Deep Dive Pixar: Wes Looks at Brave

Welcome once again to Deep Dive Pixar, which is what you end up with when Deep Dive Disney drinks a magic potion to change its fate. Today, we’re looking at one of my personal favorite films in Pixar’s extensive library, Brave. Brave feels unique for Pixar as the whole Fairy Tale and Princess shtick is typically the other studio’s wheelhouse. Maybe the two animation studios were in the middle of some kind of “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better” sort of thing at the time, who knows. While this film is often polarizing, I personally find it enjoyable and even at times relatable. So, what is our story? Well, Brave tells us the story of a precocious red head who feels smothered by the life of a princess, not helped by the actions of her overbearing parental figure, and longs to change her situation. To that end, the girl makes a bargain with a shady witch in order to cause a transformation and must come to a compromise with the aforementioned overbearing parental figure in order to defeat a great evil. Wait, does that sound familiar to anyone? Well, it should because Brave actually has a lot of similar beats to The Little Mermaid, a movie that despite my constant assertions that it’s a movie I absolutely loathe, I seem to be unable to stop bringing up. I guess no matter how many times I think I’m done with The Little Mermaid and its annoying air head of a protagonist, it’ll never be quite done with me. Anywho, we’ve discussed a few films in the past that have managed to improve on certain aspects of The Little Mermaid I didn’t care for, but this is the first movie we’ve come across that manages to take the same basic story that made Hans Christian Anderson roll over in his grave and improve upon it in almost every conceivable way. People, we found it. We found the good version of The Little Mermaid. Holy Shit, I never thought I’d see the day. With that in mind, let’s give a bit more of a detailed explanation of what we’re looking at today. Set in medieval Scotland, Brave tells the story about a princess named Merida. Being a free spirit and a little bit of a tomboy, Merida doesn’t really care for all her royal responsibilities, instead preferring to ride her horse through the woods and practice archery. While her father is encouraging of Merida’s hobbies, her traditionalist mother feels that Merida should behave in a manner more befitting of a lady. When Merida embarrasses her mother at an event that was meant to determine which of the eligible lads from the other clans will take Merida’s hand and marriage, Merida and her mother blow up at each other and both say things they don’t mean. A distraught Merida finds herself at the cottage of a witch who gives her a magic potion that will change her mother. And it certainly changes her alright, changes her into a bear. Guess this movie is also trying to improve on Brother Bear as well. To undo the spell, Merida must find common ground with her mother in order to mend their broken bonds before the change becomes permanent. Let us waste no further time and dive right into, Brave.

Main Character:

Given the similarities between the two characters and my well-publicized dislike of Princess Ariel, it may surprise you to learn that Princess Merida ranks among my favorite Disney Princesses of all time. What’s the difference? A simple matter of presentation. While The Little Mermaid does little to establish why Ariel should be miserable living the life of a Princess and in fact makes living under the sea seem pretty damn cool, Brave almost immediately goes out of its way to show that the life of a Princess really sucks. Almost every second of every ay Merida is expecting to act like a princess and perform the responsibilities of a princess to the point where she almost never has any time for herself. In just a few short minutes, we feel how being a princess really can be physically and emotionally exhausting, not just when compared to The Little Mermaid, but compared to any and all Princess movies that have come before or since. The only time Merida feels truly happy is on those rare days where she gets to venture beyond the castle, ride her horse, Angus, and practice her Archery skills, which are pretty damned impressive for a sixteen-year-old. Actually, that’s another point in Merida’s favor over the other Princesses. Unlike most of them who come across as idealized young women, Merida truly feels like a real teenager, with all the good and bad that this entails. Teenagers can be bratty, selfish, rebellious, and often times are at an age where they’re desperate to assert their independence. Doesn’t that just sound like Merida to a T? I’m not trying to say Merida isn’t a good person, but she’s clearly very young, not ready for what’s expected of her and has different priorities than her parents. One thing that definitely makes Merida come out ahead of Ariel is how the film chose to forgo any sort of love interest for Merida, officially making her the first Princess without one. This was a great idea. While Ariel’s primary motivation was to marry a man, a man that she’d never met in person mind you, Merida almost has the exact opposite problem. Merida doesn’t want to get married despite the fact that it’s tradition for the eldest child of the royal family to marry the child of one of the allied clans. While this was touched upon with Jasmine way back in Aladdin, this really makes it more of the focus. Merida isn’t ready for marriage and she wants her mother to respect that, but since teenagers also tend to act on emotion rather than behaving rationally, Merida doesn’t handle this well, hence the whole turning her mother into a bear thing. While Merida ultimately gets what she wants in the end, unlike Ariel where her happy ending feels unearned, here, while I have mixed emotions on the resolution to the whole betrothal storyline, Merida actually does have to learn a lesson and it feels in keeping with the story.

