Why Is Brave Neglected By The Pixar Fandom?⎮A Pixar Discussion 

I like how they made Merida independent and tomboyish without making her masculine. Just because a woman isn't a girly girl doesn't mean she has to be masculine.

Brave basically got the Middle child syndrome: not hated but not loved, which means nobody remembers it. This is really sad for films, since their are many films like Brave that are really good but aren't good enough to be remembered.

Brave was my favorite movie as a kid (I still like it as an adult but different movies have become my favorite now) and I was shocked when I realized how underrated it was. The humor was good, I loved the world building around the wisps, and it connected with me because I have a mother that I don't see eye to eye with sometimes but I still love her. And this movie got me interested in learning archery so that's a bonus!

Oddly looking back on brave, it doesn’t feel Pixar but with the main Disney Princess brand. She’s even the 11th official Disney Princess. Maybe the reason why Brave is forgotten child because it the middle child between Tangle doing a better job 2010 and Frozen a year later at 2013. No song or anything spectacular to separate it.

I honestly love Brave. And so does my mom. It takes alot for me and my mom to like alot of the same things. And I think we both like it so much cause my mom can relate to Merida’s mom and I can relate to Merida. This movie should really get a sequel I would love to see what would they do it.

I loved the first half of the movie,the mother and daughter relationship and their issues and how it showed women's struggles but then instead of solving the conflicts in a satisfying way they just turned elinor to a bear:/ the bow wasn't even mentioned after she burnt it despite it's important role! honestly her and merida's relationship was the best part of the movie,it's sad they didn't get more development

The scene with the queen and Merida during the storm when Merida was little and scared makes me tear up. My children were little at the time and I remembered thinking that these moments are so fleeting and they'll grow up so fast. The movie has a soft spot in my heart for that one scene. I think the bear aspect was very weak.

Brave is probably my favorite pixar/Disney movie. It actually resonates with me pretty well. I felt Merida was probably one of the most relatable princesses out there for girls today.

I think it’s terribly unfortunate the Brave gets forgotten. I love that movie, not only because I and a huge fan of anything Celtic in nature, but also because I can relate to the story, I love listening to Scottish accents, the triplets crack me up as does Maudie, and I especially love how Mirada is a strong, smart, motivated, independent and capable portrayal of a young woman. It’s gives modern girls something to aspire to hear isn’t part of the typical “princess” character. And men in kilts always cheer me up!

I think if there was no bear plot and they did something a bit different it would have been much better and probably remembered more. The only parts I really liked were in the beginning with the tension between Merida and her mom, but as soon as the bear plot comes in I just check out of the movie entirely.

I like Brave. I have a bit of a bias towards the setting due to having Scottish ancestry, and found Merida to be a fun character who filled the princess role without falling into the Disney princess cliches. However, I'm reminded of a video by the channel eliquorice from a couple years ago, where he outlined how Brave was effectively two primary plots in one movie. Both plots were good, but neither got enough time to truly develop and tell their story, so the movie feels a bit more lackluster compared to some of Pixar's other films. I agree that Brave is underrated, but I can also see why it's not liked as much from a storytelling perspective. I think that one flaw is what kept Brave from being one of Pixar's greatest hits, up there with Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Inside Out. Though not being as good as The Incredibles doesn't by any means make it a bad movie, either.

I always felt like Brave had a lot of missed potential in building its world, story, and themes in favor of shenanigans stolen straight from Brother Bear

Brave honestly was a good film. Its themes, storytelling, and animation were all pretty good. I even appreciate that they at least kept a bit of an accent on the characters, which most Disney films don't do. I'm curious how it is that people claim it wasn't relatable, given that its whole storyline was literally about parent/child conflict and tension from not conforming to parental expectations. These are things most people deal with in real life all the time. And it resolves it in a fairly nice manner, with both parent and child developing a mutual understanding and respect.

When I was a kid, I would watch brave every day. It’s so good, and I wish people would appreciate it more.

The bear plot really ruined the movie for me,it felt like the movie was trying to do the same thing as encanto did but failed at it. I'm still mad that pixar fired it's original director,her story seemed more interesting

I guess you can say just by being Brave, doesn’t bring you glory.

