Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is the energetic, self-assured daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), and elder sister to a band of anarchic triplet boys. The film is set in medieval Scotland and features some truly extraordinary digital landscapes, as the camera sweeps over glens and hills that look almost real. It’s immensely refreshing that Merida isn’t having any of that, thank you very much.įergus and Merida match blades under Elinor’s gaze © Disney/Pixar The heroine’s victory over adversity is never complete without her finding Mr Right. Even in recent, more progressive films like The Princess and the Frog or Tangled, where the heroine has a bit more gumption than usual, everything wraps up with a wedding.
And, although Merida is already being co-opted into the band of ‘Disney Princesses’, Chapman undermines the essence of the stereotypical Disney heroine. Previous Pixar films have focused very strongly on male characters – whether it’s fathers and sons ( Finding Nemo or the wonderful Up, centred on a substitute father-son relationship), or buddy movies ( Monsters Inc. During the last few months, it rapidly became clear from the enthusiastic reaction in the States that this was a different kettle of fish altogether from its Pixar/Disney predecessors.īrave is the first Pixar film with a female director, and Chapman also wrote the story. She provides a welcome focus on girls and women as the key characters, and emphasises the importance of the mother-daughter relationship. I’d been looking forward to Brave since I saw the first teaser posters about six months ago: the animation looked superb. Despite all the serious musing on books around here, I’m really still a child at heart.
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