Brief scenes in which this Mama Bear seems ready to maim and even kill her daughter tap the same primal taboo that causes us to recoil when we read about real-life mothers who murder their children. Thus, Elinor’s fuzzy new identity places her in grave danger from her own spouse even as it provides a context for Baloo-like slapstick and sight gags.Īs Elinor becomes more bearish, she becomes dangerous and forgetful of her human identity. This time, it’s Elinor who - in response to one of pouting Merida’s selfish wishes - is magically transformed into a large bruin of the type that chomped off the leg of her husband, the warrior-king Fergus (Billy Connolly), a dedicated bear-hunter. “Brave” is reminiscent of “Brother Bear” (2003), one of Disney’s last “traditional” animated features, in which an Inuit boy is turned into a bear. On a darker note, this young-adult coming-of-age fairy tale is informed by Jungian psychology’s notion of the Electra complex - the rivalry between mother and daughter brought on by adolescence and sexual maturation. The onscreen weeping will find many echoes in the audience, especially among mothers and daughters. “You’ve always been there for me - you’ve never given up on me,” a chastened Merida tells her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), in a climactic embrace. Is this distinction a testimony to Chapman’s talent, or an indicator of the lack of women in animation? Chapman’s only previous feature as a director was DreamWorks’ kitschy 1998 Torah-inspired cartoon, “The Prince of Egypt.” (The co-director of “Brave” is veteran animator Mark Andrews.) Merida’s vanguard status is appropriate: The story is by Brenda Chapman, who also co-directs, making her the first woman to helm a Pixar feature. The trailers and posters for “Brave” focus almost exclusively on rebellious Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), a teenage princess in an ancient Scottish kingdom and the first female protagonist to carry a Pixar project.
#DISNEY BRAVE WISP MOVIE#
The movie (in unnecessary 3-D, at most locations) is surprisingly mature in theme and at times even somewhat terrifying, but also underwhelming and preachy, if less self-consciously grandiose than most Pixar productions.
Instead, “Brave” - true to its title adjective? - is perhaps Pixar’s oddest film, a fable that might as well have been titled “My Mother, the Bear.”
#DISNEY BRAVE WISP UPDATE#
The company’s marketing campaign for the latest computer-animated feature film from the geniuses at Pixar promises an adventure of you-go-girl empowerment intended to update the tradition of the so-called “Disney princess” for the Katniss Everdeen generation. Disney must have been confounded by “Brave.”
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