Are you joking or serious? I’m a conservative too, but I don’t want to be a housewife or have kids. 
Can we please leave politics out of this? Talking about that plus religion is one of the best ways to start a flame war and thats the absolute last thing we need around here.
I loved this movie. I think Pixar accomplished exactly what they set out to do and this film should stand right alongside the likes of Up, WALL-E, and Toy Story as one of the best in the studio’s lore. Yes, the story isn’t deep, but what fairy tale is? Pixar still puts their own unique spin on it by making the protagonist the catalyst for all of the story’s conflict and making the movie all about the relationship with her mother. Plus I was really impressed by how intense and violent it got in the second half. It was something Pixar hadn’t really done before on that kind of visceral level and I think they deserve a lot more credit for the risks they took with this film than they’re getting.
I was 100% joking. 
Don’t worry, I’m a girl and I’m planning on kicking some butt in the workforce. (the line about the kitchen and making babies actually came from this video.)
Anyway, it bugs me how much the critics are complaining that its a fairytale. So friggin what? I happen to like fairytales. Just because something has princesses and magic doesn’t make it lesser than something that doesn’t. Heck, if you want to go by that logic, so does Lord of the Rings and plenty of Shakespeare plays. Guess they’re illegitimate now! Also, its an original story anyway.
Are you saying that because of what I said? Well, sorry then. I was just saying that I don’t want to be stuck in a house all day and have kids when I don’t want to.
Okay, I understand. 
And, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fairytales either. A lot of kids movies in the past have been fairytales, and they’re all different, including this one.
How so? I don’t doubt that some of the filmmakers at Pixar have strong religious beliefs, but I don’t see how religion applies to Toy Story 3, unless you’re talking about in ways that could apply to most films in general.
I also dislike bringing politics into animation. To suggest that the rigid, evil structure of Sunnyside (i.e. “big government”) is liberal is just as bad as someone saying conservatives are anti-women. There could possibly be certain truths to either statement, but both are ignorant, black-and-white blanket statements of complex political beliefs.
The above paragraph isn’t meant to fuel the fire of a right-versus-left debate in a forum where it’s really not needed, but I wanted to point out the silliness of the whole thing (from pretty much all sides) to avoid such future discussions.
I don’t know what to think. It’s believable that there could be an influence by in the movie by the maker’s opinion, but with kid’s movies, I wish they would just leave what I call “adult issues” out of it.
Sometimes I think people overthink some of that stuff. They say “Oh, this character symbolizes ______,” or “this scene is connected to so and so political thing,” and sometimes that could be true, but some people just look for ways to stir people up.
queen_of_painting: I wasn’t meaning to insult you. I was simply saying that taking things very politically can go both ways, thus trying to show how its very silly to try and bring political beliefs into this.
Ok, should I just erase that post? It keeps getting taken the wrong way.
Don’t erase any post.
Simply talk about something else.
So, nobody has answered my question. Does to film state how old Merida is?
Her younger self [spoil]in the flashbacks,[/spoil] or just her character in general?
The older one.
I don’t think so. I’d say mid-teens, maybe even earlier, guessing from the age girls were usually married back then.
Oh. They never really state how old she is, but I’m going to assume around 18 or so.
Good. Just wanted to know that.
We’ll live all Brave boards until the film is released here, or we’ll probably spoil ourselves.
However, if problem arises, and there’s no other moderator around, just PM us.
But try to stay classy so that it doesn’t happens 
i would like some feedback from the people who saw brave, on my take that would have made the film different:
so if i was working on the film heres what my storyline would have been like: Instead of elinor turning into a bear, she turns into a completely different person by having a completely different personality. i think the emotion would have been much more powerful between merida and elinor. we see how elinor cares so much about everything, especially the little things. her new changed personality would be not caring; instead only caring for herself. So in the beginning, merida does get what she wants from the spell: she doesnt need to get married as elinor doesnt care what merida does. but as the film progresses, merida actually hates her new mom and wants her old one back. the adventure would be merida trying to undo the spell, basically the same kind of thing having to turn her mother back to human from a bear except it would just be merida on the journey solo. i think this would connect better with kids because they all get in fights with their parents and sometimes we do wonder whatd id be like if our parents just didnt care and lets us do what we wanted. i dont think they wonder what itd be like if they were a bear…maybe but no.
