Brave

**Brave**is a 2012 American 3-D computer-animated fantasy comedy-drama film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman and co-directed by Steve Purcell. The story is by Chapman, with the srceenplay by Andrews, Purcell, Chapman and Irene Mecchi. The film was produced by Katherine Sarafian, with John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Peter Docter as executive producers. The film's voice cast features Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson. Set in the Scottish Highlands, the film tells the story of a princess named Merida and defies an old-age custom, causing chaos in the kingdom by expressing the desire to not be betrothed.

Chapman drew inspiration for the film's story from her relationship with her own daughter. Co-directing with Mark Andres, Chapman became Pixar's first female director of a feature-length film. To create the most complex visuals possible, Pixar completely rewrote their animation system for the first time in 25 years. Brave is the first film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format.

Brave premiered on June 10, 2012, at the Seattle International Film Festival, and was released in North America on June 22, 2012, to both positive reviews and box office success. The film won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Preceding the feature theatrically was a short film entitled La Luna, directed by Enrico Casarosa.

## Plot

The movie takes place in the 10th century Scotland. Princess Merida is an incredibly skilled archer living in the Scottish kingdom of DunBroch with her mother Queen Elinor, and her father King Fergus. On Merida's sixth birthday, King Fergus gives Merida a short bow and arrow as a birthday present. After retrieving an arrow accidentally fired into the woods, where Medida sees some Will o' the Wisps, Merida's family is attacked by an ancient bear, Mor'du. Elinor and Merida flee, while Fergus and his men stay behind to battle the bear. The story cuts to around ten years later when we learn that Fergus lost his left leg during the battle with Mor'du and has vowed to find Mor'du again and avenge his leg.

Ten years later, despite Elinor's intention of having sixteen-year-old Merida become a proper, royal, ladylike princess, Merida is determined to seek freedom and live her own life. One day, the Lords Macintosh, MacGuffin and Dingwall arrive to present their songs for Merida's betrothal. After an argument, all three armies get into a brawl, which Elinor stops. She states that the challenge which the first-born of each clan would compete in world be decided by the fair maiden. Merida, hearing this, believes that the idea of the contestants being first-born is a loophole, so Merida chooses archery. The first two contestants lack skill, and Lord Dingwall's son wins by a fortunate mishap. Merida then steps forward with her bow and claims that she represents her clan as first-born and will be shooting to claim herself. Despite Elinor's objections, she shoots all three bull's-eyes, even splitting Dingwall's son's arrow, supposedly winning the contest.

Merida and Elinor have a falling out, with Elinor claiming Merida will still have to choose a suitor. Merida slashes the family tapestry in anger and Elinor throws Merida's bow into the fireplace. Merida runs away on her horse in tears as Elinor quickly retrieves the bow from the fire in regret. Merida again comes across Will O' the Wisps, small blue fairies that are said to lead you to your fate. Merida follows a trail of them to an old hut, where she finds a witch who claims she is nothing but a humble woodcarver because her last customers had some objections to her spells. The witch says she won't help Merida unless she buys a wood carving; in response, Merida buys the lot, trading for a necklace, but says she wants a spell that will change her fate as well. Merida asks for a spell that would change her mother, which she assumes will change her fate. The witch conjures a tart for Merida to give to her mother. On Merida's way out, the witch thinks she forgot to tell Merida something about the spell, but she and her cottage disappear when Merida turns around to ask what the witch was saying.

Back in DunBroch, Fergus is entertaining the lords, while Merida finds Elinor who was worried. After a brief conversation, Merida presents the tart to her mother, who takes a bite and immediately feels sick. Merida takes Elinor up to her room, where she rolls off her bed and Merida discovers that her mother has transformed into a bear. Fergus, downstairs in the hall, smells a bear, and he leads the lords upstairs. Merida and Elinor, with the help of the young princes Harris, Hubert and Hamish, manage to escape the castle without Fergus finding them, and she and her mother retreat into the forest back to the witches cottage. The witch isn't present, but there is a cauldron where the witch appears and has left a cryptic message for Merida. She tells Merida that by the second sunrise the spell would be permanent unless Merida can repair a bond. Merida and her mother exit the cottage and find shelter for the night, wondering how they'll be able to fix the curse.

In the morning, Elinor has set out a breakfast of some found berries, which turn out to be poisonous, and some dirty water. Merida finds a river and takes the time to teach her mother how to catch fish. The two bond, seeing different sides of each other. While in the forest, Elinor suddenly acts as if she's about to attack Merida, but soon recovers as Merida remarks that her mother is turning into a true bear. They then come across some wisps and are lead to the ruins of an old castle. Merida falls down a pit into an old throne room which she realises is the palace of the four brothers from Elinor's story. She finds an old stone engraved with the four brothers, but finds a part with a brother had been cut off, as when Merida had cut the tapestry of her own family earlier. She realises that the curse has happened before and that the brother who'd gone on his own path is now Mor'du. Then Merida is attacked by Mor'du who lives in the ruins, but with the help of her mother she escapes.

