BACKGROUND
After more than a decade of success for Pixar, releasing hit after hit every one to two years, and after a period of transition whereby Pixar were officially acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, in 2012, Pixar released their thirteenth feature film, Brave.
Unlucky for some you might say, but Brave continued Pixar’s general trend of being at the forefront of animated technology, as well as being one of the leading figures in family-friendly entertainment.
Brave took Pixar in a slightly different direction though. Pixar were known for their contemporary stories, taking place in the real world, with the occasional fantastical element or creature thrown in. Pixar’s movies had all felt like they were taking place in the present day, or in an alternate version of it. With Brave, Pixar moved their story into a medieval time period, Medieval Scotland to be exact. And they would also be straying into Disney territory, by making their very first fairy tale.
Pixar don’t really like to think of Brave as a fairy tale, because it isn’t about a princess falling in love with a prince, being cursed by witches or evil stepmothers. Pixar chose to turn the classic fairy tale on its head and make something completely new. Brave follows Merida, the headstrong daughter of a Scottish clan leader, fighting for her free will after a betrothal ceremony gets out of hand. She is not a typical fairy-tale princess, and she does not find love; a very important part of Pixar’s story was that she didn’t do so.
By having the character of Merida front and centre in Brave, this film also became Pixar’s first movie to be focused on a female protagonist. Female characters had existed in Pixar movies previously, but they had been in a supporting role to a male protagonist, like Dory in Finding Nemo (2003) or Helen Parr in The Incredibles (2004). Not only that, but Brave also became Pixar’s first movie to have a female director.
Brave was a different movie to come from Pixar, and some critics seem to have noticed that, finding Brave to be less entertaining or heartfelt than some of Pixar’s big blockbusters. Knowing that Brave is focused on the importance of mother-daughter bonds instantly disproves the feeling that Brave is not heartfelt because the whole point of it is to represent this relationship, that can be tense, in a fairy-tale format. It’s nothing but heart.
I have seen Brave a number of times, perhaps too many at one point because, like with Zootopia (2016) and Tangled (2010), British television liked to air these films every festive season for many years, but I do still like Brave. My family first got to watch it in Scotland, which added an air of authenticity to our viewing of the film, just because it so happened to be in cinemas at the exact same time as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2012. Though I don’t watch Brave particularly often, it’s a story that is relevant and representative of many families, so it’s an important watch as well as being a funny one.
PLOT
The movie begins in the forests of Scotland, where a little princess, named Merida, is playing hide-and-seek with her mother, Queen Elinor. Her father, King Fergus of Clan DunBroch, presents Merida with a small bow and arrow for her birthday, which she immediately wants to try out. Merida aims at a target – but unfortunately shoots the arrow into the woods. Merida goes into the woods to fetch the arrow, where she sees a trail of blue lights, called “will-o’-the-wisps”, or just wisps. Elinor tells Merida that wisps have been known to appear to show people their fate. At this point, a huge, black bear attacks the royal camp, with the King and the soldiers trying to fight it off, as Elinor rides away with Merida.
We then jump forward ten years. Merida gives a recap of what has happened over those years, like Fergus losing his leg in the battle with that bear, Mor’du; Merida getting three little brothers, triplets called Hubert, Hamish, and Harris; and Merida having regular “princess lessons” with her mother to learn to be a princess and future queen, which she doesn’t enjoy. Occasionally, Merida gets a free day all to herself where we see her riding her horse through the Highlands, climbing waterfalls, and practising her archery.
