Brave: Movie Review

At The Point
22 Comments

The new Disney Pixar film, “Brave” was released last weekend.  The previews caused me to wonder if it had a feminist agenda and too much teenage rebellion.  But the main character’s red hair and the Scottish accents made me decide to at least preview it.  And I liked it.

We will let our kids see it, but we probably won’t buy it when it comes out on DVD.  Before I give you my pros and cons I want to be clear that I don’t think my standards should be everyone else’s standards.  I just think everyone should have standards.  🙂

The good:

1. My very favorite thing about this movie is that it revolves around a nuclear family.  Dad, Mom, siblings.  The parents love each other.  The dad isn’t an idiot.  The brothers, while wild and out of control, are sweet.  It’s hard to find a hit animated movie with 2 parents and a loving family.

2. The end…without spoiling anything I will say that lessons are learned and hearts change.

3. The scenery is amazing.  I am amazed at how these gifted animators make a cartoon landscape look so gorgeous.

4. The hair.  I know it sounds crazy, but that mane of red hair was mesmerizing.  For me it was especially sweet because Grace’s hair is like that.  (in brown, of course).  Plus because Jacob does CGI I know how hard it is to do animated hair.  I couldn’t stop being captivated by it.

5. The story was different.  Lots of unexpected situations and sweet little moments that kept my attention despite the child behind me that kept talking loudly and kicking my seat (parents, please teach your children to be quiet during a movie…even at home….that way they will know how to do it when they’re out)

6. The men.  This reason might seem a bit odd, but I loved how the men were men.  They fought and spit and had wars.  They defended their women and tussled on the ground and I thought it was great.  Plus it was really funny.

The bad:

1. Teenage rebellion.  It’s extreme.  The main character is very hateful to her mother.  However, it does turn into a lesson.  I wouldn’t let my kids watch it over and over, but we’d see it once or twice.

2. Witchcraft.  It doesn’t bother us, but if you are opposed to your children seeing witchcraft or sorcery you don’t want to see this film.

3. Cleavage.  It’s the number one reason we won’t be buying this film.  It’s only with one character, but it’s all throughout the film and very noticeable.  We don’t let our boys see any movies that have cleavage.  And you know, I wonder about this.  Why is it necessary to show so much skin in a children’s movie?  OK, I wonder why it’s necessary in any movie, but especially one made for children.

4. Potty humor.  There are a couple of times that are a bit crude.  Once a guy moons someone (you only see it from the front) and another time a long row of men are walking with no pants on and you see them from the rear….and you do see their rears.

5. Scary scenes.  There are a couple of scenes with a bear that might be scary for younger kids.  I didn’t think they took it too far and it wouldn’t bother my kids at all.  But it’s worth mentioning.

All in all it was sweet and funny.  The character were cute, the story was interesting and the animation was amazing.

If you’ve seen it I’d love to hear your thoughts.

22 Comments

  1. I plan to take Emilly this weekend. I will let you know if I have anything to add. I always preview the “official movie guide” book that comes out and the story sounded very good.
    Thanks for your reviews, I really like them.
    Love, Laura

  2. We have not seen it as of yet but did see the previews. the cleavage did bother me. Tremendously so as we have 3 teenage boys… but even if we had 3 teenage girls it would NOT make a difference.
    All in all we are looking forward to seeing this movie as a family, even if it takes us a couple of weeks to see it as half the family will be in NYC for the next 10 days! 🙂 and 🙁

    1. Peggy, I agree 100%! I don’t like the girls seeing that either. But it’s really the boys that we have to protect from those types of things. I will occasionally let the girls see a movie (like Emma or Dolphin Tale) that I won’t let the boys see because of the immodestly dressed women. But at least in those 2 examples the clothing is appropriate to the setting. In Brave it’s just unnecessary.

      I love your happy/sad faces at the end. It’s a perfect way to describe the way you feel when a loved one gets to make a trip. You’re so adorable! Lisa~

  3. Lisa,
    Thanks for this honest review. We have been struggling with whether or not to take our kids to see the movie because of the crude humor. I think our girls would ignore it, but our son, who is almost 10, would probably want to spend the next week trying out phrases and act out bits of the movie in everyday life. He’s quite a character and we have to really guard what he sees and hears.

    I think I’ll show your review to Floy and we might take the kiddos to see it Friday. Thanks again!

  4. Lisa, while we probably wouldn’t choose to spend money to see this one on the big screen, your review was very helpful. You covered just the types of things I like to know about but don’t always show up in reviews.

    And what is it with cleavage these days? It doesn’t matter if I’m at the doctor’s office, Target, or the bank, everyone seems overexposed these days!

    There, glad to have that off my…. well, you know.

  5. Ah! Thank you for this review, Lisa!
    Mark keeps wanting to go see it.
    I’m wondering what the animators are thinking when they see he mock-up and are told that they have to DRAW cleavage and behinds, sigh.
    So many movies would be so much better without the cons you listed. Really, why do the producers think these scenes IMPROVE the movie?
    Anyway, I am glad to have your honest and respected thoughts on the film.
    I’ll be trying to decide if I wanna spend $15+ to go see this on our date night, or simply go swing dancing 🙂
    HUGS to you!
    ~me

  6. Thanks for this review. I have been considering taking the boys and it’s helpful to read a review from a “like-minded” person.