This is my favorite Pixar movie ever. The characters, the settings, the music, the story! 🥰 I saw that this in theaters so many times and it became my comfort movie ❤️

I think an error people make is judging a movie based off of a company that produces the movie. Now, it would make sense to do so, especially if said company has made a legacy for themselves, but then again, we also kind of have to remember two things- nostalgia and writing. i remember being a kid and not knowing the difference between different animation companies, so when i saw an animated movie, i was only watching it for the plot and the way the movie looked. When brave came out, i was still a kid, and i thought that the plot was boring. Looking back at brave now, i still think the same thing. I also now believe the characters were loud and some of the characters were useless and added nothing to the story. Compared to monsters inc, brave had no scenes that had an impact on me like when sully reopened the door to see the little girl. Compared to mega mind, brave does not tackle its societal problems as well as mega mind does. When i think of Brave, i think of wreck it ralph 2, because i remember she was in that one scene in the movie.

It's the result of a woman's vision compromised and a muddled story that falls apart in the second half. Not to mention, Pixar's take on the '90s Disney Princess seemed too "tropey."

Brave has a good story line, but it never really grabs you emotionally, the way that Toy Story or Up does. It is a charming movie, but ultimately it never makes a deep, visceral connection with the viewer. Merida stays brave throughout; she doesn't fall and climb back up the way that Woody did or Marlin. Frankly, Merida is just too...brave.

Having seen Brave in theaters when it came out I can tell you the reason people forget about it is entirely because of misogyny *-the plot needlessly alternating between a copy of Brother Bear and an actually good story about a mother and her child-* and it's a goddamn shame audiences can't see it as the golden masterpiece it is.

That's a pretty solid theory on why this movie doesn't get much discussion. I personally think that it's an okay movie. Nothing too great but not bad either, just somewhere around avarage basically, that's all.

When I left the cinema after seeing 'Brave' I was fuming with anger, because 'Brave' could so easily have been a great movie, but it totally missed the mark. At the base of the story, we have four rival Celtic Clans who were always warring with eachtother but, when threatened from outside, decided to work together, and in order to do so, they all allow themselves to be ruled by a Queen and her King, under the condition that the next Queen is the ruling queen's daughter and the next king is one of the sons of the three other chieftains. The princess chooses her husband during the contest in which all clans are together. Yes, it's a contest, but the princess can decide what kind of contest and so play into the strength of her preferred prince, while the lads just do their best to impress the princess. Now, Merida's problem is that she 'wants her freedom', but she has a duty to be the next queen and unite the clans. Without her marrying on of the princes, the clans would go to war with each other. The story should not have been about her mother turning into a bear - because her mother is not the problem - but about Merida changing into a mute scullery maid. Free from marriage, but not free to roam in the wilds as she wants. And each time she acts out in rage, she would become more and more hairy and snarling because the curse would turn HER into a bear, and in danger of being killed by her father, the bear-hunter. We've had the backstory about the prince who selfishly worked against the unification of the clans and was cursed to become a demon bear, something similar should've happened to Merida, who also did her utmost to selfishly destroy the union between the clans.

In my actual opinion. Brave is the best Pixar film out there. It's character arcs are much more emotionally satisfying than other Pixar films. Not only that. I've always had a problem with Pixar thinking way too out of the box to the point of being weird sometimes. Cars and even Toy Story didn't bode that well for me due to them being kinda outlandish. Sentient Cars and Toys? Inside Out, is another example. Brave is based on Celtic History which is amazing as I love European History and it makes a lot more sense than the aforementioned. Not only that. Pixar films tend to be immature, though Incredibles tried to fix this(Wasn't very good at doing it though). I mean I know they are for kids but kids aren't that squeamish and they also want good stories. Brave on the other hand is a lot more mature than other Pixar films. I mean There's Political strife in the Kingdome, The Bear Antagonist looks like a Dark Souls Boss, and even his castle had actual human remains and the fight in the third act is dark and intense. And to top that all off it actively teaches kids to sacrifice their dreams for the greater good, which is a painful yet true moral that must be learned.

I love Brave so much and Merida is my favorite princess after Mulan! I just relate to her so much, since my mom is like Eleanor, only she nvr had her character development... 😂 I honestly didn't know that Brave was considered underrated, I only knew that several people think that Merida is a Disney princess. Nevertheless, it's one of my favorite animated movies and it saddens me that people don't remember it.

I think the first half of the movie has a really strong message about daughter and mother relationship, but i guess the bear plot is a bit of a turn off. Some people who talked about this movie have said that the directors changed in the middle of the movie and changed the original idea for the ending. In my opinion, the second half of the movie isn't that strong because to fix daughter and mother relationship is to undo the spell. So for the viewers it's two separate movies which don't combine nicely. But after all, this movie is still in my heart after what? 6-8 years?

