'Brave' is quick and funny, and just heartfelt enough to keep us engaged with its stock characters in a fresh and reinvented narrative.

This movie, credited to directors Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (he replaced her in October of 2010, Variety reported), pushes the PG-rating not only in terms of fierce fighting, but in the humorously naughty way the men doff their kilts to escape imprisonment. And it does.Īlthough the animators occasionally fall into clunky 'Matrix'-like slow motion, the swooping zooms and tracking shots boost the adrenaline levels with eye-popping ocular thrills. The woman agrees to sell Merida a magic spell that will change her mother's point of view, but of course, we suspect that it will do much more than that. Then, in a youthful fit of righteousness, Merida follows some magical creatures called wisps into the forest, where she finds a mysterious old woman (voiced by Julie Walters) carving strange images out of wood. Merida defies custom and the queen by rejecting her obligations to marry one of the uncharming princes offered by the clans. Especially the one where regal suitors from the neighboring kingdoms arrive at Fergus' castle to compete for the hand of his princess. The king teaches Merida many things, mainly how to be a superior archer and survivor, and she becomes quite the fetching tomboy, running wild with her horse Angus and practicing her archery skills with machine-like precision.Įlinor constantly attempts to teach Merida the finer points of being royalty, but the redheaded rebel will have none of the traditions forced upon her.

Donnel macguffin from brave 2012