“Brave” – It’s also about heart [MOVIE REVIEW]
(L-R) LORD MACINTOSH and his son, YOUNG MACINTOSH; MERIDA, WEE DINGWALL and his father, LORD DINGWALL; LORD MacGUFFIN and his son, YOUNG MacGUFFIN; QUEEN ELINOR and KING FERGUS. ©2011 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
“Brave,” from Disney Pixar, is a folktale made from whole cloth and tartan all the way. Creating its own mythology, “Brave” tells the tale of Merida, the headstrong daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor of a Scotland still dominated by will-o-the-wisps, witches, war lords and fierce creatures. Merida, an adolescent beauty with a temperament as wild as her riotous red hair, rides like the wind and is a bowman of uncanny skill. When informed by her mother that the lords of the neighboring clans have been invited to a celebration where their sons will compete for her hand, Merida is outraged. She is even more appalled when confronted by her would-be suitors – the enormous incomprehensible Young MacGuffin (pun surely intended); Wee Dingwall, the 13th Century equivalent of a nerd; and Young Macintosh, pubescent to his very core in his swagger and lack of coordination. Determined to define her own fate, Merida shows them up and then disappears into the woods to contemplate what she considers her mother’s lack of understanding. How, asks Merida, can she change her fate and subvert her mother? The answer lies within the dark forbidding woods, following a path created by the will-o-the-wisps, to the cottage of a wood-carving witch and her magic potion – a potion guaranteed to change her fate and that of her mother.
But nothing comes without consequence and, as Merida soon discovers, some consequences can be too horrible to imagine. Merida must find a way to undue the curse and rescue her mother from an oncoming fate worse than death.
More action adventure than fairy tale, Merida is brave in the traditional sense, outstripping the boys at every turn. But “Brave” isn’t so much about a show of strength as it is about a show of heart because Merida bubbles over with strength but it is her journey to save her mother from a fate determined by Merida’s own selfishness that eventually opens her heart and soul.
Fearsome bears, magical creatures, witches and stunning land and seascapes are much in evidence, along with a score that drew from Highland dances and Scottish airs. All contribute to the feeling of folk authenticity. But the cake and icing are the actors lending their voices to the marvelous characters that populate this film. Led by Kelly Macdonald as Merida and Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson as her parents, the enormous King Fergus, one-legged thanks to a monstrous bear who, like the croc in Peter Pan, has acquired an insatiable taste for the other leg, and Queen Elinor, “Brave” is brought further to life. In hilarious over-the-top support you will hear Kevin McKidd as both Lord and Young MacGuffin, Robbie Coltrane as Lord Dingwall, and Craig Ferguson as Lord Macintosh, with Julie Walters as the crafty, absentminded witch.
Animated stunningly in astonishing 3D, it would seem as though the medium was created especially by and for Pixar. Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman from a wonderful original story by Chapman, the screenplay was written by Andrews, Steve Purcell and Chapman & Irene Mecchi, a writer not unfamiliar with creating folk mythology—she was one of the original screenwriters of “The Lion King.” What a difference a great script makes, even in animation, a form usually dominated by storyboards more than language.
And in a throw-back to the days when features were preceded by cartoons, this animated feature is preceded by the charming Oscar-nominated Pixar animated short titled “La Luna.”
Opening wide on Friday, June 22. PG, although may be a tad graphic for those on the younger side of the PG. Don’t miss it.
Neely is a television production executive who also writes a blog about writers in television and film at www.nomeanerplace.com.