Brave

Awe Scotland... what a dream place this is.  A country where renaissance lovers and transvestites can live together in perfect harmony.  All you need is a bunch of plaid sheets, woven together by a bunch of old people with love, and food made out of sheep's stomach.  This Scottish tale follows the story of princess Merida, who by law, must find a suitable lad from one of the neighboring clans to make her hubby.  Obviously Merida says "screw this" and fights to follow her own path by any means necessary, which has both negative and positive consequences... like eating a piece of pizza that fell on the floor of a soup kitchen.  While Merida's own drama is going on, her whole family is being randomly hunted by a bear the size of a Mormon-owned mini-van, and much like what Scottish men wear under their kilts, it's a huge mystery.

The Good:
In the middle of High School I had the pleasure of going to Scotland, and when I arrived it was to my great happiness that almost EVERYONE was a red-head, and not a soul in sight!  Finally! A country where my skin isn't too white, where I can wear a manly skirt without persecution, and my hair doesn't stick out like a big toe that was once smashed by my older brother in attempt to kill a rat... I digress.  Scotland was a wonderful place for me, and this movie was a reminder of the good times I had.  Even though it's a animated flick, you have to hand it to the people at PIXAR for how beautiful they made it look.  Not only was the hair awesome and red, but the landscapes were breathtaking, and the music topped it off like a bowl of ice-cream after a good meal.  Much like the "Secret World of Arrietty", the story-line here is very simple, and is probably the reason why they didn't explain much in the trailer, because then they would have screwed the movie for everyone else.  the simplicity of the story worked very well, and because it was basic you didn't feel like you HAD to pay attention to what was going on all the time, so people like me can have ADHD moments looking at the landscapes and listening to bagpipe music... like a boss!

The Bad:

I couldn't find anything bad with this movie, except for Princess Merida's AWESOME bad hair day!  My personal opinion is that her hair was awesome to boot, but honestly, hasn't she every heard of Herbal Essences?  Her hair is so out of control that you would think she just broke out of a straight jacket and escaped a loony-bin.  I wonder what haircut she requests from the ladies at great-clips?  "Give me the 'broken down drunk' look, and I want you to emphasize the Broken down part".

The Ugly:
This is a great family film that kids will love because of the "What's under the kilt" humor, and older Scotland-obsessed people like me feel like we're traveling to the country again, minus the agonizing plane ride, and the annoying 3-yr old who keeps kicking me in the back of the head like he's trying to get information... but I'm not bitter.  This is a very beautiful movie that hits home on everything PIXAR stands for.

5 out of 5