Oh yeah, this thread.
I think at one time I started building this huge defense of Brave, and then got bored or something.
But what the heck right?
Reasons Brave is Awesome:
It pushes the envelope of digital animation. Pixar has always been the lead innovator of 3D animation in film, and they raised the stakes again with Brave. It's absolutely
beautiful to look at, the colors are more vivid than life, the lighting is perfect. The camera does things I've never seen an animation camera do. And with all of that, it still feels more
real than most animated films I've ever seen. Don't even ask.. as far as I'm concerned it's magic. Two or three scenes always make me catch my breath, and I was fortunate enough to see it three times on the big screen.
Based on aesthetic value alone, this film is definitely one of Pixar's finest.
The story is brilliant because it subverts all your expectations. Princess story, castle in Ireland, yeah yeah we've seen this already. But by thirty minutes in, we're seeing things we've never seen before, experiencing emotions we've never felt in that context. There is raw honesty in Merida's independent spirit, she feels like a real person, no longer like a Disney princess. Merida's mother isn't a cruel stepmother-type character, or the perfect parent figure who knew best all along; she's also a real person! She's good, but also vulnerable. She's flawed, but in an endearing way. Both Merida and her mother have more life in them than most movie characters do, and the film sets them off on a journey where they
both learn from their mistakes and mature mutually. When is the last time you've seen that? Even Up didn't do that. Finding Nemo did, but again it was more about Marlin's journey as a parent figure, less about Nemo's side of the whole mutual respect thing. Brave knocked both of those character development themes out of the park, and it never really felt forced. That's masterful screenwriting.
And even if the story felt familiar, Brave's catalyst of choice was really something else. You never saw that plot twist coming, did you? And here's where Brave's master stroke comes into play.. it uses the whole Bear catalyst to meet two ends, both comic relief and emotional pathos. Sometimes we're laughing at the unique chemistry between Merida and her ill-inflicted mother, other times we're struck by the sheer weight of the scenario. The whole concept actually comes dangerously close to pulling a 'Beauty and the Beast', in which we lose the heart of the character in the transformation, but through masterful animation and storytelling we still recognize Merida's mother the whole time, and the final scene still packs its emotional punch.
Brave takes you to new moral territory without you even knowing it. It simultaneously challenges the 'Disney Princess' conventions, the independent, child-follows-her-heart framework, and gender stereotypes. It's a love story, but there's no Prince Charming love interest in sight. It's about a mother and a daughter, and it's honest to a fault. It promotes feminism without being agenda driven. It's dark when it needs to be dark, appropriately comic when it's given the chance, and above all it has a passionate heart that shows through the script, the characters, the direction, the animation, the sound design, EVERYTHING.
And did I even mention how awesome the soundtrack is? It's like one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard.
Jonathan wrote:The other indication that Disney is forcing it's methods on Pixar is that Brave, again, while enjoyable, was formulaic for Disney. Cheap, juvenile jokes, a princess, an animal sidekick, and some magic hocus-pocus thrown in as a plot point. Like we haven't seen that a bunch of times before.
Ultimately I strongly disagree with this, based on all the reasons given above. Brave gets double points for being awesome because it was not only
not formulaic, it made you
think it was formulaic. Look closer, and you'll discover a story that spits in the face of Disney formula and raises the stakes for animated filmmaking everywhere.
edit:
Hallelujah! 
There may be other fish in the sea, but that movie will always be my Nemo. 
I'm a human dory, it's my new excuse.