At the end of one of these free days, Merida walks back into the castle to join her family for dinner. Fergus is telling everyone the story of how he lost his leg to Mor’du and vows to avenge it for the hundredth time, maybe more. Then Elinor announces that the leaders of the three neighbouring clans that make up their kingdom – Macintosh, Dingwall, and MacGuffin – have all accepted the Queen’s invitation to present suitors to marry Princess Merida. Merida is completely blindsided by this news, having no idea that her mother would be lining her up for marriage when she’s still so young. Merida runs to her room. Elinor comes in and tells her the tale of a former kingdom where the was rule divided amongst four princes. However, one selfish prince caused ruin to the kingdom and it fell. This little morality tale doesn’t work on Merida and she refuses to go along with it. Elinor’s parting shot, as she doesn’t understand Merida’s horror, is simply “It’s just marriage. It’s not the end of the world.” Way to be supportive, Mum.
The next day, the clans arrive and each leader presents their eldest son as a suitor for Merida; the warrior pretty boy, son of Lord Macintosh; the strong but shy son of Lord MacGuffin; and the small, dweeby son of Lord Dingwall. The leaders are already feeling competitive which results in a fight, with Fergus even taking part. The Queen soon puts a stop to it though, by dragging the four clan leaders by their ears back to the front of the room. She announces that the first-born from each clan will be competing in an event of the Princess’ choosing at the Highland Games. Merida chooses her favourite sport: archery.
At the Games, the three suitors take aim at their targets. MacGuffin misses the main target; Macintosh comes close but doesn’t hit the bull’s eye, which just leaves Dingwall who surely doesn’t have a chance of getting closer…does he? Actually, yes, Dingwall is the one to hit the bull’s eye, horrifying Fergus who doesn’t want Merida married off to this puny kid. He turns to her, but Merida isn’t there. A cloaked figure then approaches the targets with a bow. It’s Merida who boldly announces that she is “first-born of Clan DunBroch and I’ll be shooting for my own hand!”. Merida swiftly hits the centre of each of the three targets, ripping her dress and acting very unladylike as she does so. Elinor is furious and drags her back to the castle. She shouts at Merida, asking her if she has any idea what she’s just done, embarrassing her and the clan leaders, not to mention potentially causing war between the four lands once more. Merida calls her mother a beast and tears the tapestry of the family that Elinor has spent years working on, separating her mother away from her in the picture. In retaliation, Elinor throws Merida’s precious bow onto the fire. Merida runs off in tears. Elinor then realises what a mistake she’s made and tries to retrieve the bow, but it’s too late.
Merida rides away on her horse, Angus, arriving at the Ring of Stones. A trail of wisps appears to her again and she follows, making her way to a cottage. The woman in the cottage claims to be just a wood carver, having filled the room with all her creations, but Merida spots an enchanted broom and a talking crow and accuses the woman of being a witch. The witch orders Merida to leave, as she’s stopped witchcraft after having too many unsatisfied customers, but Merida makes a deal with her: she’ll purchase all of the carvings in exchange for her necklace and a spell. The witch asks Merida what she wants from the spell, to which she responds that she wants to change her mum, because that will change her fate. This reminds the witch of a previous spell she created for a prince many years ago. The witch obliges and makes the spell, which appears as a cake. Merida takes it home.
At the castle, Elinor is happy to see Merida back and tells her she has pacified the Lords but that a decision will still have to be made. Merida had hoped that her mother might have had a change of heart but as she hasn’t, Merida gives her the cake to eat. Elinor takes a bite, saying that it tastes awful, and puts it back down. She leads Merida to the hall with the Lords; the spell hasn’t worked… But then Elinor starts to feel unwell and asks Merida to take her to her room. In Elinor’s room, as she rolls over in bed, Merida starts to think something is wrong. She calls for her mum but doesn’t get a response. Then a huge bear appears in the room, terrifying Merida, who starts screaming. The bear seems frightened too and tries to protect Merida. Merida then realises she’s turned her mother into a bear! Instead of pointing the blame at herself though, Merida blames the witch for giving her a bad spell. She wanted a spell to change her; it certainly did change her so I don’t know what Merida is so upset about. I can see why that witch has sworn off magic if this is how her other customers have reacted!