I need help understanding some of the plot elements, because otherwise, this has really been the worst pixar movie I’ve seen to date…
A lot of the more serious info was glossed over or rushed in the movie, so I may not have this all correct. So there were four princes who were given equal power by the king, but one of the princes wanted it all, and this caused the kingdom to crumble. Elinor was using this legend to make Merida become a proper princess and get married. I really fail to see the connection between the story and her current situation. I also didn’t really catch what the wayward prince did to be cursed into a mindless bear by the witch. And the witch is suppose to be good? She basically killed the prince and was willing to kill Elinor (turn and leave her as a bear) just to teach Merida a lesson? What lesson is this? The mother-daughter family bond? Because it really doesn’t tie into the wayward prince legend at all. The tapestry with the queen being cut off, and the prince and his stone tablet being broken off, are you telling me Elinor is power hungry? No it doesn’t make sense to me at all.
It was suppose to be about changing your destiny and doing so bravely, but what destiny? No one is really keeping Merida from having fun riding a horse, shooting arrows, and exploring the woods. It doesn’t push the whole caged princess theme very strongly. She seems perfectly free to do whatever she wants, and eat whatever she wants. The king and his subjects and allies are all fighting brutes and heavy drinkers, jolly without a care in the world. The only one who even tries to keep order is Elinor. She is perfectly fine and loving as a mother from all the flashbacks, but wants to keep some order and good relations among the various clans. This whole propriety thing isn’t really even supported in the backdrop. I didn’t even know they were suppose to be royalty in the beginning of the movie. I thought he got kinged for defeating the bear, in the beginning anyway, because they sure weren’t living the life of luxury in the beginning. And Elinor was suppose to be married off? And have ladylike qualities and upbringing? Maybe more responsible than the others. And the primitive land and people. All doesn’t really support the caged princess thing.
Elinor never needed to be changed, nor her destiny. Merida needed to stop acting like a stubborn brat, and her destiny was far from set in stone. She bravely changed it…how? Who is being brave here? And then they throw in a “you should do whatever you want to and be true to yourself” speech out of nowhere. They never did elaborate on why Merida had to be married in the first place, what purpose it would accomplish, and who actually cared, because it seemed no one, especially none of the clansman, really cared.
And the will-o-wisp was the soul of the transformed prince, trying to get Merida to kill him and free his soul? Or maybe he wanted someone else to turn into a bear to commiserate with him by leading her to the witch? The prince was selfish so that made some sense that the witch transformed him into a mindless bear, but unlike Beauty and the Beast, he will never be able to transform back and live his former life. The only peace he can get is to be killed off and his misery ended? Still don’t know why Elinor was transformed into a bear and what major lessons it was suppose to instill in her, or merida, and how this was suppose to be a bonding experience, or a change destiny lesson, or anything effective as such or make any sense.
quote]
Your idea would have help the film with the emotional connection in needed. And I would like to add to your idea, to change the suitors. Since all of them act like idiots. Not one of them is even fit to run a kingdom much less marry Merida. They could have had at least one of the suitors to be decent, maybe even be good in archery or horseback riding. Something, and he doesn’t even have to be her love interest.
Remember this film was directed by three people, and written by four. So Brave is kinda a mess with story. I didn’t get the wisps alot either. I know they are suppose to lead you to your fate, but it seemed like the wisps wanted to kill her more. But at the end once [spoil]Mor’du is killed, I think the prince’s soul becomes a wisp right, so does that mean wisps are people’s souls?[/spoil]
And also Merida had days off, where she could do anything she liked for that day. I don’t think she was allowed to ride often and shoot arrows, since those aren’t really princess like things. Though overall, I don’t think this is the worst Pixar film, its does have its faults. But I kinda wonder how different if would have been if Brenda was allowed to finish directing it by herself.
