Film Review | Brave

The success of an animated feature from the Pixar stable has been pretty much guaranteed for a solid couple of decades, after Disney's 3D animation offshoot studio delighted us with the adventures of Buzz Lightyear and Woody with Toy Story (1995).

Since then, the studio has become synonymous with kid-friendly but emotionally mature storytelling, adding some poignancy to their (technically dazzling) tales which served as a foil to the occasionally schmaltzy output by parent company Disney.

The Incredibles, for example, was as much about the everyday drudgery of adult life as it was about the adventures of a superhero family, and the third (and final) instalment of the Toy Story series turned out to be, in the end, all about the painful foibles of growing up and moving on.

With the long-awaited medieval girl-power adventure Brave, Pixar have moved into safer, more familiar fairy-and-folktale territory. This is only a slight letdown, because the story is plucky, good fun, and never misses a beat.

But sandwiched between a pedigree that's all too reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings, while excitement for The Hobbit continues to grow - to say nothing of the hype-by-association generated by properties like Game of Thrones... and even World of Warcraft - one arrives to Pixar's latest offering expecting something just a little bit more epic than the amped-up domestic drama we're given here.

Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) of the 10th century Scottish clan DunBroch isn't particularly keen on living by the book, much to the chagrin of her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), who is anxious to have her daughter married off to a lad from the neighbouring clans.

But partly thanks to training received at the hand of her father, King Fergus (Gozo's most famous resident, Billy Connolly), Merida would rather spend her time traversing treacherous terrain and sharpening her archery skills.

So an expected degree of adolescent angst bubbles up when the DunBrochs officially receive the leaders of three clans - Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane), Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd) and Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) - and invite them to present their firstborn sons for Merida's hand in marriage.

Taking matters into her own hands, the Princess orders that an archery challenge should determine her betrothal... then proceeds to 'win her own hand' by beating the competition.

This brazen display of marksman(woman?)ship is not received too kindly by Queen Elinor, and after a fight erupts between mother and daughter Merida seeks the help of a witch (Julie Walters) to change her fate.

But Merida gets way more than she bargained for - and can handle - from her supernatural exchange...

From Merida's bouncy shock of red hair, to the gorgeous rendering of the Scottish Highlands and the impressively detailed wild animals - mostly bears - on display, Pixar have definitely left no stone unturned in the visual department, and plunge into the medieval milieu with as much gusto as they did in their previous, contemporary-set stories.

The immersive world keeps our eyeballs occupied throughout, but it's really the humour that keeps things trotting along, largely courtesy of Merida's trio of younger brothers ("wee devils, more like"), who could give the iconic Gremlins a run for their money in the inventive mischief stakes.

The action and drama of the main segment leaves quite a bit to be desired though because, for all its well-intentioned core theme of mother-daughter relationships, the conflict really is minor, and feels as such, especially given the rich, three-clan cast of characters we're presented with early on.

Unfulfilled ambition aside, however, this remains a thoroughly enjoyable feature from the Pixar stable, and it proves that the studio can still stay way ahead of the competition that it helped inspire in the first place - most notably the output of Dreamworks Studios.

Brave is also a Celtic-inspired animated feature which boasts original music to match, though thankfully, no sign of Enya.

Surely, it deserves an extra star just for that?