Another fine movie by Pixar

Rating: Null/10 (16 October 2012)

Pixar's thirteenth movie and the first one with a female protagonist. And naturally there have been loud and prolonged arguments about the pros and cons of this said character, Merida (Kelly Macdonald). Whether she is a much needed breath of fresh air, a female that can stand on her own feet, or whether she's just as clichéd as the rest of the so-called strong independent woman wannabes and a whiny kid unable to accept responsibility to boot.
I thought she worked marvelously. She is independent and very headstrong, but she doesn't fall to the usual clichés at all or if she does, she reinvents them and makes them feel unique to her. One of the great things about her is that she doesn't try to rebel against her gender, like so many lesser versions of her archetype. She is a tomboy, sure, but her rebellion is only against the role of her gender in her society. She doesn't wish to be a man in a man's world. She just wants to live her life as she wants, while still being a woman. A very small, but important difference and one that made her feel real.
Furthermore, the characters overall are the real strength of this film, as is usual for Pixar. Not every one of them work as intended, though. I, for one, thought that Merida's younger brothers, the triplets, were an unnecessary distraction. They were the constant source of comic relief, and admittedly they made me chuckle a few times, but they were a tad overused. But fortunately the rest of the characters more than made up for them, being memorable, diverse, funny and identifiable. Special mention goes to Merida's dad, King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who's easily the most likable character in the movie and the source of best jokes.
The film also looks great. The whole animation system of Pixar was rewritten for the first time in 25 years and it shows. The improvement is not mind-blowing, but it's noticeable. The small details, the smoothness of movement, the landscapes, they all look great and I couldn't have been happier. The score is also very decent and the voice acting is one of the strongest aspects of the film. How can you not love these Scottish accents. Unfortunately I had to see the film in 3D, and it didn't add anything. Complete waste of my money, that.
On the downside, the story isn't all that great. It's not bad, really, but it doesn't reach that bar that Pixat has previously set for its films. The plot has some new and interesting things in it, and I liked how the invert some of the usual clichés completely, but then they proceed to play some of the worst ones completely straight, which just makes me seethe in disappointment. And it's not like a film cannot use clichés in order to be good, far from it, but it shouldn't be too predictable, and that's what this movie is. The moment a new plot point was introduced, I could tell how it'd play out. And I was correct most of the time. The ending had a nice twist, but that's about it.
Story-wise this movie felt more like a Disney production, and not in a good way. It had song sequences, it had fairy tale elements, it had the children against parents kind of thing going on, it had a moral lesson to be learned... It just didn't feel like Pixar.
That being said, it's still a good film. It's not great, like so many other Pixar films, but that doesn't prevent it from being very, very good. It has great humour, it has great characters, it has great animation, it's just the story that's a bit subpar.