Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, John Ratzenberger
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Rating: B
The latest film from Pixar, Brave enters into the 10th Scottish highlands and follows Princess Merida (Macdonald) of Clan DunBroch. The film opens with a bit of an introduction to the background of the story; we see a young Merida being given her first bow from her father, King Fegus (Connolly), who then defends his family from the bear Mor'du and loses his left leg. Following this introduction the film rushes forward to when Queen Elinor (Thompson) announces that Merida is to be betrothed to the eldest son of one of the other three clan leaders; Dingwall (Coltrane), Macintosh (Ferguson), or MacGuffin (McKidd). Merida resists the betrotahl, however, causing her kingdom to be plunged into chaos when she (first) refuses to marry any of the eldest sons, resulting in the clans going to war against each other. Then she runs off and meets a witch (Walters), who provides her with a spell to change her mother's nature - which then changes her mother into a bear. It's up to Merida to save both her kingdom and mother before it's too late.
There were a lot of elements of this film that I really enjoyed. The basic plot is a bit tried and true, especially for a children's movie, but it is cute. There are points where you know what's going to happen next and points when if you've been paying attention you can figure it out rather easily. That actually might be my biggest problem with this film; the foreshadowing is very heavy handed, it's hard to miss the signs for what's about to come. Despite that, however, the moments between Merida and her family are touching and alternatively cute, funny, and heartwarming - and at times a combination of the three. The biggest saviour for the film in general is the fact that it's a bunch of people speaking with Scottish accents. I cannot stress this enough: if it has Scottish accents, I will watch it, and I will probably enjoy it thoroughly. My actual favourite part of the film in general was the music. Composer Patrick Doyle really looked at traditional native Scottish music and mixed it rather nicely with a bit of a more contemporary sound. The music itself is rather heart wrenching and moving. Doyle went so far as to utilize Scottish reels, jigs, and strathspeys, to create a drinking song, and to record an unaccompanied Gaelic psalm. If you enjoyed some of the music in it, you should check out Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, who sings on the soundtrack.
Beyond the music, however, I really liked the attention that the animators and creators paid to the details. The highlands are elegantly crafted in this world, and as we see Merida travelling through it I felt as though I had a sense of just where she was and how she got there. I loved the different ruins that they show and the standing stones that Merida discovers. I even love how they paid such close attention that the different clans wore different tartans - the presence of tartan in itself is rather anachronistic as it didn't come into prominence in Scotland until the 16th century and clan tartans didn't exist until the 19th century, but I still love that they took something that is so clearly associated with Scottish culture and tried to do it right. I even loved how one of the basic themes of the movie was the importance of learning your history, but I'm special that way.
Rating: B
The latest film from Pixar, Brave enters into the 10th Scottish highlands and follows Princess Merida (Macdonald) of Clan DunBroch. The film opens with a bit of an introduction to the background of the story; we see a young Merida being given her first bow from her father, King Fegus (Connolly), who then defends his family from the bear Mor'du and loses his left leg. Following this introduction the film rushes forward to when Queen Elinor (Thompson) announces that Merida is to be betrothed to the eldest son of one of the other three clan leaders; Dingwall (Coltrane), Macintosh (Ferguson), or MacGuffin (McKidd). Merida resists the betrotahl, however, causing her kingdom to be plunged into chaos when she (first) refuses to marry any of the eldest sons, resulting in the clans going to war against each other. Then she runs off and meets a witch (Walters), who provides her with a spell to change her mother's nature - which then changes her mother into a bear. It's up to Merida to save both her kingdom and mother before it's too late.
There were a lot of elements of this film that I really enjoyed. The basic plot is a bit tried and true, especially for a children's movie, but it is cute. There are points where you know what's going to happen next and points when if you've been paying attention you can figure it out rather easily. That actually might be my biggest problem with this film; the foreshadowing is very heavy handed, it's hard to miss the signs for what's about to come. Despite that, however, the moments between Merida and her family are touching and alternatively cute, funny, and heartwarming - and at times a combination of the three. The biggest saviour for the film in general is the fact that it's a bunch of people speaking with Scottish accents. I cannot stress this enough: if it has Scottish accents, I will watch it, and I will probably enjoy it thoroughly. My actual favourite part of the film in general was the music. Composer Patrick Doyle really looked at traditional native Scottish music and mixed it rather nicely with a bit of a more contemporary sound. The music itself is rather heart wrenching and moving. Doyle went so far as to utilize Scottish reels, jigs, and strathspeys, to create a drinking song, and to record an unaccompanied Gaelic psalm. If you enjoyed some of the music in it, you should check out Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis, who sings on the soundtrack.
Beyond the music, however, I really liked the attention that the animators and creators paid to the details. The highlands are elegantly crafted in this world, and as we see Merida travelling through it I felt as though I had a sense of just where she was and how she got there. I loved the different ruins that they show and the standing stones that Merida discovers. I even love how they paid such close attention that the different clans wore different tartans - the presence of tartan in itself is rather anachronistic as it didn't come into prominence in Scotland until the 16th century and clan tartans didn't exist until the 19th century, but I still love that they took something that is so clearly associated with Scottish culture and tried to do it right. I even loved how one of the basic themes of the movie was the importance of learning your history, but I'm special that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment