Movie Review: Brave

     All the publicity surrounding Pixar's new movie Brave dealt with the fact that it's the first Pixar movie with a female lead.  As big a deal as the press made of this fact, it really isn't anything extraordinary since from their very first animated film Disney has consistently put women in the forefront.  I know, even though Pixar works under the Disney umbrella there is a huge difference between a Disney animated film and a Pixar one, so to day that Disney has always had female main characters shouldn't be a credit to Pixar.  And it isn't, but there is no way you can walk away from Brave and think of it as anything but a Disney movie.  It felt nothing like what we have come to expect from Pixar and everything we have been conditioned to expect from Disney.  Brave shares almost all it's narrative beats from your classic Disney films, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and had none of the funny, witty moments from the best of Pixar.  While the focus of the story, the relationship between mother and daughter, is a departure from the Disney standard of relationship between father and daughter or evil stepmother and daughter, I couldn't help but feel I've seen this movie a hundred times.
     That's not to say it was a bad movie.  Although it lagged at points, it was a well told story that was able to both entertain and move it's audience.  The relationship between the main character and her mother rang very true and set up some wonderfully moving moments.  And as always, the animation was top notch.  If there was one thing the movie lacked, it was laughs.  Especially for a Pixar movie, there just wasn't any laugh out loud moments.  It got a few chuckles from me, but there was still a glaring absence of the witty joke writing we have all come to expect from Pixar.
     If you are going to see Brave because you are a huge Pixar fan and are looking for the standard Pixar fare, you should probably give this movie a pass.  This is very much a movie is the classic Disney vain.  It's a worthy offering and a well made movie, but a movie that belongs along side Snow White and The Little Mermaid and not Toy Story or The Incredibles.