Honestly Princess Merida is my favorite princess as I relate to her and my relationships within my family the most. It always bothers me how underrated it is and I saw this with my daughters when it 1st came out

I love Brave, it's one of my favourites!

I rewatched Brave again a few days ago but I focused my attention more on the background characters, reading isekai manhwas has made me appreciate the background character there were so much going on in the background specifically the banquet And I found myself focusing my attention on the suitors and how hilarious the brothers and lords were. I honestly didn’t thought about Brave much until I watched the Once upon a time series and it made me wish to see more

My gripe with the movie is that the trailers hyped it up to be this grand and epic film, but that's not what we ended up getting. The film's not terrible, it's just okay. The film follows a bit of the tropes that most people have seen before like Merida is very adventurous and full of spirit like Belle or Mulan, or how she doesn't want to be a princess similar with Jasmine. The only thing that I found interesting was the mother turning into a bear. When that happened I was thinking: "I swear I've seen this done before," and it turns out I was right because it reminded me a lot of Brother Bear. You know that movie about a guy turning into a bear, the movie that no one, not even Disney, remembers.

It had no catchy music and she’s not designed as conventionally “pretty” as other princesses. This makes her less marketable and makes little kids forget about her easily. If the 0-15 year olds don’t really latch on to a movie then the 16+ year olds (especially the 20-30 something’s who spend most of their time on social media or making RU-vid videos) won’t talk about it either. There’s a reason why cars was so popular: marketability. You saw cars stuff EVERYWHERE and I still can’t get that song out of my head (“Real Gone”). IMHO other Pixar films had better main and side plots. Brave outright ignored and shat on all semblance of romance which is a very delicate thing to do. Eleanor loved her husband but overall the relationship was kind of hard to watch and Merida was so against getting married and all of her prospects were truly terrible. The bear thing kind of came out of left field and there were just a lot of things that happened that didn’t seem to make sense. It wasn’t a “bad” movie by a long shot but I can definitely see where it fell flat in comparison to other Pixar films. It tried to be too different where it counted and was laid by the wayside because of it.

Cars was saved by Larry the Cable Guy. If his character was removed, I don’t think it would have survived.

YES THANK YOU FOR SHOWING SOME LOVE TO THIS UNDERRATED GEM FROM PIXAR!

First off: I like this movie - and especially Merida. BUT for me, personally, the whole "arranged marriage thing" felt a bit out of place. For one, if forming an engagement/bondTwhatever between her clan and one of the others is so important, why has her mother never informed her about it before the events of the movie? You'd think that's the kind of thing you might want to tell your daughter, especially if she's rather unruly. Next, if this whole marriage thing is such a big and pressing matter that you basically turn it into festival a with competitions and whatnot, why can it be resolved (or at least postponed) with a few words, which are not even spoken by the queen herself, but said rebellious princess with a visibly strong motif of preventing the whole affair? Ultimately, this easily solved conflict made the stakes feel kinda low - at least in regards of the whole clan war threat. Moreover, her not wanting to be married off to one of three weirdos is a bit too understandable to be understood as "pride". At least for me XD This way, her actually apologizing to her mother didn't have the full emotional impact that it could have. I think, it would've been more interesting to drop the "marriage plot" as a whole and replace it with some kind of peace treaty. For example: The clans where at war until Fergus united them, but the alliance is - as said in the movie - still shaky. In order to celebrate, let's say.... 15 years of peace, they gather in Fergus' kingdom and he throws a feast with competitions and stuff in their honor. Since those chiefs are rather conservative, Merida is forced to behave as princess-y as possible - if not more. And because the whole thing goes on for days on end, tensions inevitably arise. Elinor asks her daughter to keep out of most or all of the competitions in order not to insult the clan chiefs and/or their sons, telling her, that those are for men only and especially not for princesses. Merida doesn't care, joins the competition, competes, wins and, of course, insults the clan chiefs. Mother and daughter argue, Merida finds the bear witch, her mother get's turned etc. This way, Merida would easily be seen to be proud - but in an understandable way. Driving the whole "Fate be changed, look inside - mend the bond torn by pride" point home. Also, her mother wouldn't be forcing her into a marriage and a life of unhappiness, but solely try to protect the truce and her daughter. Just my two cents XD (Btw, I apologize for my grammar and stuff, I'm German XD)

At least Merida is a Disney Princess so technically the movie will never be forgotten now.

