Brave 2012

I love PIXAR, those three words just say it all. Since their first big leap to the big screen with the beloved TOY STORY in 1996, I haven't doubted for a second that PIXAR produces quality, and only quality work of the highest callibre. Having highly anticipated BRAVE from the day it was announced, and being a genuine lover of all PIXAR films, I entered with extremely high expectations, I was anything but disappointed.

BRAVE centers around Princess Merida, a teenager determined to make her own path in life, defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

Yet another outstanding, excellent and absolutely beautiful release from PIXAR, BRAVE exceeds in every aspect imaginable. Each character is lovingly crafted with depth, vividness, heart and sheer fun, while it's cast is unique, skilled and overly qualified in every way. Kelly Macdonald does a superb job with Merida's voice work, capturing the sense of teen youthfulness perfectly, while giving an exceptionally heartbreaking performance near the end of the film. It's plot is highly inspired and original, if a bit Disney-fied, made interesting with an unexpected twist, that had me hooked from the film's opening.

Despite being early marketed as quite a dark film, BRAVE features hefty amounts of stellar humor and memorable gags that literally had me, and certainly my packed theater, in stitches. Much of this humor originates from the triplets, Merida's three little brothers, who often get up to mischief, and are the cutest animated humans I have ever seen in a PIXAR film. With slapstick to appeal to both the young and old, verbal humor that will keep the grown-ups on their toes, and on-screen gags that leave you breathless in laughter, BRAVE will give you as many laughs as any other comedy this year.

PIXAR doesn't fail to impress when it comes to visuals, and BRAVE is no exception. Beautifully animated are the plains of Scotland, the CG forests on the outskirts of the kingdom, the intensely vivid characters and even Merida's beautifully textured hair. So it goes without saying that BRAVE succeeds with it's almost magical visual style, contributing to an equally stunning and immersive 3D experience.

But most impressive of all, was the emotional punch that BRAVE managed to pack. We know that PIXAR has left us emotional wrecks, one time or another after viewing one of their films, TOY STORY 3 has always been one to reduce me to tears (BRAVE was no different), but BRAVE, above all, does so in such a magical way. The films really is about Merida's relationship with her mother, a relationship that is so easily relatable to me as an audience member, and really how having a strong relationship with your parent can change your fate/life. A lesson reminiscent in FINDING NEMO, told beautifully in more depth here in BRAVE.

So, easily said with an overly talented cast, spectacular visuals and beautiful animation, fully immersive 3D experience, comedy just as golden in every sense, characters with heart, and a plot+moral with soul, BRAVE is a purely magical animated treat by the wizards of PIXAR, and definitely the best of the year so far.