Brave (2012)

I enjoyed Brave but it wasn't without a few flaws. First of all, I never felt like there was much meat to the story. It was enjoyable sure, and had some good morals and family values but I never felt like I was invested in the main characters. Stuff just seemed to happen. Secondly, and this isn't as much the movies fault as perhaps the marketing that surrounded it, but it was actually a very different movie than I thought it was going to be. I discovered that it's hard to break those pre-conceptions as I kept thinking the story was going somewhere else than it did. Brave was at its best when it made me laugh which unfortunately, was just too seldom. For example, the entire scene where the 3 clans try to fight for Mérida's hand was way too short! The voice cast was very good though. Kelly Macdonald in particular, was perfect as Mérida. All in all, Brave was good but not great. It just seems to lack the "magic" I expect from Pixar. Not their worst outing but close to it.