There are animated movies and there are Pixar movies and unlike Pixar’s last venture, Cars 2, Brave is a Pixar movie. Cars 2 was the only Pixar movie that didn’t reach that level for me and I was happy to see they’re back on track with their newest movie, Brave. The animation was beautiful as ever, the story kept you involved and it’s rich in themes (something Pixar movies manage every time).

There was something about Brave that made me very excited. Seemingly, Pixar was making a fantasy movie whose protagonist was a strong female hero with a Scottish accent. Not long into Brave I realized it was so much more and just a little less. Of course I won’t give anything away, but it did not involve much adventuring and there was magic, but it just wasn’t that magical. The film really didn’t offer the amazing escapism you’d expect from the creative minds behind Pixar working to tell a fantasy story.

The always enjoyable Kelly Macdonald plays the young princess, Merida. She is quite the archer and is at the heart of the film. Her choices are what drive the film to the unexpected places it goes and along the way some characters are met (not as many as you’d expect), challenges are overcome and lessons are learned. The film was quite good and rather enjoyable, but it felt a bit small.

Small isn’t all bad though, it was also simple but in no way was it cliché. It was a very different story and it had its ideals fully realized in Brave, ideals about family and the things you can accomplish with the people you love. Pixar has done better and Brave could easily have been done better. Brave was no perfect movie, but it was certainly a pretty enjoyable one worth seeing.

Grade: B