Brave is a 2012 American animated fantasy adventure film directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and written by Andrews, Chapman, Steve Purcell, and Irene Mecchi. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, it stars the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, and Craig Ferguson. Set in the highlands of Scotland, the film tells the story of Princess Merida of DunBroch (Macdonald) who defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in the kingdom by expressing the desire not to be betrothed. When Queen Elinor (Thompson), her mother, is turned into a bear, Merida must look within herself and find the key to saving the kingdom.
Brave features Pixar's first female protagonist and is their first film animated with a new proprietary animation system, called Presto. Originally titled The Bear and the Bow, the film was first announced in April 2008. Chapman, who had just wrapped up work as a story artist on Cars (2006), drew inspiration for the film's story from her relationship with her own daughter. Co-directing with Andrews, Chapman became Pixar's first female director of a feature-length film. To create the most complex visuals possible, Pixar completely rewrote their animation system for the first time in 25 years.Stein, Joel (March 5, 2012). "Pixar's Girl Story". Time. Retrieved August 1, 2012. Brave is the first film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format. Patrick Doyle composed the film's musical score.
Brave premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on June 10, 2012, and was theatrically released in North America on June 22. Receiving generally positive reviews, it was a box office success, grossing $539 million against a $185 million budget. The film won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature Film. The film was dedicated to Pixar chairman and Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who died before the film's release. Merida became the first character in the Disney Princess line to originate from Pixar.
Plot
In Medieval Scotland, a young Princess Merida of Clan DunBroch celebrates her birthday and is given a bow and arrow by her father, King Fergus, dismaying his wife Queen Elinor. In the forest, Merida encounters a will-o'-the-wisp and follows the other wisps to her family and Mor'du, a huge demonic bear, attacks the family. Fergus and his men fend off Mor'du, though the fight costs Fergus his left leg.
Ten years later, Merida discovers she is to be betrothed to the son of one of her father's allies. Failure to consent to the betrothal could harm DunBroch; Elinor reminds Merida of a legend of a prince whose pride and refusal to follow his father's wishes destroyed his kingdom. The allied clan chieftains and their first-born sons arrive to compete in the Highland games for Merida's hand in marriage. Twisting the rules, Merida announces that, as her own clan's firstborn, she will compete for her own hand. After she easily bests her suitors, Elinor confronts Merida privately about her rebellious disobedience, and when she furiously damages the family tapestry with a sword, splitting herself from her family, Elinor tosses her bow into the fire in a fit of rage. Merida tearfully runs away into the forest on her horse Angus while Elinor quickly retrieves Merida's bow from the fire in regret. Finding herself at a menhir circle, Merida encounters the wisps again, who lead her to the hut of an elderly witch who works as a woodcarver, where she bargains for a spell to "change" Elinor. The witch gives her an enchanted cake before Merida returns to the castle.
Elinor eats the cake and is transformed into a bear, unable to speak but retaining most of her human consciousness. Evading Fergus and the other clans with assistance from her triplet brothers Hamish, Hubert, and Harris, Merida returns to the deserted witch's cottage with Elinor, and discovers a message from the witch that she must "mend the bond, torn by pride" by the second sunrise or else the spell will become permanent. Growing frantic, Merida tosses in the other message potions, which overloads the cauldron. Elinor shields her daughter as the explosion destroys the cottage. As it starts to rain, Merida and Elinor decide to stay the night in what's left of the cottage, wondering how they'll be able to fix the curse. As she and Merida strengthen their bond the next day, Elinor starts to intermittently lose her humanity, and they both soon follow the wisps which leads them to the ruins of an ancient kingdom. There, they encounter Mor'du and discover that he was the prince in the legend. Merida is attacked by Mor'du, who lives in the ruins, but she escapes with the help of Elinor.
Not wanting to let the same thing happen to her mother, Merida concludes she needs to repair the family tapestry she damaged during their argument, and she and Elinor later return to the castle where they find the clans on the verge of war. Merida intends to declare herself ready to choose a suitor as tradition demands, but at Elinor's prompting, she instead allows the firstborns to marry in their own time to whomever they choose. The clans agree, breaking tradition but renewing their alliance.
Fergus goes to Elinor's room and finds her dress left behind from her transformation, making him believe she was killed by Mor'du. After temporarily losing her humanity again and attacking Fergus, Elinor flees the castle in guilt after accidentally harming Merida during the ordeal. Mistaking the Queen for Mor'du, Fergus vengefully pursues the bear with the other clans, locking Merida in the castle for her safety. Hamish, Hubert, and Harris, who have become bear cubs after eating the enchanted cake, help free Merida by retrieving the key from the maid Maudie. She repairs the tapestry as Fergus and the clans chase and capture Elinor back to the menhir circle, thwarting them in time before the real Mor'du soon arrives to attack. Mor'du targets Merida, but Elinor intercedes, eventually leading to Mor'du being crushed by a collapsing menhir, killing him. The spirit of the prince is released, who silently thanks Merida and Elinor for freeing him from the bear curse before he transforms into a wisp and disappears.
