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Brave, Movie

Brave 2012

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Change your fate.

Disney and Pixar's Academy Award-winning animated adventure about Merida (voiced by Kelly McDonald), a Scottish princess who confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasties. A skilled archer and the spirited daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), Merida is determined to follow her own path. More

She defies an age-old custom to marry the sons of the land’s lords: massive MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane). But this inadvertently unleashes chaos and fury in the kingdom, forcing Merida to undo a beastly curse before it's too late. Hide

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325 votes / 61 comments The Talk

  • 83 %

    Want to See it

    What say you?

    • preety

      woooooooooooo ohhhhhhhh wow looks gooood :) is that gerald butler in the back ground lol

    • LuvMovies

      Interesting, another great Pixar film

    • Jofish

      Dibs on the ranga =D

    • clararar

      Looks more promising than Cars 2, that's for sure! Also liking the accent :)

    • Mark

      Another brain-dead action movie that I hope to enjoy! :)

    • Grace

      IRISH ACCENT! i love irish accents, their so hot! also the movie looks interesting

    • Doug

      It's a Scottish accent actually. And it looks awesome.

    • Mirage

      super excited, looks amazing

    • Stu

      Looks good and from the Disney Studios as well!

    • Anna

      Looks well good!

    • KatieF

      really want to see this one. Pixar is the best!

    • Matt

      Pixar = WIN. Every time, ALL THE TIME.

    • phil

      aye, i would

    • TRISTAN

      I LOVE ME..hahahaha

    • Georgia

      amazing cast - love the read hair :) added to the never ending list of movies to see inn 2012

    • Allestra

      Can't wait to see this, looks really amazing!!

    • Redrooster

      WOW now thats CGI at the MAX just love the look of this movie and its Tale

    • Lazza

      Looks awesome! Really looking forward to seeing this! (and the kids can come too!)

    • alibalibee

      billy connelly! cant be anyone else! and love that scottish accent

    • RexH

      See... This is the kind of storytelling that makes stuff like Ghost Rider suck!

    • Mike

      Just gorgeous - Pixar at it's best - can't wait to see it on the big screen!!

    • mel

      wow.

    • win

      looks like a great movie

    • Sione

      Looks Amazing .... I hope my Daughter likes it so i can have an excuse to go watch it. :D

    • Glen

      Och! I canee wait ta seee it. So much ginger though. Such as life.

    • Billy

      Och aye, shes a canny wee lass!

    • KatieF

      So looking forward to this! Love Pixar!

    • MovieGirl

      I could listen to Kelly McDonald all day. Other voice talent icing on the cake. Roll on, June 21.

    • larissa

      i really want to see this! looks good!

    • omfgfemnisum

      see unlike disney,pixars women characters kick ass without the need of a prince!

    • Sarah

      This looks seriously cool! I love Pixar films, they are always quality!

    • David

      OMG its Rebecca Brooks!

    • Clev

      Is this a copy of Jane and the Dragon

    • Keilini

      I really love your movie are there any more coming in.

    • alex

      awsome

    • alexi

      popopopopopopopopopopopopopo

    • alpexio

      popopopopo

    • sapphire

      heey

    • sapphire

      i really love yo mvies beta thn evnyotha 1

    • reetz

      I'm a adult, but a love cartoon moveies, more realistick. deff gona c this tomorrow.

    • reetz

      Went to c this yesterday, What a awesome movie, u just got to c this. and everyone that was in there were adults. lol

    • jessie

      how much for a ticket?

    • reetz

      awwwwe man, this was the bomb to watch, trust me go c it. there was 20 off us adults, no children. a must. A all emotion showing movie.

    • who am i

      how much is it to watch for 2 at cinema

    • hello

      good movie

    • guy

      awsome movie, go see it !!!!

    • Langee

      loved the accent. very cute and awesome to see women take part in being a hero:)

    • Destiny

      LOVE THE ACCENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • Noah

      really wanna c it!

    • sarah

      wanna see it going to see it 2 nite

    • liva

      really want to see but I hope that it's cheap for students!

    • bobby

      looks really awesome

    • Tylah

      Looks so cool dum I can't see

    • Tylah

      Looks so funny

    • jade

      it looks funny :|

    • thatRattylook

      Cool movie

    • luke

      sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo coooooooooool

    • romy

      lets be brave

    • Somebody

      I am idhruihnnnvsibrhiuenb e hehehehehehe

  • CARE TO COMMENT?

    Want to see it?

 

Flicks.co.nz Review

Rating:

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

  • Mary

    Wank wank.

  • Steve

    I got bored reading this. Its a kids movie, right? Stop psychoanalysing, start enjoying.

  • Sam

    Lets have a review from a group of appropriately-aged children, please! Not a beer-swigging bore. Cars 2 was great!

  • Kelly

    What a stupid review for a kids movie. Totally agree with the other comments here. Use a parent /adult who understands what CHILDREN want!

