To begin with: wow. I absolutely loved this movie. I'm all for romance, and I know Disney is steering clear of the damsel in distress routines, but I loved this movie about feminism and doing things for yourself and just growing up in general. It was all beautiful: the music, the story, and the animation.The only bone I had to pick with it was the bears, but I'll go into more detail about that later on.
"Brave" begins with Merida, a small girl, being given a bow by her father in the woods. A demon bear attacks and he loses his leg, and the movie skips forward a few years to when Merida is a teenager. Merida has become free-spirited, but her mom tells her that she has to have an arranged marriage to one of the clans in Scotland. Merida, being the free-spirited teen that she is, does not want this and adamantly refuses. She has become amazing at archery and she goes out into the woods and shoots things and climbs a mountain (like a boss). Then, the clans come and try to woo her with games, but Merida breaks some rules when she shoots an arrow for her own hand in marriage. Merida rips a tapestry her mother made after she got mad at her and burned her bow. Merida runs into the woods and finds a witch who gives her a potion to change her mother. Merida gives it to her mother, and it turns her, but into a bear. Merida has to "mend the bond torn by pride," which she tries to do, but fails, by mending the tapestry her mother made. Her mother slowly becomes more bear-like, and in a final confrontation with the demon bear from the beginning, almost dies/stays a bear. Merida, though, finally apologizes to her mother for trying to change her and everything becomes normal again.
For starters, the soundtrack for this movie is gorgeous. All the songs are Celtic and really touching and powerful. It all fits perfectly, too, because Merida is Scottish. She's also really headstrong, and just wants to do what she wants to do in life, and not what anyone tells her she has to do. One song that really got to me was "Touch the Sky" by Julie Fowlis (listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEi43OrwoRs), which was played during a scene where Merida is running through the woods and climbing mountains and being awesome. It just made me feel like I could do anything and be anything I wanted.
The plot was wonderful. It was almost a bit refreshing to not have a love story, although I'm a sucker for them. The reconciliation with Merida's mother was a bit predictable, but you can't have everything perfect in a movie. I mean, the fact that she turned into a bear was shocking enough. Seeing as it was a Disney/Pixar movie, I fully expected a love interest to be shoved into the movie somewhere, but there was none. It was just a movie about a girl and her family, and how she realizes that she shouldn't take for granted what she has already.
The only part that confused me was the bears. I didn't understand their significance. Why did everyone get changed into bears? Was it the witch's favorite animal? What was the point? Ah well, I may never know. I'll still rate the movie a perfect ten out of ten, because it was fantastic and original for a Disney movie.
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