Am I the only one who loves Disney’s girl power at the moment?

Brave is an amazing movie with a strong female lead and a lot of funny moments. It’s time for the original ‘someday my prince will come’ princesses to move aside and time for a ‘I’ll be shooting for my own hand’ princess to take centre stage.

Meet Merida. A Scottish princess who is set to be married off and live and care for her husband as a lady is supposed to. But Merida has other ideas. Merida is an incredible character who takes her fate into her own hands when she meets a witch who says she can cure Merida’s problems, mainly her mum saying she has to be a lady and not be who she really is.

But things backfire. Merida’s mother is turned into a bear, the one creature feared and hated by the kingdom. Merida has to find a way to change her mother back to the queen she really is while learning home truths about herself along the way.

This is a wonderful movie about family values, being true to yourself and being careful with what you wish for. It teaches children that you should not be too quick to judge what your parents are doing as it could be in your best interest but also shouldn’t lose sight of who you want to be just to please someone else. Communication is key and that’s one thing these characters were missing.

But this movie is also amazing for adults. It gives you the inspiration to keep pushing forward with what you want to achieve in your life and to not let others push you around. The movie tells you that you are in charge of your life and if you’re not happy all you have to do is change the course you’re on, you’re not trapped doing the same thing forever; you have the power to make a change.

One thing that really impresses me in this movie is the animation. The setting of this movie is absolutely beautiful and the small details that Disney have included, especially with Merida’s hair, shows how intricate the whole movie is and how much they care. Each strand of Merida’s hair had its own movement and body and to think they had to animate that again and again throughout the movie is insane.

I’m excited for this new wave of Disney heroines. Seeing how popular Frozen was with audiences I believe this is a trend that won’t be ending anytime soon. It’s the little changes too, having a Scottish princess in a realistic Scottish setting is definitely something new and different. It’s good to have a large range of backgrounds represented on film to really make everyone feel included and not just the pretty blonde girls that film seems to favour so much.

Brave is a brilliant movie with an amazing story and wonderful characters. No matter your age I believe you can deeply enjoy this movie and learn a lot from it. Whether you’re seeing it in the eyes of Merida or her mother you’ll definitely get that old, warm Disney feeling that we all know and love. Having the mother character as an over the top sassy bear definitely added to the comedic element.

What do you think of Brave?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Film and TV critic. View all posts by shonaharding