As the sun rises for the second time, Merida covers Elinor in the repaired tapestry, but she still remains a bear. Thinking it was for nothing, Merida reconciles with her mother, tearfully begging her to come back. Unknowingly, Merida fulfills the true meaning of the witch's message and reverses the spell's effects on her mother and brothers. With Mor'du gone, Merida and Elinor work together on a new tapestry, bid farewell to the other clans, and ride their horses together. The triplets stow away on one of the departing boats, forcing their father to chase after them in a rowboat. In a post-credits scene, a guard dozing at the castle's main gate is awakened by a crow pulling a small cart filled with wooden toys that Merida had ordered earlier, and asks him to sign for them.
Voice cast
Kelly Macdonald as Merida Peigi Barker as Young Merida. Emma Thompson as Queen Elinor, Merida, Harris, Hubert, and Hamish's mother. Billy Connolly as King Fergus, Merida, Harris, Hubert, and Hamish's father. Julie Walters as the Witch Robbie Coltrane as Lord Dingwall Kevin McKidd as Lord MacGuffin and Young MacGuffin Craig Ferguson as Lord Macintosh Steve Purcell as the Crow Patrick Doyle as Martin John Ratzenberger as Gordon Sally Kinghorn and Eilidh Fraser as Maudie Steven Cree as Young Macintosh Callum O'Neill as Wee Dingwall
Production Announced in April 2008 as The Bear and the Bow, Brave is Pixar's first fairy tale. Writer and director Brenda Chapman considers it a fairy tale in the tradition of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. She also drew inspiration from her relationship with her daughter. Chapman conceived the project and was announced as the film's director, making her Pixar's first female director, but in October 2010, she was replaced by Mark Andrews after creative disagreements between her and John Lasseter. Andrews stated that he was hired as director because of story issues. Chapman found the news of her replacement "devastating", but later stated that her "vision came through in the film" and that she remained "very proud of the movie, and that I ultimately stood up for myself." Chapman then stated in an interview in 2018 that while she was still bittersweet about being taken off the film and believed that there was no reason to do so creatively, she felt that it "opened more doors for me to have that happen". Brave is also the first Pixar film with a female protagonist and Pixar's first film to have two credited directors.
Following his hiring as director, Mark Andrews did an overhaul of the story to give more focus on Merida and her troubled relationship with her mother. Among others, he cleared away many magic elements, which he found affected the environment. However, he wanted to stay truthful to Chapman's story. He said: "The bones of the film were totally fine. That was not the issue. What was hanging off the bones, there were problems. There were things that were not working. The focuses and balances that were out of whack."
The end credits include a special tribute to Pixar co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.Pixar's 'Brave' Pays Ghostly Tribute to Steve Jobs . May 25, 2012.
Casting Brave is the first Pixar film starring a female protagonist. In that respect, Brave was followed by Inside Out, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, Turning Red, Elemental, Inside Out 2, Hoppers, and Toy Story 5, all of which featured female protagonists. In 2010, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, and Julie Walters joined the cast, with Witherspoon set to voice Merida. According to Andrews, Witherspoon was on the project for "quite some time. She was getting her Scottish accent down, she was working very hard and it was sounding great but as we were continuing with the movie she had other movies lining up, so unfortunately we were unable to continue with her and had to get a replacement." Instead, in 2011 it was revealed that Merida was to be voiced by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald. In 2017, during a press junket for Illumination's Sing, Witherspoon mentioned that she had to leave the film due to failure to master a Scottish accent.
Music
The score for Brave was composed by Patrick Doyle and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra was conducted by James Shearman. To bring some of Scotland's native flavor to the music, Doyle used traditional Celtic instruments such as bagpipes, a solo fiddle, Celtic harps, flutes and the bodhrán (a tunable, handheld frame drum), with an electronically treated dulcimer and cimbalom to give it a more contemporary feel. "I employed many classic Scottish dance rhythms such as reels, jigs, and strathspeys, which not only serve the action but keep it authentic," said Doyle. As part of his research, he spent time in the Hebrides studying "unaccompanied Gaelic psalm singing."
Doyle also composed several songs for the film. The lullaby duet between characters Princess Merida and Queen Elinor entitled "A Mhaighdean Uasal Bhan (Noble Maiden Fair)" appears on three occasions in different variations within the fabric of the score, and uniquely includes Gaelic vocals by Emma Thompson and Peigi Barker, the first Disney film with music featuring the language. The drinking song "Song of Mor'du" (lyrics by Doyle and Steve Purcell) sung by Billy Connolly, Scott Davies, Patrick Doyle, Gordon Neville, Alex Norton and Carey Wilson, features a rich variety of words, sung authentically in Scots, which is distinct from Scottish Gaelic. (Scots being a Germanic language, while Scottish Gaelic is Celtic.)