Brave

This was a fairly good film, though it was far from Pixar's best.
In Brave (this will contain massive spoilers), Merida (Kelly MacDonald) is a Scottish princess, who wants to change her fate. She doesn't want to marry one of the heirs to the other clans. Instead she wants to go her own way. Skilled with the bow and arrow, she orders the others to a game of bow and arrow to win her hand, as is the tradition of her people, but after the contest is over, she (knowing that she is the first born) decides to fight for her own hand, and she beats all three of the boys. Naturally, her mother (Emma Thompson) is furious, though her father (Billy Connolly) is less so. Not satisfied with the results, Merida then runs away and journeys into the woods where she meets up with a strange witch who conjures up a spell to change Merida's fate. A pie is made which Merida brings home to her mother. I wondered what was going to happen, just as everyone else did, but I never expected what would really happen. Mom changed into a bear. However, this creates a huge problem. Dad has not had good experiences with bears and one even chopped off his leg (this turns out to be one the ancestors who also tried to change his fate). Thus upon finding out that there is a bear in his palace, he tries to attack and kill it, despite Merida's pleas to stop. She has to recruit her crazy younger brothers (who are addicted to sweets) to help her mother escape. However, instead of finding the witch (she has gone off to sell her craved wood products), the two spend time bonding, though it is awkward as the mother is a bear. The spell does have a catch, it will become permanent after two sunrises. Soon, Merida realizes that the spell can be broken if the tapestry (which she ripped in the previous fight with her mother) is mended. However, though Merida's main problem is mended, as her mother comes around and decides that she does not need to marry unless she falls in love. But the bear is caught and the people begin to chase after her, and Merida does to, bringing the tapestry along with her which she carelessly mends as she rides along to save her mother. As the final battle begins, the other bear (the ancestor) comes along also despite for revenge. Suffice to say, everything works out. The mother bear manages to kill the bad bear while saving her own life. Merida gets the tapestry onto mother's body in time and she (along with the younger brothers who found and ate some of the cake as well) all turn back to normal. All is right in Merida's world.
Though Merida is a fascinating character, and it is truly wonderful to finally have a female lead in a Pixar film, the film ultimately falls flat. The plot feels forced and weak, and there are several times when I wondered why Merida was making the decisions that she was. And I didn't understand why the tapestry needed to draped across the mother's body for the curse to be broken. Still, there are some genuinly funny moments, though most of these involve Merida's crazy younger brother or the stock character maid. Still, I will gladly watch the film again, though I expected something much better from Pixar. Grade: B+