Overestimated a bit but solid

Rating: 6/10 (9 February 2013)

Let us get it out of the way first: the animation looks awesome. The atmosphere, the design, the movements - it all looks great and it is a shame we do not see more of it.
The characters are also great at their base value - distinct, likable and cute.
A good foundation has been set However, the hype for Brave actually seems to have carried it higher then it would have flown otherwise, on its own wings.
In true 21st century fashion, the story concentrates around a teenager girl who is rebellious and stronger than her society sees her or wants her to be. Several chieftains' sons compete in a tournament with her marriage as prise but, as the trailers showed you, she enters the tournament to compete for her own hand. You know what, let us just write "feminist" on her back, put her in pants and call it a day.
Without giving too much away, the rest of the story is bland and cliché, or rather a combination of clichés. It's not entirely predictable, but just because you mix the clichés up doesn't mean that the product is going to be original, people! Having said that, the reason why Brave is not predictable is also not positive: it tends to have a problem with the flow. Like a malfunctioning gearbox it switches to strange gears at wrong times. I also did not like the logic that the film imposes on the viewer, especially in its ending, which feels rushed, as if the producer came into the room of the developers and said "Ok that's enough messing around, finish it off now!" and so they did.
The bottom line: while the animation and characters are good, the story is bland, strange and comes off as preachy without having a message to preach. Having seen it some time ago, I cannot remember much about Brave beyond its pretty colors. There is nothing strikingly bad about it so what it is is average.