest-grossing Pixar film, the highest-grossing 2012 animated film, and the eighth highest-grossing film of 2012.

Outside North America, the film earned $14 million from 10 markets on its opening weekend, finishing in third place behind Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Snow White and the Huntsman. Overall, its largest openings occurred in France and the Maghreb region ($6.5 million), Mexico ($5.53 million), and Russia and the CIS ($5.37 million). In total earnings, its highest-grossing countries were the U.K., Ireland and Malta ($34.9 million), France and the Maghreb region ($26.8 million), and Mexico ($21.6 million).

Budget $185 million

Box office $540.4 million

My Review

This is my favourite Pixar film!

Under tremendous pressure from being an offspring of one of the juggernauts in the CG animated film arena, Brave was courageous enough to go for the familiar that Disney had to offer, but done in Pixar's style. We have a female director in Brenda Chapman at the helm, who co-wrote the screenplay with Steve Purcell, Mark Andrews and Irene Mecchi, which like in fairy tales, takes place with Kings and Queens, Princesses and Princes, Witches and Magic Spells, rooted in old Scotland. It's Scottish and the filmmakers aren't apologetic about the heavy accents, and the protagonist is a teenage girl, which fits the mold of the famous princesses under Disney's fold. Fiercely independent with a mind of her own, and always eager to question, with a penchant to break tradition, Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) isn't your typical demure princess, but like Disney princesses in recent years, have grown to encapsulate values of the modern woman, with abilities to equal, or even surpass, the many burly men, and none too burly peers, rather than to be the typical damsel in distress.

This is probably the very first mother-daughter story arc for Pixar, and one of the rare few like The Invincibles and Ratatouille that has human protagonists. Chapman and team bring about a lot of female sensitivity when crafting the characters here, and this especially stands out in both Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) and Merida of course, with the former being a proponent of tradition, and very much a stickler for protocol, that women in their position should know how to conduct themselves, and avail themselves for marriage to seal alliances and such. Merida on the other hand, is that quintessential tomboy, never batting an eyelid at scaling mountains and walls, or charging through the forests with her horse, and is a formidable archer to boot. Doted, she finds her birthright stifling, and most of the first act sees her self-sabotage at a Games conducted to find her a beau from three clans. This is natural avenue for comedy to happen given the varied abilities of her suitors, and the family background they come from.

But the distinction in Brave, comes from the mother-daughter tussle, with both sides failing to appeal to the other to listen. In a rebellious response, Merida runs away from home, only to encounter the Witch (Julie Walters), whose help Merida enlists to conjure a magic cake in order to change her mom's attitude, but this of course presents something quite expected given the blatant clues left lying around. It's a classic tale of being careful with what you wish for, and then the tale of regret in desire a revert to what once was. It's not going to be easy, and with help from her triplet brothers (who inevitably are primed to steal the show, with spin off potential at the side), Merida has to make things right before the deadline of two sunrises.

As always, Pixar's animation quality is impeccable, and the studio seemed to have cracked one of the holy grails in how vivid one can make a character's hair appear to be. This is no Tangled, and throughout the film you can really sense how Merida's bright red hair would have felt, with the action scenes providing much of a challenge for air, erm, hair flow, and you'd really be convince it's probably real hair up there on screen. The animals in the film, from horses to bears, are also very well detailed, and it's as close to what one would expect from the animal kingdom as possible. Like most animated films from Disney and Pixar, Brave also had some relatively off moments in its comical scenarios, given that for the most parts it's fairly dark in mood, with scenes that deal with the occult and magical beings.

What I had enjoyed about the film, is how simple it took the notion of things happening for a reason, and made it a critical emotional punch. It boiled down to having a solid story and crafting characters whom you will care for, or grow to care about. And if you'd take a step back, you'd also probably realize that the magic cake did really make Merida's wish come true, albeit in a very roundabout fashion. Things may not seem like they are in effect at the time, but usually with the benefit of hindsight, you'd come to appreciate why certain things happened in a certain way to ultimately achieve the results one desires. The witch had her chance for redemption, given an earlier and grave mistake made that had effected a lower profile of a wood cover, and took it well, confident enough not to warrant any follow up scenes, except perhaps to fulfill a promise shown at the stinger at the end of credits.

Merida, without a doubt, joins the ranks of the other classical Disney Princesses. Highly recommended! {I relate to her on a personal level; specifically with the mother-daughter relationship issues and not fitting into the norm, not what a natural princess is like - more of a Tomboy}.

Like all Pixar feature films, I'd always look forward to the short film that precedes the main feature proper, and the tale here, La Luna, deals with a little boy's ingenuity, in a fantasy tale about how the Moon can change its look, thanks to a three-generation family of grandfather- father-son who have this thankless task of sweeping up reflective stars from the surface of the moon. Beneath the cute looking facades of the characters - the father with a bushy moustache and the grandfather with an incredibly long beard - this short film tells about how one finally becomes one's own man, with some support given from one's kin. Again this shows off Pixar's storytelling ability in making a touching film, sans spoken dialogue. Absolutely beautiful. 10/10!!!