Merida realises Elinor will become just like Mor'du, like a real bear, if they don't break the spell. They travel back to DunBroch to sew the family tapestry back together, thinking that will break the spell. To get Elinor upstairs without being seen, Merida distracts her father and the lords who are fighting and thinking of starting a war on each other. From the back of the room, unseen, Bear Elinor uses makeshift sign language to help Merida give a speech that brings the kingdoms back together, in which she states that her mother had rewritten the ways of the kingdoms, that both she and the sons could marry whoever they wanted. Everyone rejoices and travels outside, leaving Merida and Elinor to make it up to the tapestry room. While trying to sew the tapestry, Fergus goes into his room and finds Elinor's ripped clothes and broken bed when she'd turned into a bear. Fergus, believing Elinor has been murdered, bursts into the tapestry room to tell Merida the news and finds Merida and Bear Elinor. Elinor assumes the disposition of a bear and fights with Fergus.

Merida tries to convince Fergus that the bear is his wife, Elinor, but Fergus says Merida is talking nonsense and locks her in the tapestry room to protect her. Fergus then sets off with the lords to capture Elinor, while Merida is stuck in the tapestry room. Then she finds that her younger brothers have also been turned into bear cubs from taking bites of the tart. Merida asks them to retrieve the key from their nursemaid Maudie, who has the key. The three retrieve the key and free their sister.

All four ride on Angus while Merida sews the tapestry. They follow wisps to where Fergus has captured Elinor an tied her up. Fergus attempts to slay the bear, but Merida defends Elinor by fighting off Fergus, who still doesn't believe Merida. Then Mor'du encounters Merida and fights off Fergus and all the other soldiers who attempt to kill him. He then lunges for Merida but is fought off by Elinor who breaks free of the ropes. Mor'du and Elinor duel with each other until Elinor smashes Mor'du into a rock, but wounds Elinor in the process. Mor'du gets up and is about to attack Merida when a standing stone falls on top of him and he dies. Merida sees a wisp emerge from Mor'du's body; it apparates as the brother that had become the bear before fading away.

Then Merida rushes over to Elinor and puts the sewn tapestry on top of the bear. When the sun rises and Elinor doesn't turn back into human form, Merida throws herself around Elinor and reconciles, apologising for what she had done and told her mother that she loves her. When the sun rises, Merida finds that Elinor is back in human form, and they both hug. The clans settle their arguments and they go their separate ways. Meanwhile, Merida and Elinor ride out on their horses around Scotland, making their mother-daughter bond even stronger.

In the post-credits scene, the witch's crow and magic broom deliver the wood carvings to the castle, asking a stunned guard to sign the delivery note.

## Cast

* Kelly Macdonald as Princess Merida
	+ Peigi Barker as Young Merida
* Julie Walters as The Witch
* Emma Thompson as Queen Elinor
* Billy Connolly as King Fergus
* Kevin McKidd as Lord MacGuffin / Young MacGuffin
* Craig Ferguson as Lord Macintosh
* Robbie Coltrane as Lord Dingwall
* Steven Cree as Young Macintosh
* Callum O'Neill as Wee Dingwall
* Sally Kinghorn and Eilidh Fraser as Maudie
* Steve Purcell as The Crow
* Patrick Doyle as Martin
* John Ratzenberger as Gordon

## Production

Announced in April 208 as The Bear and the Bow, Brave is Pixar's first fairytale. Writer and director Brenda Chapman considers it a fairytale in the tradition of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. She also drew inspiration from her relationship with her daughter. Chapman conceived the project and was announced as the film's director, making her Pixar's first female director, but in October 2010, she was replaced by Mark Andrews after creative disagreements. Chapman found the news of her replacement "devastating," but later stated that her "vision came through in the film" and that she remained "very proud of the movie, and that I ultimately stood up for myself."

The end credits include a special tribute to Pixar co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.

### **Casting**

Brave is the first Pixar film starring a female protagonist. Merida was originally to be voiced by Reese Witherspoon, who declined due to scheduling issues. According to Andrews, she was on the project for "quite some time. She was geeting her Scottish accent down, she was working very hard and it was sounding great but as we were continuing with the movie she had other movies lining up, so unfortunately we were unable to continue with her and had to get a replacement." Instead, the character was voiced by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald. In 2016, while promoting Sing, Witherspoon mentioned that she had to leave a film due to a failure to master a Scottish accent.

### **Tartans**

Pixar created three original tartan patterns for the film for three of the four clans, DunBroch, Dingwall and MacGuffin. (Clan Macintosh wears a red tartan similar to the nonfictional Clan Mackintosh.)