Merida insists Bear Elinor comes with her to find this witch to get the spell reversed and they try to leave the castle. The Lords and Fergus realise there is a bear in the castle and start hunting for it, as one of the servants, Maudie, has just seen Merida with one. Merida tries to sneak Bear Elinor out of the castle but she’s too slow and keeps getting distracted, like by disciplining her sons who are messing about with stuffed deer heads! Merida finds her mother and begs the boys to help her, saying they can have a year’s worth of her desserts if they do. They instantly oblige, coming up with a plan to trick Fergus and the Lords which results in them being stuck on the roof of the castle, having to use their tied-together kilts to repel down the castle. You can’t have a Scottish film without a kilt and a bare bum joke now, can you?
At the Ring of Stones, the wisps do not appear to Merida again so she searches for the cottage. When they arrive there, they see the cottage empty apart from a cauldron and some potions, a bit like a customer service helpline. The witch has a message specifically for Merida. It says that to reverse the spell she must remember this poem: “Fate be changed. Look inside. Mend the bond torn by pride”. The spell will become permanent by the second sunrise if she does not succeed in reversing it. That only gives them just over a day and Merida has no idea what that poem means. She freaks out and pours all the potions into the cauldron but instead of getting answers, she blows up the cottage.
After a night sleeping in the rain, Merida wakes up to find Bear Elinor fixing breakfast. She starts to eat some berries but Merida tells her they are poisonous. Bear Elinor spits them out and tries to drink some lake water, but that’s disgusting too. Merida has a better idea. She uses her archery skills to catch some fish and then Bear Elinor uses her bear skills to catch some of her own. At one point though, Merida sees that Bear Elinor has become like a real bear which scares her. They have to find out how to reverse the spell – and fast.
A wisp appears to them and leads them to a ruined kingdom. Merida falls down into a hole, where she sees a mural of four princes which has been split like the tapestry. Merida wonders if this is that kingdom her mother keeps telling her about with the selfish prince. Merida then remembers the witch saying she’d done a similar spell for a prince and quickly realises that Mor’du, the bear the kingdom fears, must be that prince! Merida turns around to find Mor’du standing there, and he attacks. Merida and Bear Elinor manage to escape, but at least this detour means that Merida knows what they must do; they have to sew up their family tapestry that Merida tore in two. They head back to the castle.
At the castle, the clans are fighting again in the main hall so Merida cannot sneak Bear Elinor back to her room very easily. She starts to give a speech to the Lords, leading up to her announcing a decision on her suitor, but Bear Elinor, using charades to communicate, finishes Merida’s speech for her, saying that they should let these young people find love for themselves. All the leaders agree to this and Merida and Bear Elinor rush upstairs. However, once again, Elinor goes into bear mode again. To make things worse, Fergus sees Elinor’s shredded dress from when she first transformed into a bear, and then sees this bear in his castle with Merida. Jumping to conclusions, he believes this bear killed Elinor and that it’s after Merida next. Trying to protect her, he fights off Bear Elinor, who runs away scared, and locks Merida in her room as she tries to explain to Fergus that the bear is Elinor.
As Merida tries to get Maudie to give her the key to the room, three little bears walk up to the door. It’s Merida brothers who must’ve eaten the cursed cake she thoughtlessly left in the castle kitchens…Merida gets her brothers to terrorise Maudie and find the key for her. It works and Merida is released, grabbing the tapestry and her brothers and riding off to find Fergus and the clans who have chased Bear Elinor.
They get to the Ring of Stones with Merida having sewn up the tapestry. Merida then fights off her father to protect her mother who has been tied up by the clans. Mor’du then arrives. The men try to defeat it once and for all, but they are pushed back. Merida is then pinned to the ground, leading Bear Elinor to fight for her daughter. Bear Elinor is pushed into one of the stones, which has cracked. She tricks Mor’du into standing up against it and Elinor pushes the bear into the stone. As Mor’du is about to launch at Elinor, the stone breaks in half and crushes Mor’du to death. The spectators then see the spirit of the prince leave the bear’s body; he’s finally free.
