Lesser work from Pixar, but that does not make it a lesser of a movie

Rating: 7/10 (9 December 2012)

There is a certain likability and pleasantness within the first few minutes of the movie and the same neither elevates nor diminishes for the rest of the runtime. May not be on par with other greater Pixar works but still had enough juice to hold on its own. There are a lot of father-son, father-daughter bonding movies but hardly any mother-daughter ones at least as a central plot which adds to its freshness. Pixar's tried and tested and never out-of-fashion formula is applied to the full extent and it works great too.
Merida (voice by Kelly Macdonald) is a first born daughter to the king of a warrior clan who is prepared her entire life by her mother (voice by Emma Thompson) to be a courteous princess. Merida's exposure and incredible skill with archery, adventurous mindset and a lack of heed for the customs and traditions leads her to go against her mother when the time comes to choose her a groom. She approaches a witch to change her mother in turn her fate which results in a serious complication. With time running out, she learns an important lesson that also changes the fate of their kingdom.
There are a lot of inspirations drawn from other successful non-Pixar movies like 'How to train your Dragon', 'Shrek' and 'Madagascar' which is unlike Pixar as they have been the trend-setters of animation so far. The sweet Scottish accent used by most characters especially the mother-daughter duo works beautifully. The animation though wonderfully presented, does not have enough innovation. Pixar got its basics right as the movie is consistently funny and touching.
Lesser work from Pixar, but that does not make it a lesser of a movie