Villain:

Typically, I don’t like to count non-speaking predatory animals such as Monstro the Whale from Pinocchio or Sabor the Leopard from Tarzan as true villains since more often than not they’re only acting on their basic instincts or at the behest of a cruel master. Even some of the ones who do speak, like Shere Khan who, despite being a bully, was ultimately only trying to eliminate a perceived threat to his Jungle home, can fall into this category. However, Mor’Du the Demon Bear is kind of a unique case as this is far more than a simple bear. We’ll touch on the supernatural elements of this being in a minute, but frankly, speaking as someone who’s absolutely terrified of Bears, this guy is pretty much my worst nightmare, not helped by the fact that literally the first thing he does in the movie is bite off king Fergus’s leg. However, like I said, Mor’Du here is no ordinary bear. Long ago, in an ancient kingdom, a wise king had fallen ill and decreed upon his deathbed that instead his four sons were to rule the kingdom together upon his passing. The eldest and strongest of the four brothers believed that he should be the sole heir to his father’s kingdom and grew consumed by jealousy and selfishness. The eldest shattered the bonds of brotherhood and declared war upon his younger siblings. For years, bloody and costly war was waged with no clear end in sight. Desperate for an advantage, the warrior prince sought out a witch and demanded she create a spell to grant him the strength of ten men. The witch granted his request and crafted the spell he desired, telling him that it could either be used to grant him power, or mend the bonds that had been broken. The prince chose the former and drank the potion in front of his brothers, whom he’d lured to him under the banner of a false truce. The potion took effect, transforming him into a great black bear. Accepting his new monstrous form, Mor’Du went on to slaughter his brothers and much of the quarreling armies until those who remained fled in terror, leaving the kingdom to collapse into darkness. From that day forward, the Mor’Du was cursed to remain a feral beast for the rest of his days, a punishment for having chosen power over the bonds of family. So, let’s unpack all that. Not only is this an enormous, terrifying demon bear, it is, in fact, an enormous, terrifying demon bear that also happens to be the cursed spirit of a brutal Scottish warrior prince. Holy Shit! That might be the most badass description of a character that we’ve ever had or will have for Deep Dive Disney. Seriously, how has no one made a high concept folk metal album all about this guy. Sadly, outside of the nightmarish design and badass origin story, which was detailed in a seven-minute short that accompanied the film that you can find on Disney+, Mor’Du doesn’t really have all that much going for him. He doesn’t even really factor into the plot all that much other than to serve as a dark parallel for Merida’s own story and give the film an exciting final boss battle for the climax. It’s kind of a shame as someone clearly put a lot of effort into crafting a cool backstory for this character only for it to go shamefully underutilized. What a waste of potential. Oh well, I still enjoy Mor’Du, if not as a character, then as a concept.

Side Characters:

I don’t want to spend too much time on Merida’s prospective suitors or their clan leader fathers. They’re not bad by any means, they’re just mostly here to be the butt of a bunch of dumb jokes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to hear the voices of well-known Scottish actors like Craig Ferguson and Robbie Coltrane but there’s just not a whole lot to these characters.

Merida’s younger brothers, the triplets, don’t really have much going for them either, they’re most here to be hilarious and adorable, a roll they fill just fine.

The witch who gives Merida the magic spell is your typical witch from a fairy tale, and she fills that roll well. I actually really like how she’s actually terrible at hiding the fact that she’s a witch and is also constantly trying to sell her woodcarvings to whoever happens upon her secluded cottage. That said, the witch gets the one cringeworthy moment in the film during the bit where she sets up her cauldron like an answering machine.

King Fergus is a great character and is likewise voiced by a great actor in Billy Connolly. I actually really like how this movie gives you a sense of Merida’s family dynamic without needing to explain much. Merida has always felt closer to her father since he’s always been the one to encourage her less lady-like hobbies while her mother never approved of them. In a lot of ways, King Fergus is similar to Mufasa in his style of parenting. Yes, Fergus is a proud warrior king, but he is first and foremost a father and if he ever had to choose between his kingly duties and his family, he’d choose family in a heartbeat. It also helps that Billy Connolly is just an incredibly likable actor and imbues that same likability into Fergus. He seems like the sort of guy who’d be the life of the party and join you in a drink and a song.

