Moreover, Pixar’s film hilariously uses characters whose accents are so thick they intentionally can’t be understood. Remember in Dreamworks’ pseudo-Scottish How to Train Your Dragon how the protagonist suspiciously sounded like a modern teenager who used contemporary slang, while the movie’s adults used the easiest to understand Scottish accents? Macdonald’s accent is thick, but her enunciation is clear and sounds delightfully un-American. Certainly the Scottish accents (here voiced by an excellent, almost all-UK cast) wouldn’t have been so thick, especially that of Merida. But determining that Brave is a Pixar film-and all that that entails-and not a Disney or Dreamworks production is simple: Consider how the film might have ended up in these other studios’ hands. This plot has elements of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and countless more. Meanwhile, the clan leaders (Robbie Coltrane, Craig Ferguson, and Kevin McKidd) threaten war unless Merida follows through with their time-honoured custom.
Merida was hoping to just change her mother’s mind, but the spell changes Elinor into a bear. Opposed to any such betrothal, Merida sets off on a row and comes upon a witch (Julie Walters) who will rearrange her fate with a spell. Despite Merida’s fervent protests, Elinor refuses to budge and insists the ritual must commence out of tradition. When Merida reaches her age of consent, her parents announce her hand in marriage will be won by a prince from one of the three clans in their kingdom. But Merida, encouraged in part by her big lug father, the land’s great bear-slayer King Fergus (Billy Connolly), would prefer to go on adventures and become her own woman. Set in the Scottish highlands long ago, the story follows Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) from her wee childhood as her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), instructs her how to behave as a future queen should. What results is a familiar story told with impressive artistry and integrity, inside a deceptively simple treatment that hides its unconventionality behind its embrace of tradition.Įven the film’s main theme is about letting go of certain traditions to make room for all new ones. As much as Pixar’s film follows the conventional Disney storybook recipe, there are moments wherein the premier animation studio breaks convention indeed, somewhere behind the scenes a Parisian rat has added a dash of smoked paprika and diced shallots to augment and ultimately deepen that standard Disney fairy tale recipe. Pixar corporate namesake has never been more appropriate.
Pixar’s legacy, however, stands in the realm of visual and narrative perfectionism, where conventions are reworked or altogether originated. Walt Disney built his legacy animating fairy tales into family-friendly spectacles, and in doing so he established a series of ‘happily ever after’ formulas ingrained into our understanding of the genre to this day. An enchanted story about a betrothed princess, a witch’s curse, and the changing of fate, Brave is a Disney-style storybook made by Pixar.
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