Brave - a movie review

For me, watching Brave was like that moment in Love Actually when Emma Thompson opened her Christmas gift expecting exquisite jewelry and found a CD instead.

It’s a very nice CD. Humorous moments, interesting characters, gorgeous scenery. The landscape was as alive as the people, a lovely tribute to the British Isles.

But the story itself left me wanting more, and feeling a little betrayed.

I have always admired Disney’s heroines – the spunk, the endurance, the growth of them. When the Brave protagonist rode across the screen, I was ready for a new obsession. The mythological treasure trove of the Celtic culture; the wild hair and the wild ride; the bear rearing in the mist and the tagline about changing Destiny – I was ready to love this movie and extol it to everyone.

But the heroine wasn’t heroic. She had wits, thought on her feet, and was good with a bow. She stood up for herself in the contest, but that wasn’t unexpected. She cared for her mother in the wilderness, which seemed more fun than hardship. And running, or riding, headlong through the woods and back again was obviously nothing new in the life of this Celtic princess.

In fact, I was a bit surprised to find the Celtic Queen so very decorous. The ships, the blue paint, the tartans – all these suggested to me a nebulous historical time before the clans became separate countries. A time that could have been part of the matriarchal belief system. A time when women were strong and brave and able to shoot bows and swing swords. A time when the Merida’s destiny should have been to be a strong leader.

Regardless, what did she do that was so Brave?

She fought a bear. So did everyone else.

She stood up to her father. Um, and what was that about, psychologically? And when did she learn to use a sword?

She changed her mother (literally) and changed her back. Okay. She admitted to a mistake and did her best to rectify it. That is brave.

But did she change her destiny? In my opinion, she followed her own inclinations, threw a tantrum, and got what she wanted.

If anyone changed their destiny, or met it, it was the mother – the decorous Celtic Queen – who, in a strange and fearsome form, having spent a miserable day trying to survive far outside her comfort zone, still had the foresight to see how her daughter chaffed at the bonds of tradition. It was the mother who declared a break with that tradition. The mother grew. The mother was strong. The mother was brave.

It was not the daughter.

I think Brave was a good movie for young girls and their mothers. I think it might have been written by a young girl and her mother. I was pleased to read that Brave was being attributed to the Pixar studio, because it lacked the depth Disney usually provides for it’s adult audience. And I do not think Merida lived up to the hype or to the glorious tradition of Disney princesses. Maybe she should have worn some pink. Or tried braiding her hair.

-Lila