The Walt Disney Company registered the Clan DunBroch tartan with the official Scottish Register of Tartans upon release of the film. The tartan consists of ocean blue for the North Sea, subdued scarlet for bloodshed during the clan wars, deep green for the Scottish Highlands, navy blue for the eventual unity of the four clans, and gray for the Scottish people. In selecting the colour scheme, Pixar took historical considerations, stating that "there was a concerted effort to use hues that were indicative of the less saturated dyeing techniques used during the ancient period in which the fantasy film is set."

The registration was celebrated at the film's British premiere in Edinburgh, where Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond presented a certificate to director Mark Andrews. However, Member of the Scottish Parliament Alex Johnstone criticised the registration (as well as other fiction-based entries such as one for Peter Rabbit) as "shallow and irreverent." Mr. Johnstone contended that the 2008 legislation that created The Scottish Register of Tartans was intended to prevent such entries and protect Scotlan'd heritage.

The heritage was not the first for Disney; the company also registered a tartan pattern for the Clan McDuck in 1942.

### **Music**

The score for Brave was composed by Patrick Doyle and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was conducted by James Shearman. To bring some of Scotland's native flavour to the music, Doyle used traditional Celtic instruments such as bagpipes, a solo fiddle, Celtis harps, flutes and the bodhran, with an electronically treated dulcimer and cimbalom to give it a more contemporary feel. "I employed many classic Scottish dance rhythms such as reels, jigs and strathspeys, which not only serve the action but keep it authentic," said Doyle. As part of his research, he spent time in the Hebrides studying "unaccompanied Gaelic psalm singing."

Doyle also composed several songs for the film. The lullaby duet between characters Princess Merida and Queen Elinor entitled "A Mhaighdean Uasal Bhan (Noble Maiden Fair)" appears on three occasions in different variations within the fabric of the score, and uniquely includes Gaelic vocals by Emma Thompson and Peigi Barker, the first Disney film with music featuring the language. The drinking song "Song of Mor'du" (lyrics by Doyle and Steve Purcell) sung by Billy Connolly, Scott Davies, Patrick Doyle, Gordon Neville, Alex Norton and Carey Wilson, features a rich variety of words, sung authentically in Scots, which is distinct from Scottish Gaelic. (Scots being a Germanic language, while Scottish Gaelic is Celtic.)

In addition to Doyle's music, the film features three other original songs; "Learn Me Right" written by Mumford & Sons and performed with Birdy, "Touch the Sky" (music by Alex Mandel, lyrics by Mark Andrews and Mandel) and "Into the Open Air" (music and lyrics by Alex Mandel). Both "Touch the Sky" and "Into the Open Air" were performed by Julie Fowlis. These two tracks were produced by composer and arranger Jim Sutherland, who is also featured as a performer.

Along with introducing Doyle to a number of specialist Celtic musicians who feature in the score, Sutherland was responsible for discovering the young Gaelic singer Peigi Barker; the voice of Young Merida.

Walt Disney Records released the soundtrack on both CD album and digital download on June 19, 2012.

## Release

The film was initially set for release on June 15, 2012, but the date was later changed to June 22, 2012. On April 3, 2012, Pixar screened the film's first 30 minutes, which received a positive reaction. The film premiered on the last day of the Seattle International Film Festival on June 10, 2012. It had its Australian premiere on June 11, 2012, at the Sydney Film Festival, its domestic premiere on June 18, 2012, at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, its European premiere at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily on June 23, 2012, and its British premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 30, 2012, with Kelly Macdonald, Robbie Coltrane, Craig Ferguson, Brian Cox, Kevin McKidd, Ewan Bremner, Kate Dickie, Julie Fowlis, Patrick Doyle, Daniela Nardini and Alex Salmon in attendance.

In the United States and Canada, Brave is the first feature-length film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format. Almost half of the 14 theaters set up to show the film in Atmos are in California (Burbank, Century City, Fremont, Hollywood, San Francisco and Sherman Oaks), with the others located in seven other states (Lake Buena Vista, Florida; Kansas City, Missouri; Paramus, New Jersey; Las Vegas, Nevada; Chicago; West Plano, Texas; Vancouver, Washington) and Toronto, Ontario. It was released in other theaters with Dolby Surround 7.1. In total, it was released in 4,164 theaters, a record-high for Pixar. The previous record was held by Cars 2 (4,115 theaters). 2,790 of the theaters included 3-D shows.

### **Home Media**

See Also: Brave (Video)

Brave was released on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3-D, DVD and digital download on November 13, 2012. It includes La Luna and a new short film, The Legend of Mor'du, which explores the history of Mor'du, from The Witch's perspective. The DVD contains commentary by director Mark Andrews, writer Steve Purcell, story supervisor Brian Larsen and editor Nick Smith.