Brave is one of my absolute FAVORITE animated films!

I spent over 8 minutes of watching this video going, "What about the Good Dinosaur"? "Onward" was totally missed. If we're going to address Pixar's middling films and lump Brave in there, its at the very top of that list, especially if we discount sequels. Looking back at Pixar's filmography since this film came out, its interesting to see Pixar has had some fantastic hits - Inside Out, Soul, & Coco. They also missed with Monster's University and Cars 3, but most of their releases look to fall right in the middle with Brave. I think its just a bit buried by the majority of Pixar's mediocre offerings have come out after it.

I adore brave it’s lovely. Especially the storyline

Hm, i would like to see more of Brave, seems quite interesting.

I love Brave. A story about a mother and daughter who were clearly close when the daughter was young, but have grown apart and manage to reconnect. Also, pushing back against marrying a total stranger, which is a Disney trope (that’s fading, thank goodness). The Dunbrochs are actually a pretty stable family, all things considered. That’s an oddity when you think about it.

I LOVE Brave! It was the first movie I took my daughter to see, and she liked it so much we saw it 10 times in the theater. We play the soundtrack in the car and sing along. Such a cute film.

This is by no means a bad film I just personally think it’s not as memorable as some of Pixar’s other movies

I recall a lot of talk about what people “expected”, rather than what it was. The trailers made it seem like Merida would go on an adventure to hunt the demon bear. When that didn’t happen, I remember many people were confused or disappointed. I mean, that wouldn’t account for the long term amnesia around Brave, but it contributed to its initial reception. I loved the film, but a do agree that the mother/bear bit isn’t the strongest way to go with the plot. Right up until the mother daughter fight, and Merida runs away, is perfect. However, I’m not sure how they could have to,d the story of the two bonding and learning each other’s perspective, otherwise.

When it came out, it took me completely by surprise. When mom turned into a bear, I was like 😂 “what?” Once I let go that it wasn’t going to be what I thought it was going to be (some sort of odyssey or journey), I really liked it. I liked how it ended and the bond between mother and daughter. My daughters and I love it and I have Merida as a Funko Pop. I love how Merida is in Ralph Breaks the Internet and they refer to her as the princess “from the other studio.”

in my opinion the part of the movie that was more interesting was when Elinor was a human, the Bear "twist" ruin the movie for me, is just a dumb excuse to not make the characters talk and interact about thier problems and resolve them cleverly as humans. honestly im kind of tired of movies where the main characters are turn into an animal/thing

Funny, I was thinking about why no one talks about Brave and now your video popped up. I liked it - I don't really focus on what studio makes what. My focus is on whether I enjoy the film and think whether it has good messaging for my grandchildren and do I enjoy watching it with them. Whenever I see a video talking about strong female characters in animated movies of this kind, I'm always puzzled about how Brave is never mentioned.

All these years later, I can still remember watching this movie in theaters, and that moment when we were two-thirds of the way through, when it dawned on me, “Oh, this is all this is.” The ads leading up to the release had been so vague, and the details that had been teased had created this idea that we were going to see this huge story that dabbled into otherworldly magic and fate, with a badass female protagonists who-I SWEAR-was being compared to Legolas before the movie came out. And then the movie did come out, and it was just another story of “someone’s been turned into an animal and WHACKY THINGS HAPPENED!” It was such a let down. It abruptly felt like a movie that I’d already seen.

I went with my siblings and mom. We all walked out disappointed, and I know why. Something you didn't mention was the advertising. The main reason we all left disappointed is because the trailers had us ready to watch a much more action focused adventure than what we got. Brave is now one of my favorites, but it is far more family centered than what the trailers lead my family to expect, so we only started appreciating it after it released on DVD.

I thought that Brave was a beautiful Pixar film. 1. The art work was mesmerizing. 2. Storyline was relatable and enhanced with elements of folklore and magic. 3. Most important it teaches lessons! Your Parents are not your enemies. Family, no matter who is biologically related to us there is a bond. Honesty, is always the best policy. Hold true to who you are and what you believe in. Stand up for those who can not!

