And while Queen Elinor and Merida still have a bit of a stylization to them, they come off as so human that you don’t even notice it. I was stunned by how real the animations for the horses and bears were, not capturing the essence of the animals, but the actual way they look and move in the real world. The animals are so life-like that the stylization of many of the other principle characters seems necessary to remind you that you are watching an animated feature and not some breakthrough new form of high definition. The art and animation of BRAVE is nothing short of spectacular.

The story focuses on Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald BOARDWALK EMPIRE) a young Scottish princess whose wild spirit and lust for adventure butts up against her mother’s attempts to mold her into a lady and have her enter into betrothal in the traditions of the kingdom. The film is helmed by directors Brenda Chapman (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT) and Mark Andrews (ONE MAN BAND), who are both co-authors of the screenplay along with Steve Purcell (SAM AND MAX) and Irene Mecchi (THE LION KING), and it is the first fairytale to come out of Pixar. BRAVE has hit theatres and fans of Pixar are in for another visual masterpiece.

Young and the brave movie