As the sun begins to rise, Merida knows she must hurry and wraps the tapestry around her mother. But nothing happens. Bear Elinor’s eyes then revert to bear mode once more. Merida cries and apologies to her mother, saying she loves her and just wants her back. As the sunlight touches the tapestry, a hand reaches out to Merida. It’s Elinor, back to her human form once again. Merida, Fergus, Elinor, and her brothers all hug.
We then see the DunBroch royal family waving off the clan leaders, with the boys causing mischief once more by jumping onto one of their boats, which Fergus has to retrieve them from! Merida also seems to have an admirer, Wee Dingwall, which is interesting to say the least. Don’t worry; she’s not at all interested! The movie ends with Merida and Elinor looking over the countryside on their horses, with Merida reminding the audience that anyone can change their fate; they just have to brave enough to see it.
And for anyone who thought the Witch was a con artist, in an End Credits scene, the witch’s bird arrives with all of the carvings Merida purchased from the Witch, and asks one of the guards to sign for it on a floating piece of paper. The guard freezes in shock.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Merida is the princess of Pixar’s fairy tale but she is nothing like a regular princess. She’s messy, wild, wilful, stubborn, and lacks the elegance and grace of Disney’s top royalty. And that was exactly the point, because Brave was never meant to be a traditional fairy tale, so Merida was never going to be a traditional princess. Merida wants to change the course of her life, the life that her mother has planned out for her; she doesn’t see herself ever getting married and doesn’t want her mother making decisions for her, so Merida being Merida, she fights back against it and refuses to back down. Her mother also will not back down so the two butt heads over this, and don’t see eye-to-eye on much else either.
The Pixar team felt it was important for Merida to have a skill so it was decided that she would be good at archery, making her athletic and strong. Any time Merida is using her bow, it shows that she is free and feels completely herself. Another way that Merida was shown to be a free spirit was with her hair. It’s curly, it’s red, it’s voluminous, and it’s a bit messy. It was a hard problem to solve in terms of the animation, and there were even talks about cutting Merida’s hair, but the animators strove to deal with this challenge because Merida’s hair is a key representation of her character.
Elinor, on the other hand, is a complete contrast to Merida. Though Elinor’s demeanour potentially hints at a past life where she was similar to Merida, because of Elinor’s sense of duty and knowing what is best for her kingdom, she has given up her freedom and a chance to be wild in order to become a great queen, who is the diplomat within the royal family, communicating with the other three clans and making tough decisions that affect everyone else. Elinor’s character design represents her as a person, for example with her fitted, heavy dress, her pulled back hair, and her lack of gestures and facial expressions. This shows how “together” Elinor is a person.
For the betrothal ceremony, Elinor forces Merida to wear a corset and a tight blue dress, which shows Merida being made to conform to fit her role as a princess. When Merida decides to “shoot for her own hand”, her dress gets torn at the seams and then gets shredded and made dirtier on her journey to “change her mum”. This is representative of Merida’s mental state deteriorating at the thought of ending up restricted like her mum.
When Elinor becomes a bear, her character traits continue to shine through, with Bear Elinor being very concerned that she isn’t wearing any clothes, despite all that fur; continuing to wear her crown for a time; and even setting a table for her and Merida to have breakfast on when they are stuck in the woods. But when Bear Elinor starts to become a real bear, this allows for some of her pent-up rage and anger to come through in a very natural form. It’s only through Merida and Elinor communicating that Merida learns to accept some sort of responsibility for the kingdom, and for Elinor to start to be less uptight and strict[1].