  • Sandra

    Perhaps you should limit your reviews to movies. Rated M.

  • Fred

    Quit YAP-ping Aaron.

  • sophie

    wank wank

  • zac

    what the heck is up with that review

comment / reply
Aaron Yap Flicks Writer

Brave won’t go down as one of the great Pixar films - it conspicuously lacks the innovative wonder of Wall-E or Up - but after the colossal misstep that was Cars 2 last year, it finds the studio back on steady, if not exactly earth-shattering ground. More

For Pixar, the film’s biggest claim to some sort of 'leap forward' perhaps begins and ends with Merida (Kelly McDonald), the first lead female protagonist in their catalogue. She’s one of their strongest and feistiest, a plucky, tomboyish, bow-wielding princess who’s trying to defy 10th Century Scottish traditions by refusing her parents’ wish to marry her off to one of the sons of the three lords that rule the kingdom.

A little disappointingly, while its feminist themes and emotional mother-daughter bond provide sturdy storytelling anchors, Brave is more straightforward than one would expect from Pixar, the scope of the narrative rather limited considering the epic, inherently mythic feel of its period and environment.

The body-swapping slapstick that occurs after Merida’s encounter with a witch (Julie Walters) gives the film its flashes of inspired comic genius (the brothers fooling King Fergus by using a chicken roast to produce bear silhouettes is just perfect), and on a technical level, it’s difficult to fault. The action sequences dash and glide elegantly, the radiant bounce of Merida’s crimson curls rivals Disney’s work on Rapunzel’s flowing golden locks in Tangled (which this film plays like a darker cousin of) and the bear designs manage to straddle the line between fearsome realism and cartoony anthropomorphism. It must be said that though, Brave’s proportionally exaggerated Don Martin-esque male characters aren’t my favourite things Pixar has ever done.

Strangely, nothing in Brave comes close to matching the stunningly imaginative and heart-filling opening short film La Luna. Hide

The People's Reviews

Rating:

5 ratings and 6 reviews

All reviews (6)

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

  • Steve

    You can't call it great then give it three stars without explaining why. This review left me confused.

comment / reply

great fun

PhilMoore Flicks Superstar (?)

This is a great film for the family about a scottish princess that wants to be her own person and go around the land shooting arrows at nature. Her mother wants her to get married. There is a fight between the two and the scottish princess has to pick her suitor. This is another great film from Pixar and i do recommend it.

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

  • You're hot

    You wanna see feisty, bad boy ;)

comment / reply

A Must See For All

GrahamP Flicks Superstar (?)

This is a very enjoyable movie about a feisty redhead growing up and wanting her own life.The voicing fit the characters perfectly and it all works so that you are swept along with the story.
There are a few scary images in the film when the very young might close their eyes but it will be enjoyed by both the kids and the adults.
Great fun with never a dull moment.

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

comment / reply

Brave

Smilie52 Nobody (?)

Very good movie. The nature scenes looked real i.e. rivers, grass and rocks. I'd recommend it.

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

comment / reply

Hot like a fiery redhead

Tracey-Lee Wannabe (?)

It was refreshing to see an animation with a female heroine with courage and heart. The Highland drawl and Scottish setting adds another cultural dimension to the Pixar films of past.

A thoroughly enjoyable movie that the kids loved, as well as the adults.

Definitely a successful arrow in the bow in my eyes - a hot flick!

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

comment / reply

Brave and Touching

BjPartridge B-Grader (?)

Brave is the latest film from the already legendary Pixar animation factory. However it breaks from the Pixar tradition in that it is about a Princess. Princesses have been the exclusive domain of standard Disney animation, and what a history they have had. With films such as Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and the Little Mermaid, there has nary been a bad film amongst them. However they all had an extremely similar formula, with the lead princess longing for a Prince Charming as if their life was defined by finding a male to look after them. Brave breaks this mould. The feisty Merida is not seeking a husband, quite the opposite in fact; she is a strong girl, who wants to find her own place in the world.
Brave is set in the Scotland during medieval times. Merida is the firstborn daughter of King Fergus and she has three rascally brothers. As the firstborn daughter, Merida has a lot of expectations placed upon her, not the least of which is to act like a lady. Ever since she has been a child Fergus has not discouraged her love of action and archery. So much so in fact that she is now an excellent marksman. Merida's mother Elinor is dismayed by this unladylike behavior and spends much time trying to rid this tomboyish behavior out of her.
However the time has come for the firstborn sons from the other tribes to come forth and stake their claim to Meridas hand. These suitors are all inadequate though (seemingly) ranging from the idiotic through to the inept. Fortunately there has to be a challenge in order to win our fair princesses hand. Predictably Merida chooses archery to be the challenge and much to her mother's disdain embarrasses her and the suitors by winning the challenge and trying to claim her own hand in marriage.
This sets forth a terrible conflict between Merida and Elinor, culminating with Merida running off and seeking to change her destiny. She finds herself lead to the cottage of a witch/woodcarver who is far too obsessed with bears. After gaining the potion from the Witch she returns home and gives it to her mother (under the illusion that it would change her mind), but fate has a different idea and transforms Elinor into a bear, a bear which is still the Queen. This leads to a great amount of comic relief, with Elinor trying to come to terms with her new bearish existence and her wish to be as ladylike as possible.
It is in dynamic that the film finds its soul. The gradual bonding of mother and daughter is heartwarming and although the film does have a "message" it is not heavy handed and is written with a deft touch.
The voiceover work from everyone is excellent; it is refreshing to hear some genuine accents for a change rather than made up brogues. Kelly Macdonald is charming and full of spunk as Merida, while Billy Connelly is his ever entertaining self. As has become standard with films from Pixar the animation is excellent with tremendous detail in every shot, from the Scottish Highlands through to the wonderful curls in the hair of Merida and her brothers. Watching it from a technical viewpoint the achievement involved here is staggering.
The film itself is well worth watching with more than enough in it for adults as well as for children. It is entertaining with a touching story at its heart. I hope that Pixar keeps generating more original material such as this rather than sequelising those stories already told. I wholeheartedly recommend this to every lover of film, especially to those who have ever been a daughter.
The version I saw was the standard version as opposed to 3D.
Preceding the film was a wonderful short called La Luna, which in itself was worth the price of admission.

