by Kevin Gaussoin, Editor-in-Chief
Disney has a long legacy of producing the best princess-anchored animated epic tales the world has ever known. Now that Disney owns Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm, have they taken on too much and spread too wide to continue their impeccable record with the style of animated films that make Disney so beloved?
Brave is set in medieval Scotland where our new Disney Princess, Merida DunBroch (Kelly Macdonald – Boardwalk Empire, Harry Potter) is coming of age and is told by her parents King Fergus (Billy Connolly – X-Files: I Want To Believe, Boondock Saints) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson – Love Actually, Harry Potter) that she must choose a suitor. When three princes each from the three allied clans are presented as her potential suitors, Merida rebels and challenges the suitors to an archery competition for her own hand. An expert archer, Merida wins easily. Had Merida only known that the chief and prince of Clan MacGuffin were each voiced by Kevin McKidd from Rome and Journeyman, I suspect this would have been a much shorter movie.
Brave is all about change. Producer Katherine Sarafian describes it as “A quest to reconcile who you are with you the world wants you to be.” When I first saw the movie, it bothered me that I didn’t really see where the title came from. While the film certainly has its proper share of frightening moments of peril, I never really saw how one would arrive at the title from these. In Brave, our characters must be brave in the face of change, whether the change comes literally in the form of some sort of Lycanthropy, or more subtly via coming of age or just changing one’s mind from “the way it’s always been done” to “the way things could be.” …or maybe it was just brave of Pixar to have a bunch of comedic naked butts for the first time (in my recollection) in a Disney film.
On first watch, I had some problems with Brave. It seemed unfinished. I didn’t see why it was called “Brave”. It’s still not obvious what exactly caused The Witch’s spell to be broken. We didn’t get an epilogue for Mor’du or his family. We never get a complete explanation for the will o’ the wisps. The scene with the witch was too short. The suitor characters could have used some more development. How much does this affect our rating? Let’s consider everything…
Audio/Video
Brave is a Disney Pixar film, so you know you’re getting the best in video and sound on the Blu-ray edition, but what does that mean here? With the 5-Disc version you get the regular Blu-ray and the Blu-ray 3D. Each of these are impeccable by today’s video standards. Pixar went back to the drawing board and re-wrote their software for Brave, so this represents the pinnacle of 3D CG animation technology. Whether you love this story or merely like it, you will undoubtedly admit that this is from a technology standpoint, the best animated movie to date.
Audio-wise? Same thing. Brave is a Disney film, so you know the music is both timeless and amazing, and that every voice and sound effect is going to be top-notch. As usual, Brave is presented in English in DTS-HD High Res Audio, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, Spanish, and French.
Special Features
Disney brings us on location to Scotland where the storytellers of Brave draw from the environment and culture for inspiration, then bring us to Pixar studios to show us their office culture, but I didn’t think that they spent enough time with the voice actors. Also, what happened to the iPad dual-screen we got with Tron: Legacy and Snow White? I’d love to have that return, but even so, this Collector’s Edition is packed with tons of great extras including…
Disc 1 – Blu-ray 3D Feature
– La Luna
Disc 2 – Blu-ray Feature
– La Luna
– The Legend of Mordu – Here we get a more expanded back story.
– Brave Old World
– Merida & Elinor
– Bears
– Brawl in the Hall
– Wonder Moss – How Pixar auto-generated the lush plant life.
– Magic
– Clan Pixar
– Once Upon a Scene
– Extended Scenes
– Audio Commentary
Disc 3 – Blu-ray Extras
-Alternate Opening
-Fallen Warriors
-Dirty Hairy People
– It is English…Sort Of – Scottish actors lay it on thick.
– Angus
– The Tapestry – Another amazing example of how Pixar weaves the best in technology.
– Promotional Pieces
– Art Gallery
Disc 4 – DVD Feature
– La Luna
– The Legend of Mordu
– Audio Commentary
Disc 5 – Digital Copy
Brave is a solid addition to the Disney legacy. Whether you enjoy it for the action, the comedy, the mother-daughter moments, or all of the above, Brave is a must-have addition to your home theater collection. Sure, Brave has a few weak points, but I found the story only improves with repeated viewing. And now that I have all these special features on Blu-ray, most of my previous complaints are negated. If you don’t plan to get a 3D TV anytime soon, you can also get the 3-Disc Edition which contains almost as much Brave.
While Disney has absorbed companies containing the best in other entertainment universes, this release of Brave on Blu-ray (alongside Wreck-It Ralph in theaters now) proves that the magic of Disney princesses lives on.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives Brave 4.5 out of 5 jammy cakes with family.
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