Brave and beautiful film how to#

A third time they take her to Mordu’s lair, where she discovers the bear’s dark, magical past and nearly gets herself killed. The next time she sees them, she’s lying in a Stonehenge-like circle-a magic ring her horse refuses to enter-and the wisps’ trail leads to the witch’s door. Several times, Merida follows a trail of will-o’-the-wisps-strange, floating lights that her mother tells her will “lead you to your fate.” The first time she follows them, they lead to Mordu, a huge “demon bear” that bites off her father’s leg. The witch works her magic through a giant cauldron and is assisted by a not-so-cute crow. Rather, it’s something more in step with the story’s ancient Scottish setting: Here, magic is mysterious. It’s not the flyweight wand-waving of Cinderella or the more naturalistic conjurations of Harry Potter. But it asks us to remember that when you strip away all the differences and all the hurt, the bond between mother and daughter is a thing of transcendent beauty.Īs mentioned, Brave is inflected with magic. Those teen years can be difficult in many households. We see here a mom’s need to prepare her kids for the real world, a daughter’s desire for freedom and the ability to make her own decisions. In Brave, Merida grows up before our eyes-not physically, but emotionally.Įlinor and Merida wind up risking their lives for each other, and their contentious-but-beautiful bond mimics, in its own surreal way, many a mother-daughter relationship. She realizes that all those lessons were important-that she has responsibilities and duties that she can’t shirk or run away from. She discovers that her mother, far from being a beast, has loved and cared for her as much as anyone. Instead of claiming the princess like a blue ribbon at a fair, a potential suitor must now (as a lord tells us) win her heart before he wins her hand.īut it’s Merida who changes more here. Moreover, she moves the kingdom away from the formulaic betrothal process it’s historically embraced. Throughout the course of the movie, Elinor does change: Given a new perspective, she’s able to see Merida not as merely a flawed project but as a growing, confident young woman-more capable and mature than she had imagined. But while Merida may think her mother’s a beast, and Elinor might consider Merida a brat, there are no villains here: only two strong, caring and (might as well say it) brave women who, in spite of their differences, love each other very much. Merida and Elinor’s difficult, complex relationship lies at the very soul of Brave. Pixar’s stories are rooted in relationships, and the studio manages to examine even the most fractious with honesty, sensitivity and grace. We’ve come to expect a lot from Disney’s brilliant animated adjunct, Pixar-beautiful art, great comedy and, most of all, fantastic storytelling. When the witch tries to sell Merida a bit of her handiwork, the princess suggests a different deal: I’ll buy all your woodstuffs if you sell me a spell. The argument grows uglier, and Merida flees from the castle with her face as red as her lashes, tears streaming down her cheeks … as she finds herself in the cottage of an old, mysterious witch with a passion for woodcarving. Back in the castle, she slices through a tapestry depicting her family-severing Elinor from Merida’s side. In a breathtaking moment of rebellion, she competes for her own hand and wins it, enraging the lords and infuriating the queen. She’s to be the grand prize in an archery contest, and whatever union results won’t be of love, but of duty-duty to the clans and the kingdom.

And not to the kilted boy next door, either, but to the son of one of the kingdom’s three fractious lords. That she’s imprisoned in a world of her mom’s making.Īnd now the final lock is in place: Elinor’s marrying Merida off. The lessons are relentless, and with each new rule, familiar scold and look of disappointment Elinor piles on, Merida feels as if her life’s not her own. “A princess strives for, well, perfection,” Elinor tells her. She teaches her lute-playing and schools her in the kingdom’s history and geography.

Brave and beautiful film how to#

Practically every day, Elinor trains Merida in the finer points of ladyship: how to stand, how to eat, how to talk, how to walk. And Princess Merida-a headstrong young lass with a spirit as fiery as her own unruly hair? Her mother wants her to grow up to be … a bride. In Tangled, Rapunzel’s wanted to comb the ever-loving life out of her hair. Snow White’s stepmother wanted to kill her.

To be a Disney princess is to have mommy issues.