Merida was voiced by Kelly Macdonald. Macdonald made her film debut starring as Diane in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996) and returned to reprise her role in the 2017 sequel. She later appeared in the movies Elizabeth (1998) as Isabel Knollys and Gosford Park (2001) as Mary Maceachran. Around the time of Brave, Macdonald was starring in the television series Boardwalk Empire (2010-14), playing the character of Margaret Thompson, alongside Steve Buscemi, and had been cast in the minor role of Helena Ravenclaw in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). More recently, Macdonald was cast in these BBC series: as DCI Joanne Davidson in Series 6 of Line of Duty (2012-21); Sarah Weitzmann in Giri/Haji (2019); and Anna Dean in The Victim (2019), for which she won a Scottish BAFTA for Best Actress Television.
Apparently American actress Reese Witherspoon was originally meant to voice the role of Merida, with the Pixar team being confident that she would be able to pull off the Scottish accent, however, it was said that scheduling issues meant Witherspoon was unable to complete the movie[2]. That’s the official line, however, Witherspoon herself has said in previous interviews that her accent wasn’t good enough and she had to quit. Either way, as much as I like Reese Witherspoon, having a Scottish actress voice Merida was definitely the best choice for the film.
Dame Emma Thompson was chosen to voice the role of Queen Elinor. In the 1990s, Thompson won the Academy Award for Best Actress in Howards End (1992) for her role as Margaret Schlegel and was nominated the next year in the same category for The Remains of the Day (1993) where she played Miss Kenton. In 1995, Thompson wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995), playing the part of Elinor Dashwood, where she was once again nominated for Best Actress, and won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Thompson later became known for her roles of Karen in Love Actually (2003); Professor Trelawney in the Harry Potter film franchise; and Nanny McPhee in the 2005 movie, which also featured Kelly Macdonald, and its 2010 sequel. For Disney, Thompson starred as P. L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and voiced Captain Amelia in their animated movie Treasure Planet (2002). More recently, Thompson was also cast as Baroness von Hellman in Cruella (2021) and Miss Trunchbull in Matilda the Musical (2022).
For the rest of the DunBroch royals, we have the triplets, Hamish, Hubert, and Harris, and of course, King Fergus. The boys are particularly smart and sneaky, playing pranks on servants in the castle and just generally causing mischief. Though you might expect Merida to be indifferent or annoyed by her little brothers, having been an only child for quite a few years, she actually does not seem to be, even giving them cakes that she took from the kitchen so they don’t have to suffer through their haggis at dinner! Merida also recognises their talents and asks for their help getting her and Bear Elinor out of the castle without being seen. The boys aren’t stupid though; they’ll only be helpful if there’s something in it for them!
King Fergus is a tall, broad-shoulder, Viking-looking man with a huge beard and rough voice. He might look scary, but he’s not really. His biggest ambition in life is to avenge the loss of his leg to Mor’du by ultimately killing the “demon bear”, and he recounts the story often, even if everyone has heard it already. Fergus is a good king for battle, but he’s not great with public speaking or diplomacy – which is where Elinor comes in. He’s up for a fight anytime though and doesn’t take kindly to rudeness or disrespect.
Sir Billy Connolly voiced the part of Fergus. Connolly began his career in both music and comedy, before acting on screen in the 1970s. Some of his acting roles include John Brown in Mrs Brown (1997), alongside Dame Judi Dench playing Queen Victoria; Dr. Montgomery in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004); King Theodore in Gulliver’s Travels; and Wilf Bond in Quartet (2012). Connolly also voiced the character of Ben in Disney’s Pocahontas (1995). Shortly after Brave’s release, he was cast as Dáin II Ironfoot in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). In more recent years, Connolly has continued to appear on our screens, but in television documentaries about his life and travels. Connolly won the BAFTA Fellowship Award in 2022.
