Brave

Movie rating: 3 and half Star

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A Pixar movie that's more Disney that its predecessors, Brave is jaunty fun but it's some distance from the quality of Toy Story or Monsters Inc. It's still better than Cars and a lot better than Cars 2, however. That darned 3D makes some scenes extremely difficult to make out.

Be careful for what you wish for. Merida (MacDonald) is a feisty princess who prefers to be riding her horse into dark forests, skilfully picking off targets with her bow and arrow, much to her mother Elinor's (Thompson) disappointment, as this behaviour is not becoming of a princess. In a last effort to get her daughter in line, Elinor organises an archery tournament and invites the three biggest clans to compete for Merida's hand. An encounter with a witch (Walters) gives Merida a chance to duck out of this predicament: she wishes that her mother would change, and change she does into a bear! Now Merida has to keep mum hidden from dedicated bear-hunter Fergus (Connolly).

Watch: Brave

The story and the impressive animation (when you can see it - more of that in a minute) are bells and whistles to disguise what's really going on here: mum/daughter relations and the generational divide. Mum says 'Do as I say,' daughter says, 'Yiz haven't a clue,' and so on. How this is teased out – both parties must learn to listen to each other - is cute. It's not all verbal sparring, though. There's knockabout fun to be found with the feuding clans engaged in all-out war in the castle meeting hall; the blustery fathers that present their nerdy sons are a hoot.

Brave has the courage to sidestep elements synonymous with children's animation. Because none of the three suitors presented are eligible, the notion of a romantic subplot with a dashing prince isn’t entertained, which is fine - not every movie has to have one - but it could have added something to the straightforward story. The real downer, however, is that there's no villain meaty enough to keep the action ticking over. Writer-directors Andrews, Chapman and Purcell toss in an evil bear roaming the woods but it doesn't have a big enough part to play. Everything slows down in the middle because of this and you can only cut back to the warring families in the castle so many times to keep things upbeat.

All that would be forgivable if it wasn't for the blasted 3D. A lot of Brave's scenes take place in dark castle hallways or forests at night and the visuals are so diminished it's hard to make out the facial features. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Brave might not be one of Pixar's best but they're always worth a look, aren’t they? (All except Cars 2 that is.)

Review by Gavin Burke | 09:00 | Friday 3rd August 2012 | Movie Review

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Comments

• FrankRizzo

  I was at the premier also. I agree that it was too dark through the dark 3D glasses to decipher many details of many scenes. The storyline is a nice bridge between Disney fairytales and the freshness of Pixar. I love the strong feisty redheaded heroine and the Scottish setting. I'd give it four stars.

  Posted 22:33 | Mon 30th Jul 2012

• FilmBuff76

  I saw Brave in 2D and it looked fine to me. I wish cinemas would give 2D showings equal treatment with 3D. Not all of us want to pay extra to wear those silly glasses and watch a darkened image that doesn't do the film's look any favours. As for the film - it's not classic Pixar but it's decent enough.

  Posted 14:06 | Sat 4th Aug 2012

• Bryce

  I took my 9 and 5 year olds to this and it was really enjoyable. Forget the 3D version - 2D was great.

  Posted 15:06 | Tue 7th Aug 2012

• Sara

  Brought my nieces to this film and they loved it as did i, loved the character merida and the scenes were great 3 d was good but didnt need to see it in 3d!

  Posted 23:11 | Thu 9th Aug 2012

• DoubleLetter

  I seen this (Im a 21 year old male) and I really enjoyed it. The story isn't as epic as it could have been but its visually enjoyable and the character of Merida is fresh and interesting. Oh, and I always avoid 3D.

  Posted 13:10 | Fri 17th Aug 2012

• DoubleLetter

  I seen this (Im a 21 year old male) and I really enjoyed it. The story isn't as epic as it could have been but its visually enjoyable and the character of Merida is fresh and interesting. Oh, and I always avoid 3D.

  Posted 13:10 | Fri 17th Aug 2012

• CamB

  the animation in this film is amazing! but it wasnt as good as other pixars i agree with this review that it needed a better villian.. i also had serious hair envy!! enjoyed it great accents and good funny bits.. I did see it in 2D and it looked amazing.. hate this 3D craze!!

  Posted 11:36 | Thu 20th Sep 2012

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