Another Pixar Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (24 June 2012)

First off, I should say that I've been waiting to see Brave for over a year. The entire feminist community, for the most part, has been waiting. This is probably the main reason Merida's story doesn't have the same feel as Cars, Up, The Incredibles, etc. It was written to fill a hole in children's movies. Specifically, a hole for young girls.
Brave is not only spectacularly animated with beautiful landscapes and rich colors, but it is a story that is entrenched in Scottish history and culture that gives it yet another level of beauty. Telling the story of the Princess Merida, this is considered another movie in the Disney Princess juggernaut, but I think it stands on its own.
This is not a story about young romance or about a tomboy who likes to shoot arrows, it is a story about young adolescence. Believing your mother wants something different from you than you want for yourself. The relationship between Merida and her mother is well developed and compelling for just about any teenager that butted heads with their own mother. I think this movie can speak to all ages of boys and girls, and this is what separates Brave from other Disney Princesses that are inherently removed from young boys.
I challenge you to find another Pixar or Disney movie that is centered on the relationship between a daughter and a mother. What more, it's a story about self-discovery. Merida learns that being a princess has true responsibilities. She does not rebel against being one, merely being the one her mother wants her to be. She never yearns to be a prince or have the freedom of a boy--she just wants to be accepted as the young girl she is. I think that is an important story to be told. I was worried this movie would let me down, but I left the movie in tears. This is Pixar at its finest.