Then there are the Lords, Lord Macintosh, Lord MacGuffin, and Lord Dingwall, of the three neighbouring clans. Though the kingdom is supposed to be at peace, there is clearly some bad blood between these three as they don’t get along well at all, trading barbs and generally being rude to each other, thinking their clan is more superior than the others. Lord Macintosh has long, dark hair, and has blue body paint covering his arms and face, showing that his clan are warriors, ready for war. His son looks very similar to him. Lord Dingwall and his son are shorter than the others, and are more eccentric too, snapping at the slightest insult. Lord MacGuffin and his son are large men, with blond hair, showing their physicality compared to the smaller Dingwalls and weedier Macintoshes.
Lord Macintosh was voiced by Craig Ferguson, who is well-known in America for hosting the late-night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005-14). He then hosted the game show Celebrity Night Game (2014-17), which won two Daytime Emmys. Prior to his casting in Brave, Ferguson was already voicing the character of Gobber for the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and had voiced Owl in Winnie the Pooh (2011) – the less said about that, the better! Steven Cree voiced the Macintosh son, who went on to be cast as Ian Murray in Outlander (2015-present); Chief Constable Collier in COBRA (2020-present); and Gallowglass in A Discovery of Witches (2018-22).
Lord MacGuffin and his son were both voiced by Kevin McKidd, who appeared as Tommy Mackenzie in Trainspotting (1996) alongside Kelly Macdonald. McKidd went on to star as Dr. Owen Hunt in Grey’s Anatomy (2005-present) and voice the character of Captain John “Soap” MacTavish in the games Call of Duty: Modern Welfare 2 and 3. More recently, he was also cast in the British crime miniseries Six Four (2023) as Detective Constable Chris O’Neill, and plays the role of Andrew Bloom in the movie It Ends With Us (2024).
Robbie Coltrane voiced Lord Dingwall, who is most well-known for his role as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film franchise. Outside of that though, Coltrane was also known for his appearances in the comedy series The Comic Strip Presents… which starred popular comedy actors Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rik Mayall, and Ade Edmonson, and as gangster Valentin Zukovsky in the Bond films GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999). Coltrane also gained recognition in the 1990s for his leading role as Dr Edward Fitzgerald in the British crime series Cracker (1993-2006), for which he won the BAFTA for Best Actor in 1994, 1995, and 1996. Coltrane sadly passed away in 2022.
Finally, we have the witch and woodcarver that Merida meets in the forest. She isn’t a particularly good witch, clearly not remembering many important details of her spells until much later on, which causes Merida and Elinor some problems… But then she does warn Merida at the start that she doesn’t do witchcraft anymore because of customer complaints, so she shouldn’t have expected too much from her! The witch just wants to be a wood carver now without being hassled for her magic. Is that too much to ask?
Julie Walters was chosen to voice the small role of the witch. Walters made her screen debut in Educating Rita (1983), playing the title role for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She went on to appear in other movies, including in Billy Elliott (2000), playing the part of Mrs. Wilkinson, being nominated for another Oscar for Best Supporting Actress; Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter film series; Rosie in Mamma Mia! (2008) and its 2018 sequel; and as Mrs. Bird in Paddington (2014) and its soon-to-be two sequels. Walters is also well-known for her television comedy roles, acting alongside famed comedienne Victoria Wood for a number of screen projects, including Wood and Walters (1981); Acorn Antiques (1986-87); and dinnerladies (1998-2000). She also starred with Robbie Coltrane in the miniseries National Treasure (2016).
The only other name to mention, because it is a Pixar movie and his name is usually in the credits as the studio’s “good luck charm”, is John Ratzenberger, who voiced Gordon the guard here.
Brave features a whole host of British talent in its impressive voice cast, with the majority of them being Scottish. Although no definitive Scottish dialect is used amongst the cast, with each one having a slightly different accent, certain decisions about phrases and accents were made by the cast. For example, Kevin McKidd was inspired by his grandfather’s dialect, Doric, spoken in the northeast of Scotland, when voicing Dingwall. Scottish words, like “gammy” and “scaffy”, were also incorporated into the script to give it more authenticity, but the Pixar team made sure it wasn’t too difficult to be understood by a global audience[3]!
