Brave marks something of unchartered territory for animation powerhouse Pixar. It's their first fairytale,, the first set in the past, the first to use magic, and the first to feature a female lead, in Kelly Macdonald's Princess Merida. It's also the Pixar film that I've waited the longest to see since it's cinema release, seeing as it came out here over a month ago, but I only saw it yesterday because of the frankly outrageous 3D scheduling of my cinema (as always, fuck 3D).
The long delay has added to my already high level of anticipation for the film, seeing as I started reading reviews of my American and New Zealander counterparts months ago when the film was released over there (seriously, why such a long wait for us Brits? Sort it out), and my deep love of most things Pixar (Cars? meh) meant that this film was going to have to do a lot to satisfy me. And unfortunately, it didn't.
Apparently it’s strange that I’ve never seen this before, though to be fair I don’t really think you need to, so formulaic is the plot of the boy striving to defy his father’s wishes and become a ballet dancer. Initially, the boy will accidentally experience the disapproved of skill, and show an unexpected (at least for him and the rest of the cast) flair and enjoyment for it. Knowing his family will disapprove, he’ll hide it from them, only confiding in a couple of friends and his maternal-love replacing new mentor. Inevitably, his family will discover the truth and be horrified, until they see that he is actually good at it, and more importantly it makes him happy. Begrudgingly, they will accept the path he has chosen and assist him on his way as he struggles to overcome the prejudice that comes with his working class background, until finally he is accepted by everyone. It’s this sense of by-the-numbers plotting that has maintained my distance from Billy Elliot in the past. That, and that it’s about dancing. And Northerners. The cast perform well, especially Jamie Bell as the eponymous Elliot, Julie Walters as his new mentor and Gary Lewis as his disapproving Dad, but its hard to ignore just how clichéd the whole affair is.
Choose life 6/10
Brave marks something of unchartered territory for animation powerhouse Pixar. It's their first fairytale,, the first set in the past, the first to use magic, and the first to feature a female lead, in Kelly Macdonald's Princess Merida. It's also the Pixar film that I've waited the longest to see since it's cinema release, seeing as it came out here over a month ago, but I only saw it yesterday because of the frankly outrageous 3D scheduling of my cinema (as always, fuck 3D). 
