We’re ranking the films of Pixar Studios, leading up to the release of Inside Out.
Brave
Directed: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell
Writers: Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews, et al.
It pains me to put Brave at 11 on this list because I love this film. In some respects, Brave is a superior piece of storytelling to Up, Wall-E and Finding Nemo, all of which will be ranked higher. Where those films all struggle to achieve the promise of their first acts, Brave builds as its story unfolds. It’s not groundbreaking, but the lively story-telling and spirit of self-determination that mark the film are high-level successes.
What brings Brave down the list its complicated relationship with the the Disney Princess tradition. While Merida may be the best of the modern Disney Princess movies (and I believe that’s true), even one as terrifically weird as Brave, she’s still stuck in a Princess picture.
Brave is a fairytale story about a Scottish princess who longs for adventure beyond the bounds her duty affords. Merida is an expert archer and equestrian, better than the suitors who come to win her hand in a marriage arranged at the hands of her mother. To avoid this fate, she visits a witch and buys a spell meant to change her mother’s mind.
Instead, it turns her into a bear. Merida must protect her bear-mother from her king-father, a legendary bear-slayer, while trying to figure out a way to turn her mother back into a human before the change becomes permanent. Put another way: Brave is a movie about a young girl trying to protect her mother from being killed by her father.
Brave could be read as a film about regretting bad decisions (Merida, her mother and her father each have painful moments of regret), and in the course of a movie about parents and children, Brave mines real emotional depth in the hardship of being both a parent and a child.
But if there’s a reason to love Brave, it is in the visual mastery of the picture. Merida’s manner and spirit are matched by the wildness of her wavy, glorious red mane of hair. That head of hair is worth a viewing alone. The boldness of red that is applied to a mostly grey, black, and green movie is Pixar animation delight.
The magical elements of the film are rendered in the beautifully simple style of, say, Hayao Miyazaki. The wisps of light which lead Merdia through the forest to the witch’s hut, for example, are just detailed enough to give them life, but just unclear enough to provide mystery. And the scares that come while traveling with / hunting bears are mostly revealed on-screen, and terrifying.
The story of Merida and her mother is given full, if at times uneven, treatment, but unfortunately, what surrounds them is a little too familiar. The slapstick comedy of Merida’s brothers and father doesn’t serve the larger, darker (at times really dark) tone of the film’s central story.
Again, that is a Pixar problem, one that comes with making textured, idea-driven family entertainment. Brave could have cleared that hurdle by committing to its more dramatic and scary themes, but doing so would have made this an entirely different affair. Instead, as the first Pixar film about (and directed by) a woman, Brave does itself well by providing a heroine that stands out from the pack. Even if the movie itself does not escape that Disney feel.
Merida is a special character for Disney. She’s a Princess, but in name only. She never shows an inclination to romance, bristling at the concept of marriage, not the suitors. And, in truly controversial fashion, after reconciling with her mother, there is no sign that Merida will marry to fulfill her princess duties. She is not Ariel or Jasmine, turning towards romance when the right man arrives. The relationship that defines Brave‘s conclusion is that of Merida and her mother, and the future the film envisions is one of family, not romantic, happiness.
Best Parental Remonstration: “A princess does not place her weapons on the table.”
Best Line, self-determination category: “I am Merida, and I’ll be shooting for my own hand.”
Most Inspired Visual Moment: The transition of the chess-pieces into animated figures acting out a story of the past. Stunning, Pixar.
Best meta-Joke: Lord Macintosh. Apple was vital to the creation of Pixar, and Brave is dedicated to Steve Jobs.
Most Fortuitious Production Problem: Merida was originally to be voiced by Reese Witherspoon, who could not participate due to scheduling conflicts. The part was instead voiced by Scottish actress Kelly MacDonald.
Trivial trivia: Merida is Hebrew for “to rebel.”
Ratzenberger:
Best Animated Feature: Winner. It beat ParaNorman. An animated children’s horror film about bullying that deserves your appreciation.
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