I still very much love brave. I just love how merida is a strong women in herself, kinda like mulan. That and i injoy seeing a red head princess that more independent than i am. It's inspiring

I saw a video essay on this movie, which led me to believe, just like the creator, that the movie would have been better off if the mother-daughter relationship and the subverting of gender roles was explored through a means OTHER than a random bear transformation. It switched from discussing those themes, to 'OH NO MY MOM'S A BEAR WHAT DO I DO??' But on the other hand I feel like switching roles so that Merida had to take care of her mother instead of the other way round actually did help them bond, and perhaps understand each other through some sort of filter. The mother also got to see what her daughter was capable of. And I do feel like Merida accidentally turning her mother into a bear while trying to fix her own issues, carries this theme of you being really mad at someone and hurting them really badly in a fit of rage, and really regretting it afterwards. This is especially terrible when it's been done to a parent, aka someone that you still actually love the whole time despite maybe lashing out at them sometimes. I don't think being overly angry is uncommon with teenagers 😏

I loved the movie "Brave", though I'm half Irish. Never saw "Cars". Merida was better than any Disney princess -- and that glorious red hair! Billy Connelly did great as the voice actor for the king.

I think I know why Brave isn't really loved by majority.... Basically, EXACTLY like Turning Red, this movie touches sensitive points and memories in people such as puberty, which is seen as a very awkward subject. This movie is about parents and how they can truly be beasts to their children at the wrong time, so child abuse by parents. No one will want to talk about that kind of stuff. But just like Turning Red, Inside Out is kind of about puberty, but it is presented in a fun, understandable and moving way, which Brave lacks, a little.

Just finished watching this film and I actually really enjoyed it. Really shows how you don't need some crazy visuals or wild fight scenes for a film to be good, a message could deliver the same feeling. (In this case, it was a parent child problem on perspectives on life, which audiences young and old can relate to)

It was a part of many theories but it’s just not all that memorable, probably cause of the lack of songs and Merida and her mum have the most personality while the other characters are pretty bare boned I loved brave, I love looking at that amazing hair, but I wouldn’t watch it again and again like I would with tangled, encanto or lion king (I know not Pixar but they’re basically the same pfft) it sits with monsters inc with me, it’s good, I’d watch it with my cousin or family but no really by myself unless I need that nostalgia

I just recently rewatched Brave, as I couldn’t really remember the plot very well. I enjoyed it more than the first time I watched it years ago.

If Brave was released by Disney it would’ve gotten better reviews. Meanwhile if something like Tangled got release by Pixar, I think it would’ve gotten more pushback

Brave is an amazing movie, well the first half of the movie is amazing, the rest very much isn't. The first half introduces and shows us the character's traits and how they view what's happening. The highlight of the first half is the relationship between Merida and her mother, their foil characters. Both their beliefs arent right but they're too stubborn to think otherwise. It's a great character dynamic. Theirs a video essay on youtube that goes more in-depth about this(I think it was called why brave is a masterpiece). We are shown how much power the queen has compared to the king and how even though Merida is Brave(see what I did there) she is still scared of mother.The first half of the movie feels like a Pixar movie. But then we get to the second part where her mum TURNS INTO A FRICKING BEAR. For the rest of the movie, we get a stupid plot with stupid shenanigans. There is character development. I love Merida she is my favourite princess but her movie isn't my favourite princess movie. p.s I dont know what my point is p.s.s why did i write?? p.s.s.s I used Grammarly

Brave is my favorite Pixar film and one of my favorite animated films of all time.

Brave was hurt severely by both not being able to pursue to it's fullest the specifics of mother daughter family bonds and American Scottish stereotypes. The forced "challenge your fate" more adventurey comic feel clashes with the much more fascinating struggle between Elenor and Merida which feels sidelined after she gets turned into a bear. Thankfully Turning Red was allowed to commit in ways Brave literally wasn't allowed to with the firing of the original director, but overall Brave feels like it lost so much of it's potential for a genuine heartfelt relationship centered story that got pulled in too many directions.

I love Brave and I watch it when I’m in the mood for Disney movies. I don’t know why people don’t talk about it or even saw it in the first place.

The argument I've heard is "Elinor is a bear for half of the movie so there's no further development between her and merida" but like I think it's actually good. Because since elinor can't talk now they have to communicate differently. I think it's really charming. And through those non-verbal things they're able to connect.

I used to like Brave more than I do now. I can’t seem to enjoy it nearly as much after learning of its production. Iirc, it was initially much more focused on the mother-daughter relationship and the second half was quite different as the whole story was Brenda Chapman’s vision, until she was fired and replaced over “creative differences”. The movie then lost its focus, the bear subplot, that nobody really seems to like, was added and then everything turned out just mediocre.

