Brave (2012)

Ever since Pixar's animation studio made history in 1995 with the first feature-length entirely computer-animated movie, they have had a nearly perfect track record of ten enjoyable hits and one flop in last year's Cars 2. Unlike that dissapointingly noisy entry to the canon, the new film Brave digs back into animation past. The directorial debut of Mark Andrews, which was also co-directed by Brenda Chapman, was clearly inspired by the great Disney animated fantasies that deal with similar material. However, that doesn't mean this movie falls short in the creativity department. It is a very surprising, entertaining, and heart-warming film. It tells the story of a young Scottish princess who accidentatlly turns her demanding mother into a bear, which forces them to undergo a journey that brings them closer together. I'm telling you, this is smile-inducing stuff.

One thing that you can definitely expect from a Pixar movie, even if it didn't have a great story, is great visuals. Brave is no exception. The studio actually completely rewrote their animation system in order to accomodate the intricate images on display, and the results are often breathtaking. A world is created here that is convincing and real, far moreso than some other recent movies that rely heavily on computers that I won't bother mentioning at this time. The point is that the creative team made something special with this movie. It is funny and catchy enough to enthrall young viewers, and fresh and charming enough to hold older ones' attention as well. The idea of having a tomboy as the heroine isn't the newest thing in the world, nor is the fact that she doesn't get along with her mother, but you don't think about things like that while watching. This red-headed girl is likely to be the new big role model for the target audience of the other Disney princesses, and they could do worse. The best thing about the characters is that they don't come across as cartoons, and by that I don't mean that they have the appearance, but the characteristics. They act as real people really would. I also found myself quite impressed with the voice acting, with both Kelly Macdonald as the featured character and mainly with Emma Thompson as the queen/mother. They have been perfectly cast and deliver flawless voice performances. So much so that it's a shame there aren't awards for such things.

Though I wouldn't necessarily rank it amongst the top tier films of the Pixar studio, and you can't not compare them to each other, Brave is a wonderfully entertaining movie, one that probably doesn't have any major competition for greatness in its field this year. I feel like I don't have all that much to say about it except that it's a good movie and you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

8/10