Brave

 PG
Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane and Craig Ferguson
Running Time: 1 Hour and 40 Minutes

I have been anticipating this latest Pixar movie "Brave"for some time. I am always impressed with Pixar and the caliber of their movies.
This is the story of Princess Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) a very strong-willed young lady who is the princess of Scotland. She is very independent and would much rather be a young free soul than be betrothed to a suitor. She loves to spend her free time shooting bows and arrows and climbing steep mountain cliffs and rocks.
When her mother Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson) informs her that she has reached the proper age of finding a suitor, she is very unhappy. She does not want to assume the responsibility of marriage and relationships!
When her father King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) assembles the games to find the perfect match for the young Princess Merida, she rebels! It is a deep tradition that the King assembles his empire together and they bring three of the best young men available to compete in games for the prize of the betrothal to the young princess.
The princess is very upset and she decides to take matters into her own hands! So she goes out on her own where she encounters some beautiful blue lights called "will o wisps". They are fairy-like beings which entice her into a cottage where she finds an old witch. There she begs the witch to create a magic potion that contains a special spell that the witch turns into a small cake. She hurries back home to the castle with the secret cake and entices her mother to taste it! Things go terribly wrong and not at all what she was hoping for! She had cast a terrible spell upon her very own mother!
She has to help her mother now and she realizes just how important her relationship with her mother really was to her. She finds out that she took her mother for granted and just how lucky she really was to have her wonderful mother!
The princess desperately seeks to find the witch again to see if she can grant her just one more wish so that she can help her mother and reverse the spell.
This was a very different movie for Pixar. I enjoyed the relationship between the mother and daughter. I think it would be really good for girls and young women to go and see this movie with their mothers. It would help them to appreciate their moms and all that they do for them.
Parents be advised there are some scary sequences in this movie. It received a PG rating because of violence from the suitor games. Also there is a very big intimidating bear that continues to haunt the King. It bit off his leg over a decade ago, and he still continues to search for it. The witch is also very scary and dark. I would not recommend this movie for children under the age of seven. The graphics are absolutely stellar and right on the mark for Pixar. The movie was beautifully executed with a great moral to its story. I enjoyed it, but it was not my favorite Pixar movie.
I am giving "Brave" three bags of popcorn!