Due to change of movie director (for reasons...) the movies story abruptly changes in the middle of the movie and makes it a bit disappointing. I recommend the video "Brave was a disappointment" (thumbnail is "pixar's almost masterpiece" which I believe is true) by the channel "eliquorice". It's a deep dive into the movies production and realization!

I forgot about brave to be honest

I had no idea that this movie was poorly / underrated. Saw it for the first time as an adult on Disney +. It's one of my favorite Pixar films. And I remember being blown away at the hair animation.

I am 52 and have always loved animated movies and TV shows.I am a Disney junkie. Yes it is underrated in my opinion it's better than soul,and better than Snow White and that's hard for me to say because Snow White is my favorite classic Disney princess.

In Scotland Brave is very popular, probably the most talked about Pixar movies. Just like Shrek is one of the more popular Dreamworks movies. Mostly because American studios tend to forget about Scotland when reprisenting cultures so when something comes up that does, we take great pride in it and claim it as ours..

I didn't like brave because of it's incoherence with the plot. The best part was the mother daughter bond and independence, but they ignored that part in the second part with the whole stupid bear plot. In the end the mother has changed so much and in my opinion it's without reason or I just didn't understand. Either way thats why I dislike brave and maybe others too.

I know one of this movie's problems was its production history, especially the swapping of directors and changing of course halfway through

Brave has been my favorite since it came out!

I love Brave with all my heart! And I have seen nearly all Disney films growing up and nearly all Pixar films as an adult. It very much holds up! And it made me cry, in a good way! Merida doesn't need some guy to rescue or marry her. She is badass all by herself at such a young age, which makes her an amazing role model! She has a difficult relationship with her mother, which, despite the fantasy setting, I found incredibly relatable. And the Celtic themes, the fact that it's set in Scotland and everything that comes with. The landscapes, the beautiful accents, the gentle humor. It deserves so much more recognition!

Untill recently I didn't even knew Brave was Pixar

Brave is one of the best pixar movies. Not sure why anyone would dislike it.

It sucks because brave turned out so bad because of corporate meddling. A woman was originally writing a deeply personal story when the studio took it and gave it to a dude who blatantly said “he found wat she wrote boring”. And yet everything the original author wrote (for example the fight between Merida and her mom) was fantastic. The rest not so much. Brave really deserved better.

when i was a kid and first saw brave i honestly thought it was the coolest pixar movie ever. and frankly it Still has a very special place in my heart, but i think it's for a lot different reason than most; growing up and To This Day, i have never ever been interested in anything to do with romance. and seeing merida like that felt like an incredible validation. it seems like there is Always some sort of romance plot in media, or even just the character being attracted to people, and the whole movie i was bracing myself for disappointment for what felt like the inevitable... and then, it wasn't. There was none of the romance stuff. and that made me so incredibly happy, to see this big name movie and the main character was Like Me. even now as an adult its so incredibly hard to find media that doesnt have some kind of romance plotline. so. brave has always held a special place in my heart. (not that i'm saying romance is bad or whatever! just that it is so ingrained in our society, it feels very alienating when you dont experience that kind of attraction.) also characters turning into bears. i thought that was the coolest thing as well lmao

So, me and my parents went on a cruise back in 2012, and this was the only movie they had playing in my room. I watched it at least like 7 times, I was 12 years old at the time. Today, I'm 23, my parents are divorced and this movie somewhat means a lot to me.

I think people have an issue with hearing and seeing Mother-Daughter relationship issues on screen. Nemo was about a Father who loved his kid so much that he crossed the whole ocean to find him, it's relatively happily ever after. But Brave tackles the topic of problematic parent-kid relationships, which Disney + Pixar has been tackling recently. All of their films have been about generational trauma, and that's a hard top to deal with when people aren't ready to confront their own issues and take accountability (especially parents who try to sweep the things they've done under the rug).

I despised Brave when I saw it in theatres, but I've heard most Pixar fans feel like it's "too Disney" and still feels like a fairy tale.

as soon as it came out, it became one of my favourite movies, and it still holds up today. the animation and general style of the film is gorgeous and mystical and the whole movie has a whimsical tone to it that makes it so comforting and warm, and the story involving a femenist protagonist is done in a way that i dont hate Merida at all which is such a nice change to the ... modern "femenist" films. the plot, the buildup, the different layers of the story, everything is beautiful and leaves me feeling wholesome afterwards, every time, and its all wrapped in beautiful visuals, music, scenery and curly red hair. its deffinitely underrated but its a hidden treasure, and thats what makes it better than the crowd-favourites.