[spoil]I really like how Merida doesn’t get married. It’s so annoying when you can tell a mile away that so and so will end up with so and so. Not every main character needs to have a love interest all the time.[/spoil]
I suppose that does emotionally make more sense, but I think it’d also be more conventional.
I just got back from seeing the movie. I certainly loved it, but I’m having difficulty placing my finger on what it is I would change. It’s not flawless, but it’s not particularly flawed, either. I just think I was having some difficulty letting the story click with me. It’d already been spoiled for me many months ago that [spoil]the spell would involve people changing into bears—although I had no idea it was just Merida’s mom (well, and the triplets),[/spoil] so when it happened, all of my preconceived notions about the story were suddenly tossed. There are maybe some missed opportunities in the communication of Merida and Elinor’s relationship—I think Merida’s grief over her decision should have been more evident—but the pacing of the movie didn’t allow for much of this. The first half hour is perfect. I really wouldn’t say it “fell apart” after that, I never thought the movie lost sight of its goal or got too silly. But I think it could have been more personal. The personalities of the characters were excellently conveyed, but I don’t know if I could say they leaped off the screen in the same way a lot of Pixar characters do, where you can immediately associate them with people you know in real life, or think “that’s something (whatever character) would do!”. But this was only my first viewing; I’ll be seeing the movie again on Friday and chances are I’ll notice a lot of key details I didn’t catch this time.
Personally, I’m not fond of [spoil]transformation plots[/spoil]. I do think it was incredibly well executed, and taken every bit as seriously as it should be, but there are a few too many clichés. It’s not what I’m used to from the studio, even if the general quality of the movie was definitely up to Pixar standards. I do think the movie really took risks in certain aspects, even if the general plotline maybe plays it safe, or at least it does in comparison to movies like Up. For instance, [spoil]scenes involving Mor’du were genuinely terrifying and stressful, and Elinor being attacked by him was definitely an edge-of-your-seat scene.[/spoil] Despite it being a movie focused on character relationships, I still feel like there was a lot to be said of Elinor and Merida, other than the fact that they have clashing views but still want to be close to each other. What I do like, however, is the fact that neither of them are glorified nor demonized—Merida was shown to be reckless and I don’t think the movie ever justified it with “just follow your heart” (even if that message did become part of the story, in a non-obnoxious way, IMO). Elinor was likable, but I think for youth like me, a lot of what she was doing and how Merida felt suffocated by it is very identifiable. I like Merida, but she’ll need to grow on me. My mom wasn’t fond of Merida, as I expected, but I think it’s partly a generation gap. Anyway…
The score for the movie is gorgeous. And the visuals, well, nothing really needs to be said there. Just wow. So despite some shortcomings with its plot and flow, I think Brave is a movie very worthy of Pixar’s name. It does cover plenty of new ground for Pixar, and even with its flubs, it’s a healthy film for the studio, I think. Even with ‘failures’ (and no, this movie is NOT a failure) it’s good to see Pixar trying different things. They’ll learn a lot, and flourish as a company. I think a lot of people forget that Pixar has not made that many feature films yet. Just because Pixar has been putting out superb movies since Toy Story does not mean they are set for life. New talent, new directors, artists and visionaries are coming along and it’s good to know they’re letting them make the movies they want. I’d be more concerned if Pixar kept repeating previous successes. If you truly think we’re in a ‘dark age’ because Cars 2 and Brave don’t meet your expectations, then that’s fine. But I find it hard to believe. We have some fantastic-sounding original movies coming out in the next few years, and I think the studio has been making some very good choices.
If you go into Brave with a clear head, you’ll find it’s a very fun, funny, and beautiful movie, both thematically and visually. And it got the classic Pixar tears out of me towards the end. Idk, I guess this is a movie that will polarize people, especially Pixar fans. But I liked it. It definitely had the Pixar charm, to me, and didn’t lose sight of what was important: the mother-daughter relationship.
I’m working away on a review of this film, and that will include all my thoughts! I agree with Leirin that it’s “not flawless, but not particularly flawed.” Right now, I say it’s a decent, well-made film that could have been pushed further, but I don’t really see myself falling more in love with it over time.