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Annecy 2012: Disney Pixar’s Brave

// Reviews (Festival)

For those who do not wish to have the film ruined for them I would suggest that you steer clear of the next few paragraphs as I describe what to expect from the first 30 minutes of Pixars “Brave”

This is clearly a film based on conflict, starting with King Fergus (Billy Connolly) losing his leg in a battle with Mor-Du a ginormous Bear that has “the weapons of dead warriors, littered in its hide” before focusing on the main conflict between the feisty and boisterous Merida (Kelly MacDonald) and her strict mother Elinor (Emma Thompson) as Queen Elinor wishes to make Merida the perfect princess but Meridas thirst for adventurous activities such as climbing, archery and swordfighting keep getting her in trouble with her mother. Pixar may never top the first 10 minutes of UP! And Brave is not a story like UP! Brave spends its opening displaying the rift between mother and daughter don’t expect to many tears right away, but expect plenty of angst and character development.

The family dynamic of Brave works extremely well. King Fergus may look like a huge warrior but it is clear that his wife wears the trousers in the relationship as she struggles to control both her husband and her four children. The king never quite getting a word in edgeways but both Fergus and the Triplet Boys deliver big laughs. It is revealed that Merida is to be married off to one of the rival clans much to her dismay. The communication problems between mother and daughter and the lack of trust in one another is perfectly displayed in a great scene where they both pour each others hearts out to one another but they are both speaking to different people in different places. The way the scene cuts between them both shows how they would be capable of understanding if only they were to be honest with one another.

When the little trust between the two is tarnished after the bow and arrow scene that Pixar released earlier in the year Merida finds herself lead into the woods by the “whisps” tiny blue creatures that light the way to a mysterious cottage…

I can’t really do justice in words to the work of Pixar. The rich depth and beautiful scenery of medieval Scotland is captured perfectly and the characters are all well defined and acted. A scene in which all the clans take part in a huge “Asterix and Obelix” style fight with all the slapstick comedy you would expect only to be halted by the regal authority of the queen sums up the dynamic of what we have so far seen of the film expertly.

I can only imagine that seeing the rest of this film will enhance these scenes that we have seen as they may have felt a little flat in isolation without the remaining hour or so but rest assured it looks like Pixar have tackled another genre with the bold originality that only they seem to be able to do. Good luck spotting the Pizza Planet truck though, looks like you will need it.

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