  • AGREE? DISAGREE?...

comment / reply

Stop the presses, girls can do archery too

Sarah-Tennant Wannabe (?)

I wanted to love this. Scottish accents! Directed by a woman! First female Pixar protagonist! Princess without a love interest!

The "progressiveness" hype reminded me a little of the "first Black princess" hype surrounding The Princess and the Frog. Unfortunately, while TPATF managed to stand on purely artistic merits - great songs, fantastic voice cast, ripping storyline, great banter - Brave's political correctness just made the film seem didactic and clunky.

The problem is, a feisty princess who doesn't want to do what she's told is hardly new. Back in the dark days of unenlightened Disney, Jasmine didn't want to be married off for political reasons; Ariel wanted to be free to live her own life; and both of them, in their own ways, found royal life constricting.

Now, personality-wise, I happen to find Merida far more likeable than Jasmine or Ariel; but story-wise, her plight comes across as far more cliched and heavy-handed. Princesses have their hair brushed painfully! Princesses wear tight clothes! Princesses have to be graceful! We get it. It's not new.

The odd thing is, Pixar seemed to be aware of this - it was lampshaded when Merida's father, pretending to be her, made a hilarious falsetto speech about wanting to ride free with her hair blowing in the wind, shooting arrows off into the sunset. So why did they let the clunky dialogue pass?

Other underwhelming features of the movie included the humour, the encounter with the witch (jarringly out-of-place; its allusions to modern technology belong in a Shrek movie, not the dark, mythic world that was most of the movie), and the triplets.

That said, Brave had its high points. The animation was incredible (Merida's HAIR!) - from the trailer I was worried it would look too similar to How To Train Your Dragon, but it was head and shoulders above it in terms of detail and lushness. The designs of the tapestries, clothes and castle were nice. The will'o'the'wisps, despite looking very much like luminescent jellyfish, were pleasingly eerie. The gentle, character-based humour of Merida's mother struggling against her newly feral personality worked well (in contrast to the potty-humour of the male characters); and the subtlety of Mordu's involvement was nicely done. Also, while the songs didn't impress me much during the movie, they've grown on me since - "Into the Open Air" is a particularly nice little piece.

So no, I didn't hate it. It was telling to hear my daughter puzzling over who Merida married (because that's what princesses do, right?!), and asking why she didn't wear trousers; so perhaps it was more mind-blowing to a four-year-old than to me. And that's fair enough. But it's a shame Brave didn't knock both of our socks off, like The Incredibles and Up - both of which films managed to portray strong female characters without coming across like an undergrad Gender Studies project.

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Press Reviews

AV Club (USA)

At its best, Brave accesses all the complicated feelings involved between a parent and a rebellious adolescent. Full review.

Boxoffice Magazine

There's no denying the film's refrain that legends are lessons, but Brave is sadly remedial. Full review.

Hollywood Reporter

Pixar's 13th feature plays it safe and old-fashioned rather than risky and adventurous. Full review.

New York Magazine

In addition to being fast, funny, and unpretentious, Brave is a happy antidote to all the recent films in which women triumph by besting men at their own macho games... Full review.

Time Out New York

This isn't the NASCAR-fellating cash grab that is the Cars franchise, but it's still Pixar on preachy autopilot. Full review.

Variety (USA)

Brave 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. Full review.

Village Voice

The animation studio's first film with a female protagonist, a defiant lass who acts as a much-welcome corrective to retrograde Disney heroines of the past and the company's unstoppable pink-princess merchandising. Full review.