I was looking forward to Brave ever since I saw the first preview.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Spoiler’s ahead.

Brave is the story of a young Scottish princess named Merida, who’s fiery and wild hair are a perfect match for her personality.  She wants no part of her responsibilities as a princess.  When it is time for her to be married to the first-born son of one of the other clans, she wants no part of it.  As is her right, she choose archery as the contest to decide which of the three she will marry and then proceeds to shoot for her own hand.  Needless to say this does not sit well with her mother.

The basic story of a mother and daughter not seeing eye to eye has been done many times, but I really liked the way they did it here, as Merida’s attempt to change her fate has some very unexpected consequences.  I never saw it coming that her mother was going to be turned into a bear, or that the bear that took her father’s leg years before was the same bear from an ancient legend.  Her three little brothers, or “wee devils”, as she refers to them are the perfect comic relief, as is her father, King Fergus.  The movie is filled with jokes, action, and arrows flying all over the place.

There are a few things that bothered me.  First off, the wisps (or will o’ the wisps).  They didn’t really explain them.  I mean, I kind of got the point, but a little more explanation would have been nice.  It also seems just a little lacking in story that Merida just happens to be led to the witch by the wisps.  It seems like she should have had to do something more to get the spell, to actually seek it out, rather than stumble upon it led by the wisps.  Perhaps the witch could have told her where to get the spell and she would have to go on a quest for it, or something.

Overall I really enjoyed it.  I wouldn’t mind a sequel to this one, as I think there is a lot to explore in Scottish mythology and legend, and Merida is a really great leading character.

Thanks for reading!