The one thing I remember of Brave, is that the trailer did not spoil the movie. I saw the trailer a few times and was completely surprised that Merida 'cursed' her mom and turned the mom into a bear...I was flummoxed that a major plot point wasn't revealed. I spent the rest of the movie on edge wondering what was going to happen next. For that reason alone, I really liked Brave.

Merida is difficult for non-Scottish children to understand. Even me as an Adult had trouble following her speech at times due to the thickness of the accent, and I've been a fan of Billy Connelly for 30 years! You tack that on to a solid 6/10 movie in all other regards, and instead of getting a Pixar Bump (where the 6 becomes an 7/10), it stays a solid 6. The Supporting characters are the main problem - you can delete the Triplets and lose very little. You can delete the other 3 clans and also lose very little. You can ALMOST delete the Father - not quite, but close. The Witch is more of a Plot Device than anything else. Usually in a movie like this you expect that one of the Servants is going to be a well developed ally for the Protagonist, not here. Essentially the only characters you NEED for the movie are Merida and her Mother. Contrast that with nearly every other Pixar movie and this is the main place in which Brave is faulty. The Incredibles had 8 very well developed characters - the family, Edna, Frozone, Syndrome and Mirage - all of whom are difficult to remove from the story - and two partially developed characters (the two babysitters; Dicker and Kari). Wall-E had 5 well developed ones - Wall-E, Eve, the Captain, the Antagonist Robot and the Cockroach. Etc. Brave had... two. The movie is Solid, but not Spectacular. The Animation outside of Merida's hair is not particularly noteworthy. It's not BAD, but you look at the faces of the people and they're rather bland. There are few, if any, truly stand-out scenes - there might be 2 Brave scenes you pick out for a Pixar compilation because they deserve it (Merida shooting the bow to win her own hand in marriage, and a scene of her hair animation), and a few others you pick out because Brave is a Pixar movie so it has to be in there. The Plot is interesting, but not inspiring - it ends with Compromise. Merida is still going to get married, but now she gets to set the terms - which means, essentially, the main plot driver is not resolved, so there isn't quite the same sense of Finality and Accomplishment. Wall-E, the world is being repopulated. You can finish the story there, but you can go on with it. The Incredibles, the family is a crime fighting family at the end. You can finish the story there - or go on with it. Up? Carl has the Adventure and ends up being the Grandfather he was never able to be (and a bit of Daddy in there too). Good spot to end, but maybe there are other adventures to go on. Brave? Merida is going to choose her own husband. Umm... okay. It's not BAD, it's just... eh? What do you do from there, where the next step in the story is her choosing which man to marry - is that where you go? All in all, while I like Brave, it's a lower tier of the Pixar movies. It's not at the level of Cars, but it's around the level of the Good Dinosaur. It's the movie in the Box Set that you just skip over every time and don't even realize it. It's the one where when you search "Pixar" in a Streaming Service and it pops up, you do a double take because you forgot it was a Pixar movie... but then go on to another movie because you kind of expected Toy Story or Incredibles to pop up, and you really were looking for them.

I really liked Brave. And I think you're on to something with the comparison to 'Turning Red'. Both movies are about the bond between mother & daughter & the expectations that moms put on their daughters. A lot of women/girls can related to that, but I noticed a lot of the guys couldn't, so they thought less of the movie.

I love Brave as it is one of my favorites. I would say that it is underrated and deserves more love and attention especially with it's message of story.

The problem I saw with this film is that the first half of the plot was intriguing and unique -- Pixar! Then suddenly it turned into a rehash of Brother Bear. The fact that it just seemed to lose its way hurt this movie.

I recently noticed that there is an immense lack of mom and daughter relationships is major motion pictures. Seriously, Brave was the only one I could think of where the mom and daughter relationship was core to the story.

I really liked the first half of brave, but then it became unbearable in the latter half. Honestly I wanted more conflict resolution to help both mom and daughter grow together. We got that in Turning Red imo. Turning Red is my favorite pixar film, but I do appreciate the show don't tell aspect of Merida's character.

