What’s Hot at the Box

 

Is It Worth Your Time?

Yes. Brave is another great movie from Pixar.

 

What Should I Watch it On?

Brave should be watched on Blu-Ray. There’s a lot of gorgeous detail that you won’t want to miss.

 

What Did You Think Without Spoiling It?

Brave is a fun and moving tale that fits right in with all of Pixar’s other movies. The landscape is stunning and the main character is a lot of fun.

 

Why It Works

It’s pretty obvious that the people who created Brave really put in a lot of time to recreate the gorgeous Scottish landscape. In the special features you get to see the animators and designers explore and really come to love the people and amazing scenery. This is really reflected in the movie. As with all Pixar movies, there’s always a lesson and moral that the protagonist realizes by the end. Even though you know how the movie is going to end, you can’t help but enjoy the journey that Merida goes through. While she’s not ready to be a Queen just yet, by the end of the movie Merida is definitely more than just a hot-blooded teenager. It’s nice to see this character progression, especially when so many movies nowadays have rather flat characters. All of the characters have their own personality and quirks, even those that aren’t on screen for that long. You really get invested in this world and characters.

There’s also plenty of action here with some excellent chase scenes, fights and archery action. The realism of the Mor’du might scare some of they younger children so this movie might be more suited for children 5 and up.

No Like?

While Brave is enjoyable, it’s certainly not a groundbreaking movie like some of Pixar’s other movies (like Wall-E). The message, strengthening family bonds, is certainly important though the action to repair the relationship is very extreme. It might end up giving kids the wrong message at the end of the day (hey, mom and I aren’t getting along. I should feed her a poisoned cake).

In Closing

Overall, Brave is a good film for the family, especially for families that might have a headstrong tween daughter. It teaches the importance of communication and understanding, although the methods to achieve this end result is extreme. I enjoyed the movie and the special features made me want to go to Scotland.

 

Agree? Disagree? Write your comments below.

 

Basic Info

• $1.69 rental at Redbox
• Actors:  Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson
• Run-time: 93 minutes
• $24.96 for Blu-Ray
• Rated – PG