Movie review of Brave

Brave

Family Trees of Royal Family

          The story starts with some scenes of Merida’s childhood life. Merida is a princess of Dun Broch. Her father, King Fergus, gives a bow to her as her birthday present. From this, it shows audience that Merida is different from other princesses in other fairy tales. 

Fergus, the king, is teaching her how to use the bow.

          Since that is the first time she plays archery, she loses it and as she is going to pick it back, she sees will-o’-the wisps in real. From that moment, she starts to believe in magic. After that, a giant bear Mor’du suddenly appears in front of them and attacks them. This becomes the reason why her father loses his leg. 

Three little brother of princess Merida.

          The story then cuts to a few years later. Merida has three brothers, named Hamish, Hubert, and Harris who are very naughty and they can do whatever they want. Inversely, the whole life of Merida as a princess is planned out. There are some quick scene show what a princess should do and should not do. For example, a princess does not doodle, does not chortle, does not raise her voice, does not stuff her gob, and does not put her weapon on the table. However, there is one day that she doesn’t have to be a princess. It shows how happy she is compared to those days where she needs to train to be a proper princess in the castle. She rides on the horse and starts shooting with her bow.

The archery games.

          The story plot becomes more exciting when the queen mentions about suitors and marriage during dinner time. According to the rules of Dun Broch, the three princes from other kingdoms need to take part in the archery games to prove their strength and win the princess' heart. However, during the games, the princess embarrasses them. The queen becomes very angry of Merida's actions and they have a argument in the castle. As a result, Merida tears the tapestry of their family portrait while the queen throws her favorite bow into the fire. 

She spoilt the tapestry of her mother.

          This becomes the main reason why the princess decides to leave the castle. Because of the queen's rash action, Merida becomes very hurt and saddened by it. As she rides deep into the forest, she meets once again the wisps that she met when she was a small girl. Suddenly I realized that was why the directors included the opening scene of her first witness of the wisps. The scene then cuts off to the princess following the wisps step by step. The wisps then lead her to a humble woodcarver who is actually a witch. Thus, she requests a spell that would change her mother's mindset on her marriage. The witch then gives her a cake in return.

Like a boss pose.

          Surprisingly, a bite of the cake changes her mother into a bear! I love every reaction of the queen after she changes into a bear, especially when she keeps worrying about someone seeing her naked body although she doesn’t realize that her body is actually covered in fur. And I love Merida’s three little brothers as well; they are really cute! I still remember that the  moment when Merida needs their help to escape from the castle, they request for more than 3 weeks' dessert. At the end, they make the deal as one year's desserts. Omg, I really love their facial expression, like a boss!

          The story continues by Merida's second visit back to the witch’s cottage with her mother, but the witch is off to Wickerman Festival in Stornoway. From the message that the witch leaves for them, they find out that her mother’s spell will be permanent by second sunrise. The only clue that they get is “Fate be changed, look inside, mend the bond, torn by pride”. 

          Among all, my favorite part of this movie is when her mother starts to realize and become more understanding of her daughter. Instead of having poisonous nightshade berries and water with worms as breakfast, Merisa leads her mother to the riverside and she shows her mother how she catches fishes from the river by using her bow. Her mother feels proud of her skills and claps for her. Princess Merida says some words that her mother has taught her earlier: “A princess should not own weapons” and “How do you know you don’t like it if you won’t try it?” That is really funny and cute! Merida and her mother really enjoy the happy moment of catching fishes. So warm! 

Happy moment of the princess and her mother who turned into a bear.

          After that they follow the wisps again and accidentally find out that the same spell had happened before in the ancient kingdom. No doubt, the prince turns into a real bear permanently. Knowing this, they quickly returned to the castle because the finally know the secret to change her mother back which is to stitch the tapestry back. At the same time, the three clans are forcing the king to make the decision who will marry with her daughter in the castle. Merida’s perfect speech changes their mindset and finally calms down their emotions. From the speech, her mother feels the changes of her daughter as well. I was quite touched by it! In my opinion, I think although the spell turns her mother into a bear, but it really changes both of their fate. 

          In short, although I can’t really remember the details of happy ending, I do enjoy this animation very much. Love it!