Brave was the first Pixar film I actually enjoyed as a little girl, but back then it was just because I was an obsessive Disney Princess fan. As I've gotten older, Brave has held a special place for me. I relate so heavily to the mother-daughter dynamic presented in the film, as many of my disagreements with my mom come from different dispositions and misunderstandings. The mother is also not shown to be a horrible person. She genuinely cares about Merida and wants what she believes is best for her, but she struggles to listen. Merida thinks she knows it all and insists so much on her own way that her insubordination is the root of many of the problems that happen throughout the story. (Yes, we teens make dumb decisions no matter how much we want to deny it!) Both are at fault, but both come from a position that explains their actions well. IN CONCLUSION! Yes, this film is underrated, and thank you so much for making a video on it. Have a lively day! :)

I agree that "Brave" is such a thought-provoking film indeed, however, I don't agree that this film is not groundbreaking or does not fit into Pixar's library as best films! I believe that with this film, Pixar CHALLENGED Disney's idealism of princesses (Disney even had to change the look of Merida now because they believed that being pretty and shiny was better than strength and confidence)! And it IS a film worthy of thought because it has one aspect quite similar to Finding Nemo: the bonding of a mother and daughter whilst in Nemo, it was father and son. "Brave" has never been off my mind for a single day and I am sad to hear that this film is underrated and not understood enough. I relate to Merida so much because it portrays the exact life I had with my mum when I was her age! THA I CHO SGONNEIL! (Scottish Gaelic for "It is so brilliant!")

Merida is my favorite princess. I really like this movie. I’m always disappointed when they don’t include her in all the Disney princess merchandise.

Brave is the Disney version of Balto. Underrated and Underestimated. Merida and Balto would get along well. Both were hated and left out. Balto could preach alot to Brave.

I think the reason is very related to why HRC didn't become the 45th president and it has nothing to do with Russian interference(this time). Merida was too strong a female character; she challenged the myth of the knight on a white horse wearing shining armor that comes to save the princes, in other words misogyny. In the Shrek franchise the strong female type turned out to be an ogre too and the movie was more of a comedy aimed at an older crowd, so no real toes stepped on there. Now, of course, there is also, the missing musical score (similar to the lack of singable songs from A Good Dinosaur), but the main reason is misogyny. It probable doesn't help that the protagonist of this story was very much a rebel and not a good example for the younger crowed this was marketed to, or so a lot of parents felt and maybe the underlying theme that parents need to heed who and what their children are and not treat them a little replicas of yourself played a factor in keeping in theater and I bet DVD sales down. I just loved the film and the, until this movie, the fantastic animation of the hair and the horse just blew me away. The story was very heart felt, but the score from Frozen just pushed Brave off the stage and out of people's minds.

I personally love this movie, I am not sure why so many hate it or just ignore it.

I think it is underrated, but your ending analysis is something I would agree with. When considering best to worst it does seem to fall somewhere in the middle. Not as highly praised and talked about as the greats, and definitely not anywhere near the worst. So it doesn't get much mention.

Seeing it as a parent I absolutely loved it! My kids not so much, I don't get why they didn't love it like I did.

I can say at least this much about Brave: It's a better movie than Frozen by a land slide. With Brave, you get story, adventure, fun, etc. With Frozen you get music that gets stuck in your head and you end up hating it, a story that's barely there, and one good comedy character and that's it. I really don't get the hype for Frozen. Brave deserved more love.

The thing is exactly like you said, because Brave was released in the same year as Wreck it Ralph by disney, both movies were essentially what we expect for the other studio, like, Brave being a "princess" movie made by disney and Wreck it Ralph the "what if something had feelings" type of writing material that we are used to see from Pixar, thats what i think that Brave fell on the loophole. I personally love Brave, i think its beautiful and i can connect with the story as myself had a lot of problems with my family expectations on me, but unfortunately people still associates Pixar movies with "something" and not with "people" to have these type of feelings.

My problem was it seems like Pixar and Disney switched movie projects, when Wreck-it Ralph came out around the same time. I love WiR, but it fits a lot more with what Pixar does a lot in its movies "What if X thing was sentient"; ie sentient toys, cars, video games, bugs, robots. Like you said, the "Princess want more from life in a magic/fantasy world" feels more Disney. Granted these are stereotypes and nowhere near the only kinds of movies from each, but the issue in my brain is that they came out so close together.

I also think that it could have been more impactful if we had been shown Mordu's struggle as his consciousness spiraled out of control; bc he bows to them at the end like he's thankful to have been released, but there's no real meaningfulness behind it.

DUDE Cars was so good!!! Yes I think Cars 2 tarnished the legacy of Pixar, but the first Cars slapped and I love the animation and story.