Another Bratty Ginger Princess..

Rating: 1/10 (13 May 2013)

The first time I saw the trailer for Brave I thought OH WOW THIS ACTUALLY LOOKS GOOD! The whole plot of a princess who doesn't want to get married seemed really cool. Merida, The fresh new warrior princess defying tradition.. I guess I over hyped it for myself.
The beginning looked great! Everything looked so real I thought I was watching live action. The music is very beautiful and melodic. The movies female protagonist is princess Merida. A flame haired tomboy who is a skilled archer and loves riding her horse Angus. She spends most of her time at home fussing with her mother the queen Elinors strict commands on how to be a proper princess. I didn't have a problem with this, Elinor is just trying to be a good mother and teach her daughter how to do things the right way for her own good and wellbeing. Of course Merida isn't OK with these rules of being a princess. So Merida and Elinor spend most of there time arguing with each other. But this isn't the case through Meridas eyes. Elinor informs her that she is to be betrothed to one of her father's allied clans sons. Merida doesn't like this idea of getting married to anybody and at her young age. So she throws the biggest fits from here on out. (Through out the rest of the whole film.) If I was going to be put through arranged marriage at my age, I would have a fit too. But Merida is a princess of the 10th century Scotland world. Her marriage is only for the sake of peace for her country. She could still shoot her arrows after shes married.. or maybe not. Things get even more sour when Merida yells off at her mom screaming '' I would rather die then be like you!'' and runs away for an hour. Everything is easily fixed with magic, so she goes to a witch to try and change her fate. Well this is were I get a little confused and even sick to the stomach. She basically asks the witch for a spell to CHANGE HER MOM. I thought '' woahhh what now?'' is this suppose to be the bravery we are about to see? Sp instead of just maybe wishing for a different fate and then all hell breaks loose.. she specifically asks that her mother be changed. Not even Ariel from the little mermaid asked that lol.( She had the bravery to actually switch out her tail fin not change her dad.) Am I really the ONLY daughter in the whole wide world who got sick at this? Merida gives her mom a CURSED CAKE and watches her mom get SICK, and all Merida is saying ' YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND YET MOMMY''?! Elinor gets ill and sick from the cursed cake while her heartless daughter practically gets high hopes off of this. Elinor then turns into a bear and the rest of the movie is about how cool Merida is trying to own up to her lil mistake. And everybody is OK with that. Merida doesn't really do, change, or mature into anyone. Its mostly her mother that does the changing. Well she changes her opinion on her daughter getting married and lets her off the leash. Which would have been nice... if she wasn't practically cursed in the process to learn her lesson on how to be a better mom. Merida and Elinor grow a closer bond with each other while Elinor being a bear and all, Merida even teaches her mom how to catch fish. The ending of the movie is just '' you gotta be brave enough to change your fate-destiny-mom' or something like that. At least Mulan was able to find a way to honor her family and find her true self. Pocahontas chose her people over running off with John smith. Merida... continues riding her horse and now has a great relationship with her mom. They even make a new tapestry together with Elinor being the bear...
It would have been slightly better if the movie explained how being a housewife isn't the most horrible thing that can happen to a woman, but that not all girls should be that way either. And that whenever we have a problem with our mothers we should fix our moms. That doesn't come off as an independent brave princess to me. Sure Ariel runs away from home to go on land, but at least she didn't complain as much and just did what she wanted to do.
I'm a teen who would rather just be rebellious on my own lil terms then ever consider changing my moms opinions. But I guess that's just me. (A more lengthy review of this movie can be read on amazon with my screen name WarriorQueen under 2 star rating)