## Reception

### **Box Office**

Brave earned $237,283,207 in North America, and $303,153,856 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $540,437,063. It was the 13th highest-grossing film of 2012, the eighth highest-grossing Pixar film, and the third highest-grossing animated film that year behind Ice Age: Continental Drift ($875.3 million) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted ($746.9 million).

In North America, pre-release tracking suggested the film would open between $55 million to $65 million in North America, which is slightly below average for a Pixar hilm, as trackers initially suggested that as a "princess story", the film might not appeal as much to male audiences.

It opened on June 22, 2012, with $24.6 million and finished its opening weekend with $66.3 million (the same amount as Cars 2, Pixar's previous film), at the upper end of the numbers analysts predicted. This was the seventh largest opening weekend in June, and the sixth largest for a Pixar film. Despite pre-release tracking indications, the audience was estimated to be 43% male and 57% female. In North America, it is the ninth highest-grossing Pixar film, the highest-grossing 2012 animated film, and the eighth highest-grossing film of 2012.

Outside North America, the film earned $14 million from 10 markets on its opening weekend, finishing in third place behind Madasgascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Snow White and the Huntsman. Overall, its largest openings occured in France and the Maghreb region ($6.5 million), Mexico ($5.53 million), and Russia and the CIS ($5.37 million). In total earnings, its highest-grossing countries were the UK, Ireland and Malta ($34.9 million), France and the Maghreb region ($26.8 million) and Mexico ($21.6 million).

### **Critical Response**

Brave received a 78% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 229 critics, with an average rating of 7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Brave offers young audiences and fairytale fans a rousing, funny fantasy adventure with a distaff twist and surprising depth." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 69 based on 37 reviews, or "generally favourable". The film was well-received among American audiences, earning an "A" CinemaScore.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars. He wrote, "The good news is that the kids will probably love it, and the bad news is that parents will be disappointed if they're hoping for another Pixar groundbreaker. Unlike such brightly original films as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Up, this one finds Pixar poaching on traditional territory of Disney." He said that the film did have an uplifting message about improving communication between mothers and daughters, "although transforming your mother into a bear is a rather extreme first step". Peter Debruge of Variety gave a positive review of the film, writing that the film "offers a tougher, more self-reliant heroine for an era in which princes aren't so charming, set in a sumptuously detailed Scottish environment, where her spirit blazes bright as her fiery red hair". Debruge said that "adding a female director, Brenda Chapman, to its creative boys' club, the studio Pixar has fashioned a resonant tribute to mother-daughter relationships that packs a level of poignancy on par with such beloved male-bonding classics as Finding Nemo.

Conversely, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave it a negative review, stating that the film "diminishes into a rather wee thing as it chugs along, with climactic drama that is both too conveniently wrapped up and hinges on magical elements that are somewhat confusing to boot". Leonard Maltin on IndieWire said, "I'll give it points for originality, but that story twist is so bizarre that it knocked me for a loop. The movie tries to make up for this detour with a heart-tugging, emotional finale, but the buildup to that moment has been undermined, so it doesn't have the impact it should."

Some reviewers saw the Merida character as a novel break from the traditional line of Disney princesses. There were some dissonance and criticism among viewers and organised feminists when her character was scheduled to be "crowned" a Disney princess, only for artists to render her thinner, with less frizzy hair, and rounder eyes, more like the other princesses from previous Disney movies. This inspired girl-empowerment website A Mighty Girl to file a petition that Disney not alter their character. One of the 262,196 signatories was Brenda Chapman, the director of the film, who felt that Disney had "betrayed the essence of what we were trying to do with Merida, give young girls and women a better, stronger role model", and that the makeover was "a blantantly sexist marketing move based on money". The online petition was considered a success, as shortly after it appeared Disney removed the redesigned image from their official website, in favour of Merida's original film appearance. Disney later clarified the situation, assuring that Merida would remain in her original form.

## Adaptations

### **Possible Sequel**

Scottish publication The Scotsman asked director Mark Andrews about the possibility of a sequel. Andrews said, "I don't know if there will be another one. We never make a film at Pixar to have a sequel. It is always nice when you do and we kind of have a philosophy that if we find the right story then we will. Surely the marketing and success of Brave says that you can have one and they will come."

## Merchandise

### **Video Games**

A video game based on the film was published by Disney Interactive Studios on June 19, 2012, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC and Nintendo DS. A mobile video game, Temple Run: Brave (a Brave variation of Temple Run), was released on June 14, 2012, for iOS and Android, and on June 7, 2013 for Windows Phone.

**Films:** **Brave** | The Legend of Mor'du
**Music:** Brave (Soundtrack) | Songs and Story: Brave
**Books:** Little Golden Book | Brave: Ultimate Sticker Book | Brave: The Essential Guide | The Art of Brave
**Video Games:** Brave (Video Game) | Temple Run: Brave