Brave

It's no secret that Pixar is easily one of the most popular and generally well-liked franchises of the 2000's, for good reason I might say. In this case though, with Brave, something feels oddly missing. While most other entries from Pixar captivated the brain, heart, and funny bone, Brave just feels unwilling to really capture any of the three.

Brave is about a girl named Merida (Kelly Macdonald) whose parents are the king and the queen. Merida is someone who wants to do her own thing in life but that goal couldn't be in any larger opposition than the one her mother plans for her. Her mother wants her to find a suitor to marry her so that Merida has someone to take the throne with. After meeting up with a witch in the hopes that something will change her mother's mind about the marriage, Merida finds herself in a drastic situation to save her mother from the unexpected transformation that she has taken on.

One of the strengths of Brave, as with all Disney movies, are the visuals. Absolutely stunning, Brave is a movie that you can definitely tell was created by someone who pays attention to the little details. It's really inspiring in terms from a visual perspective.

What Brave lacks though, is real power. For such a short movie (it clocks in a bit over 90 minutes), Brave has the tendency to drag, especially in the last 30 minutes or so. The pacing is definitely off, and I feel a big reason for this is the story, which doesn't really feel fleshed out enough to carry an audience from beginning to end without checking their watches once or twice. After reflecting on it, not much in Brave really happens, and unfortunately it's certainly not anything I would call hillarious or captivating. It's certainly not a bad movie, but it's disappointing because of how much better it could have and should have been. Brave could have had the strength of a superhero but instead it decides to just lay there and surrender.

2/4