Finally, we’ve come to Queen Elinor, Merida’s mother and the main source of the film’s conflict. In stark contrast to her husband and daughter, Elinor is a staunch traditionalist who clearly disapproves of Merida’s decidedly un-ladylike attitude and approach to life. While Elinor is certainly overbearing it’s coming from a good place. Merida will be queen one day and being queen carries with it certain expectations and responsibilities. Elinor wants to make sure that her daughter understands this very early in life. While it’s never stated outright, I’ve always gotten the sense that Elinor was born into royalty while Fergus simply married into it, hence their differing mentalities. While Elinor may seem overly strict, it’s made clear throughout the film that she does love her daughter. One of the scenes where that best demonstrates this is when she throws Merida’s bow on the fire in a fit of rage. Once Merida storms out of the room, Elinor pulls the bow out of the fire and is nearly brought to tears over what she’s done. Remember, Elinor always discouraged Merida’s archery hobby, but this scene shows that she does care about her daughter’s happiness, even if she’s not always great at showing it, and deeply regrets having almost destroyed it. Once she turns into a bear, Elinor is forced to see things from Merida’s perspective. Ironically, being robbed of the gift of speech allows her to truly listen to her daughter for the first time and through this experience, both gain a deeper understanding of one another.

Songs:

Brave is not a musical, a rarity for a princess movie, but it still features a couple of songs. The first is called Touch the Sky, which actually ranks rather high in my personal list of Disney songs. The melody is fun and catchy and Julie Fowlis has a pretty voice. Also, the song being about freedom and exploration is appealing to yours truly and very much fits Merida’s character. It’s played over a montage of Merida going on one of her adventures and it helps give us a nice picture of what Merida is all about. Into the Open Air, which is played over a montage of Merida and her now bear-ified mother is also pretty good, but in my opinion, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Touch the Sky.

I also really like the score. Maybe I just love the folk music sound it’s going for, but it’s nice and fits the setting well. Also, props for not resorting to constant bagpipes to remind us that we are, in fact, in Scotland.

Memorable Scenes:

The film’s climax is a fight between two enormous black bears. I don’t even know what I can add to that other than to say this film just knows what I like. Between reading The Golden Compass in High School and seeing a wrestling match between two Grizzly Bears at the Columbia Zoo in South Carolina, I developed a taste for a good bear fight and this movie was nice enough to give me what I wanted.

Another, more poignant scene sees Merida and Elinor practice what they want to say to one another after their big blowup, the scene being cut as if they are actually having a conversation with one another. This one hit close to home as there have been plenty of times I’ve worked out something I wanted to say to my parents only for the words to fail me when it comes time to deliver. It ties into the film’s deeper theme of communication and shows that Merida and Elinor really do love each other despite being drastically different from one another.

Story:

The clear theme of this film is to stress the importance of family, communication and how selfishness can tear people apart. It’s all competently done, especially since Merida and Elinor are both likable characters who you find yourself able to sympathize with and relate to. It’s also paralleled by the cruel fate suffered by Mor’Du for being unable to learn the lessons that Merida and Elinor do. However, one common issue I see with this film is the resolution to Merida’s suitor plot, namely, how Merida gets what she wants and doesn’t end up getting married in the end. I can understand how this can be an issue for some people, especially since getting everything she wanted in the end was something I condemned Ariel for. However, here I can forgive this because unlike Ariel, Merida actually has learned her lesson. If you actually watch the scene, it’s made clear that Merida was willing to go through with marrying one of the suitors if it meant helping her mother and it’s her mother who tells Merida to follow her heart and break tradition. It’s an action that demonstrates growth for both characters and their relationship with one another. In fact, Merida demonstrates real leadership qualities befitting of a Queen when she appeals to the friendship and history between the clans in order to get them on board with breaking tradition, and the suitors themselves seem to already be on board with Merida that arranged marriages are stupid, preferring to win Merida’s heart on their own instead of forcing her into it. As a result, the kingdom emerges stronger than ever and all is well. Not bad.

The Dark Disney Factor:

We’ve pretty much covered most of the dark and creepy stuff in this film when we discussed Mor’Du. Seriously, this movie really needed more of the enormous terrifying demonic ghost bear. Outside of that, there are a couple of scenes that show Elinor in her bear form briefly losing her inner humanity and giving into the bear’s primal instincts. Needless to say, this is pretty horrifying, especially right at the end where you think Merida’s mother may be gone for good, doomed to suffer the same fate as Mor’Du.

Final Thoughts: This movie is a lot of fun and surprisingly insightful. It's one of the more unique takes on a princess movie and a nice outing for Pixar that showed them emulating Disney's wheelhouse while stepping out of their own comfort zone. It's one of those movies that I revisit often and so should you. As for next time, our next film in the schedule is Wreck-It-Ralph, a film that I haven't actually seen yet. Also, since the month of October is right around the corner so keep an eye out for a special article planned for the Halloween season. See you next time.