If only Pixar hadn’t made the Cars movies, maybe now we wouldn’t be talking about their yo-yoing into and out of form. Brave might not be up there with their very best but driven by a wonderful mother-daughter relationship, it’s a movie that’ll stay long in the heart of both young and old women for years to come.
Feeling much more like a classic Disney movie rather than a Pixar tale, Brave sees young Princess Merida wanting her own freedoms in the midst of her controlling mother trying to guide her down a certain path. While Queen Elinor only wants the best for her daughter, Merida doesn’t see it that way, and after making a deal with a witch deep in the forest, unexpected consequences change her mother’s life forever, unless she can undo the wicked spell before it’s too late.
Set in glorious, meticulously constructed Scottish Highlands, Brave boasts a wealth of characters you can really sink your teeth into, with the clever script providing comic relief at the perfect moments. There are arguments you need to have been a mother or a daughter to really get the most out of it, but Brave is still a marvellous magical adventure, that’ll perhaps stand the test of time even better than some of Pixar’s movies we right now call classics.