The setup is pure Disney cliché, but the execution has some Pixar touches. Merida is a main character in the tradition of Woody, in that she had a good heart but makes a bad decision. In her zeal to be who she really is, she has no problem with trying to change who her mom really is. Pointing out that irony gives a new angle to this Princess story.
I liked that it was pretty balanced between the mom and the daughter, with neither being 100% right or 100% wrong.
The rival lords and their sons served their purpose, but they were the weak point for me. Movies with strong, action-oriented heroines often seem to surround them with males who are boorish, inept morons. (Note: all three of Merida’s suitors stink at archery.) Sometimes I wonder if this is a way of saying to the fragile male egos in the audience, “Well, she’s better than these losers, but if a ‘real man’ was there, he’d be better than her…'” (I’m a guy myself, but I wouldn’t have minded seeing Merida beat a skillful male archer).
The part I didn’t really care for (although again, it served its purpose) was the big slapsticky brawl between the clans.
What sold me on liking the movie (besides Merida’s deservedly praised crimson locks) was the bear (and I don’t mean Merdu). Pixar is brilliant at doing pantomime characters. I don’t think I can say much more without spoilers…
[spoiler]Maybe it’s because I love animated animal characters, but I’m surprised to see that many people hate the plot twist. (We just saw a commercial on The Disney Channel which spoiled the twist. Good thing we had already seen it!)
Actually, I worked out the twist before seeing the movie, from seeing the trailer with the three identical boys and three identical cubs, and then a set of stickers with the female bear character, who I guessed to be Elinor. But it was nice to be proven right .
Elinor being a bear who act like Elinor, and then reverting to a bear that acts like a bear, points up who she really is and how devastated Merida would be if she lost her mother. This premise also sets up a lot of emotional dramatic moments - a mother not recognizing her own daughter, a man nearly killing his own wife, etc.
In the plot department, it did remind me of Princess and the Frog, in that they have to go waaaaaaaaaaay out in the wilderness to find out…that they have to go back to where they started.
A lot of people are saying they were disappointed that the witch wasn’t as strong of a villain as Malificent, Syndrome, etc. But I don’t think she was supposed to be a villain. (There was that one trailer that dubbed her over a scene laughing evilly…I don’t think that ever happened in the movie). Who I would compare her to is Edna Mode. Like the witch, Edna appeared halfway through the story, and only in a couple of scenes, but she was way more memorable. Still, I did think that modern reference cauldron gag was really funny, because, with the vials of potion, it seemed concievable to that universe (as opposed to if they had put a number keypad on the side of the cauldron or something).
The three boys/cubs are another nice example of Pixar pantomime, but it was interesting that their transformation (and the idea that they might spend the rest of their lives as “real bears”) didn’t seem to carry nearly the same dramatic concern as their mothers’.[/spoiler]
So yeah, a solid entry to the Pixar canon, but I do hope that Disney lets them do more weird premises like a rat who wants to be gourmet chef or an old man who attaches balloons to his house and flies to South America. I wonder how many of those kinds of films were in development before the official Disney purchase, and how the purchase has changed the way Pixar develops stories