Movie Review: "Brave"/Disney-Pixar/100 min./Rated PG

When Disney bought Pixar Animation Studios in January of 2006 for a staggering $7.4 billion, much was made about the potential Disney-fication of Pixar's unique storytelling style. Those concerns were echoed in the summer of that year when "Cars" was released to huge profits and the worst critical response to any Pixar film to that point.  Of course, Pixar blew the pundits out of the water with their next string of films. "Ratatouille", "WALL-E", "Up" and "Toy Story 3" were each the most critically acclaimed film of their year and are among the most acclaimed movies of all-time. In fact, their rapturous reception by critics was one of the reasons that the Motion Picture Academy expanded the number of Best Picture nominees to ten (along with the continued Academy neglect of other pop hits like "The Dark Knight").

Last year things got iffy for Pixar with the release of "Cars 2". I honestly think that "Cars 2" is an entertaining movie, but the single element that it is most lacking is passion. Every other Pixar film is born out of a truly unique idea, spurred on by the passion of the filmmaker. "Cars 2" genuinely seems born out of corporate greed and, while I think Pixar did an admirable job of trying to make something out of it, it still ranks as their weakest film, creatively and commercially (not counting the billions it made from toys).

So, now Pixar releases "Brave", their first non-sequel in three years. It's also their first film directed by a woman (story-writer and co-director Brenda Chapman) and featuring a female central protagonist, which is all the better for the company. In fact, making a big budget computer-animated film that is a tribute to the mother/daughter relationship is borderline revolutionary in this boy-centric art form and very much in keeping with Pixar's M.O. They're risk takers. They're the one's that made a worldwide box-office smash out of a story about a rat obsessed with French cooking for heaven's sake! It only makes sense that they would see the need for this kind of a story. As long of the movie sticks to the family relationships, "Brave" is stellar.

It starts off startlingly well, with scenes that take the traditional fairy-tale elements of the story and infuse them with trademark Pixarian humor, rhythm and heart. It doesn't feel like any Princess movie you've ever seen before. The central protagonist, Merida (voice of Kelly McDonald), is a head-strong teenager who's never happier than when she can ride through the woods on her loyal horse, firing arrows into pre-placed targets on her way. Her "non-feminine" interests confuse and worry her mother (voiced by Emma Thompson), who sees it as her job to raise the perfect Princess and is thwarted at every turn by her wild-haired daughter. (Merida's hair is not only symbolic of her wild nature, but it is almost a character in itself) I want to leave the plot elements unspoiled, but this is a fairy tale, so it's not spoiler-y to say that there's a magic spell and a frantic race to set things right, but the plot is, as Roger Ebert once said, the percussion, not the melody. The plot is a means to telling the story, but point of the story is held in the relationship between Merida and her mother. Both are convinced that they could explain their view point if the other person would just listen, unfortunately, they're both too focused on that to ever listen to each other. That is until the situations force them to listen.

As I mentioned previously, when the focus is on this relationship, "Brave" is delightful. It's that central relationship that inspired Chapman when she wrote the story. However, part of the way into the production of "Brave", Chapman was replaced as director (she's credited as co-director on the final film) by Mark Andrews. Unlike other director replacements in Pixar's films (it's a more common occurrence than you'd think), this one seemed to be for commercial, rather than creative reasons. There have been reports that Andrews was brought in to make it more appealing to boys and to beef up the comedy. Unfortunately, when the humor goes crude and/or unoriginal, the magic of the central relationship is lost. For me, it's these moments that keep it from being counted among Pixar's best films, although it's a wonderful step up from the soulless, though entertaining, "Cars 2".

The animation in "Brave" is nothing short of amazing. The lushness of the Scottish highlands, the richness of the character animation, the wild beauty of Merida's aforementioned mane, it's all wonderful eye-candy. The musical score by Patrick Doyle has some lovely Scottish-themed flourishes and the voice-over work is universally excellent (Billy Connolly as King Fergus does a particularly hilarious impersonation of his teenage daughter)

 All told, "Brave" is definitely worth the price of admission and is a movie that children will love. It's wonderful to have a big-budget film sincerely address the tender and deep emotions associated with the mother/daughter relationship, I just wish the screenwriters and filmmakers would have had the courage to let that relationship inform all of the humor without letting more "hip" jabs a humor sneak in to the texture.

By the way, if you have very young children, be aware that there are moments of intense animal attacks, comparable to the Barracuda attack in "Finding Nemo". Plus, the crude moments of humor that I mentioned include some animated backsides played up for laughs and a rather surprising close up of a buxom woman's chest. These moments are short and certainly not telling of the general tone of the movie, but you should know they're there.

Also, get to the theater on time because the animated short, "La Luna", which shows before "Brave" is quite simply one of the most beautiful pieces of animation ever made. It's warm, surprising, creative and moving. In other words, it's vintage Pixar.

Overall grade for "Brave" - B+ / for "La Luna" - A+