Girl Power Princess

Rating: Null/10 (2 January 2016)

Princess Merida, Disney's first red-headed princess, is the daughter of a king and queen in mediaeval Scotland. At least, the look of the film suggests a vaguely mediaeval setting, although the precise date at which the action is supposed to take place is never made explicit. One character boasts of his exploits fighting against the Romans, even though the story appears to post-date the fall of the Roman Empire by several centuries. Why a Scottish princess should be named after a Spanish city is never explained.
The title "Brave" may have been suggested by that other Scottish-set film "Braveheart", but unlike "Braveheart" which is based (however loosely) on real historical events, the story told in "Brave" is pure fiction. It has much in common with a traditional fairy-tale, involving as it does Merida's mother being turned into a bear by a witch and Merida's efforts to undo the spell. Where the film differs from the traditional fairy-tale is in its attitude to love and romance. Whenever a fairy-tale features a princess you can bet that it will end with her marriage to a handsome and charming prince. Here the only princes on offer are charmless and far from handsome, and Merida (something of a tomboy, whose favourite pursuits are archery and horse-riding) remains unmarried (by her own wish) at the end of the film. Indeed, she remains without any significant other in her life; perhaps Disney are saving this development for a possible sequel.
Merida seems to have divided opinion on this site. Some reviewers have seen her as an admirably independent, free-thinking Girl Power princess. Others have seen her as a Bad Role Model for girls, a naughty disobedient little brat who ought to be spanked soundly and sent to bed early without any supper. Much of the story turns upon Merida's defiance of her parents by refusing to marry any of the aforementioned princes and insisting that she will marry a man of her own choosing in her own good time.
I must admit that I belong to the first school of thought. When I was a child I always preferred stories about badly-behaved kids to those about well-behaved ones; my favourite characters included Richmal Crompton's Just William and Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle's Nigel Molesworth, both of whom seemed able to defy adult authority with impunity. The one thing guaranteed to kill a book or film stone dead for me was the suspicion that the adult world might be using it to push some morally improving agenda or to provide me with Good Role Models. (C S Lewis and Enid Blyton were particular betes noires of mine). It is therefore unsurprising that I found myself sympathising with Merida and her desire for independence.
Merida's main conflict is with her mother Elinor, largely because she seems to have inherited far more of her personality from her boisterous, outgoing father Fergus. This does not mean that Elinor is the villain of the film; in her own way she loves her daughter deeply. She is, however, very different in character, emotionally reserved, very proper and a great believer in decorum, protocol and tradition. There is a suggestion that she herself may have had to put duty before love by marrying Fergus, a man very different from herself, and this may lie at the root of her insistence that her daughter should follow the same path. (Emma Thompson voices Elinor with an English accent, but this is not necessarily historically inaccurate; several Scottish kings married English princesses).
The film-makers have tried hard to give their film a distinctly Scottish feel, with authentic-looking Highland scenery, Scottish actors such as Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly and Robbie Coltrane voicing the characters and Patrick Doyle's score based upon traditional Celtic music. They even designed special tartans for the various fictitious clans featured in the story. Admittedly, I doubt if any real Scottish monarch ever spoke with Connolly's working-class Glaswegian tones, but somehow his voice seems right for Fergus' larger-than-life personality.
On the downside, the plot is at times confusing and difficult to follow, and I felt that more could have been made of Julie Walters' witch character who despite being the main villain of the piece fades from view after a couple of appearances. We never discover what becomes of her and she never receives the come-uppance which is the normal fate of Disney villains like the Wicked Queen in "Snow White". (Something else which made me wonder whether a sequel might be in the offing). I am not going to award a mark out of ten, as it is difficult to compare films aimed at mainly children with those aimed at adults. Overall, however, "Brave" is a generally enjoyable piece of family entertainment.