  7. I also liked that the parents were very much in love. That was a nice touch. But the cleavage and the teen rebellion was WAY over the top! I think they took great liberties in stereotyping Merida, as if all Scottish redheads are sassy and disrespectful. 🙂 The animation was wonderful, as always. And, sadly, we are used to seeing overt glorification of Witchcraft in kids movies. Wow, how sad is that?!

  8. thank you for this! we’re taking our kids tomorrow night – this was a helpful review! btw, i don’t get cleavage on an animated character??!! so silly!

  9. We saw it last weekend! I thought it was really cute, but had a lot of the same negatives on it. Particularly the cleavage and rear ends. And, there were a couple of comments made that I wasn’t a huge fan of, including the season that drew attention to a woman’s nudity. It was obvious she was nude and had to be from the situation, but she was covered and it could have left it at that without making an entire scene from it, ya know?

    My favorite part? Merida. I have two little girls, the first truly bleeds Princess pink. I’m girly, but not an overwhelming amount and up until the year before I was married was playing college soccer. So I had big dreams of a soccer kicking little girl haha. I don’t mind the girliness or anything, but I do mind her falling into the marketing pit that is targeted directly at her young mind and eager to please heart. I was happy enough that Pixar finally made a female protagonist, but I was especially happy that this female was intelligent, talented, and could still have long hair, a dress, and a crown. I definitely don’t want her to grow up with a feminist prerogative, but I also don’t want her to fall prey to the world’s belief that a woman is what she looks like. And I really liked that the men were men too, even when they began to look like idiots, it was a woman that reminded them of their valor and honor.

    1. Great points Heather! I forgot about the attention to her nudity. I didn’t like that either. But I did like that her husband stood up for her.

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Lisa~

  10. I like the fact that you recommend and specify that you watched and enjoyed but won’t watch over and over again. I’ve noticed many times that when I see a movie the first time I don’t see everything, especially the things like incessant cleavage, but then on a second or third viewing I am aghast at it and wish I hadn’t told anyone how good it is. I think once I’ve fully swallowed the story I notice more of the outlying details. What a great plan. Watch it only once! Why didn’t I think of that before?

    I would really like to take my boys and see this movie…the hair in the previews captivated me as well…but maybe just once.

  11. Lisa, thank you so much for your conservative points of view. Our family hasn’t seen the movie yet but heard good things about it so far. I did have one question as to your comment to view it 2 or 3 times but not buy the DVD. Can you expound on this a little bit? It seems like if they see it several times then any negatives are already plugged into their brains anyway. I love your blog and your conservative opinion. Thanks!

    1. Bethany, isn’t it funny how you can say something and it seems so clear then someone asks about it and you’re like, “Of course that doesn’t make sense!”

      What I meant is that we will probably Nexflix it (we rarely actually GO to the theater with this many people..too expensive) and then they might watch it twice then send it back. The difference between that and owning it is that it’s not available to watch over and over and over for years.

      Does that make more sense? Lisa~

    1. Kay, I am so glad you asked! I said it completely wrong. Witchcraft DOES bother me! What I meant is that it doesn’t bother us if there’s a little bit of it in a movie.

      We watch Narnia and other Christian based movies with sorcery and magic spells and we have lots of discussions about it and what the Bible has to say about it. We may still watch a movie with that in it but that’s our family’s decision and I know a lot of Christians won’t watch anything like that and I completely respect that position..

      If you have another perspective I would love to hear it!

      Thanks so much for pointing that out, Lisa~

      1. Lisa,
        I’m glad that you clarified your position on this. I would like to add to this discussion by saying that, for myself and my children, if I see something in scripture that God forbids His children from taking part in or says it is a sin or an abomination (as He says about witchcraft) I don’t want to have any part of it regardless of how it is portrayed. I think it is one of the schemes of our enemy to desensitize our minds to “harmless” sorcery and he uses well written books and fun movies to do it. We allow this desensitizing to happen when we let little bits of it into our lives here and there. I try to think of the impact of allowing those things into my mind. Eventually I don’t feel as strongly against it as I once did and that may lead to acceptance of it. This is especially for our kids who are forming their worldviews right now. For me, the bottom line is if God says no then that means no.

        1. Missy, thanks so much for sharing! I love having friends that hold me to a higher standard. It keeps me growing and becoming more like Christ. I appreciate you sharing your point of view.

          I am sure you will make a lot of people think and that is exactly what we need to do for each other.

          Thanks! Lisa~

  13. I have wanted to see this movie since I started seeing previews, but I wasn’t sure if it would be okay for our boys to see as well. This afternoon, we went to see it in 3D as a family. Your review helped me decide that it would probably be fine, and it was – we all enjoyed it. The boys were frightened in a few spots, but that’s what I love about seeing it together, they each had a lap to sit on and we were all able to talk about it afterward.
    I really appreciated hearing your point of view, Lisa!

    1. Shari, thank you for letting us know how it went for your family. You make a great point, seeing it together is important when there’s something that might be scary or upsetting. Lisa~

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