Last weekend, the newest Disney/Pixar heroine graced the big screen as a rebellious Scottish princess with a bow and arrow and a distaste for tradition. But what does "Brave" have to say about bravery? Rozann Carter reviews the film here. *SPOILER ALERT*
"I am Merida, and I’ll be shooting for my own hand."
A wild mop of fiery red hair, the icon of an unconventional Scottish princess, makes its way from one archery target to the next as the leading lady of Disney/Pixar’s newest animated film uses her birthright and skill in an attempt to earn her freedom from the stifling control of tradition in order “to change her fate.”
Reviews of the popular animation studio’s newest visual masterpiece have been all over the web this week, and frequent mention is made of Pixar’s bold move to present a female lead for the first time in their animation history. Princess Merida, the daughter of Lord Fergus and Lady Elinor of DunBrough, Scotland, takes over the big screen with an outdoorsy propensity for adventure and an implied aversion to the girly, swooning, glass-slipper-wearing, romance-obsessed princess of Disney old. “She doesn’t need a Prince Charming,” says her vocal talent, Kelly MacDonald. On this note, the central plotline for Brave revolves around Merida’s mission to escape the impending fate of her betrothal to said Prince Charming who will travel from one of the 3 neighboring clans to compete for Merida’s hand.
Morals and lessons weave their way throughout the storyline, but the primary interplay of the plot occurs between Merida and her mother.