PRODUCTION
Although Brave was dubbed “Pixar’s first fairy tale”, the story was not based on any fairy tale in particular. The initial concept came from Brenda Chapman, who was the first woman to direct an animated feature at a major studio with DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt (1998). She moved to work at Pixar in 2003 where she began developing an idea for a movie, which was first called The Bear and the Bow, which would use elements from some of the best loved and most memorable fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm, as well as drawing inspiration from her own difficult, at times, relationship with her daughter. It was also decided to set the story in Scotland, and to include some elements of magic.
It’s quite clear where elements of a troubled mother-daughter relationship come into Brave – the whole movie is about it, after all. It’s slightly less clear where the fairy tale elements came from, however, it has been said that the Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale Snow-White and Rose-Red was used in part as a basis for the story. This story has nothing to do with the popular Snow White fairy tale, and is instead about two young girls who live with their poor widowed mother. A bear knocks on their door one night, saying it wants to escape the cold. This happens every night over winter with the girls soon becoming friends with the bear. In summer, the bear leaves to guard its treasure. The girls then come across a dwarf in the forest. His beard is stuck in a tree so they free it by cutting the beard, which angers the dwarf, who apparently has strange priorities and would rather die than lose a bit of facial hair, and yells at the girls. They continue to save the dwarf from his troubles and the dwarf continues to be annoyed. Their bear friend later kills the dwarf, who tries to get the bear to eat the girls, and this act transforms him into a prince. It turns out the dwarf had cursed him and it could only be broken by his death. Fairy tales can be so messed up…The idea of Merida and Elinor’s bond being able to break the curse is similar to the Grimm’s story. The cursed prince becoming a bear was also taken from this story, along with a death being needed to undo it, although no dwarves were harmed in the making of Brave[4].
Although this was Chapman’s initial idea, and she remained credited as a co-director on Brave, Chapman was not able to see her project through to the end. She was taken off the project in 2010 and replaced with a different Pixar employee, Mark Andrews, who had previously been the Story Supervisor on The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007) for the company. It was also around this time that the movie’s title changed from The Bear and the Bow to Brave, matching the snappy one-word titles that some of the best Pixar and Disney animated movies have had. Chapman stated that she was struggling to put across this female-centric story in a company that she described as “a boys’ club”. Then, her friend, Joe Ranft, who was the voice of Heimlich in A Bug’s Life (1998) and was co-director on Cars (2006), died in a car accident in 2005 which shook everyone up at Pixar. That, combined with her not getting on particularly well with John Lasseter, the Chief Creative Officer at both Disney and Pixar at the time, led to her being taken off the film, in her opinion. In the end, Chapman was pleased to find that her original message and the general concept of her story still came through in the final film[5].
Whatever the reason, this was not an ideal situation for the movie itself, and Chapman was reportedly said to be devastated about leaving the project. Mark Andrews turned out to be a good choice as a new director though, as he loved Scotland and its culture, as his mother’s ancestors come from Torridon in the Scottish Highlands, and Andrews had been particularly interested in the mythology and the folklore of the area for many years[6]. He even liked to wear kilts into the office for Friday meetings[7]! Andrews’ passion for the project was only too obvious.
To make a movie set in Scotland, multiple research trips were required to study the landscapes, the environments, and the architecture, particularly in areas like the Highlands, as the movie was going to be set in Medieval Scotland. The Pixar team were going to need to see how grass and moss grew on every object in its path, look at rock placement and stone structures, and just take in the fresh air and see how the area made them feel.
Some specific Scottish landmarks that the team visited were Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire, Glen Affric in the Highlands, and the Calanais Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The castle obviously inspired DunBroch castle, which was initially going to be set against a loch in the Highlands, however, after seeing Dunnottar Castle, the team liked the idea of placing the castle on a cliff edge, and added a village to it too, to create a community. The Calanais Standing Stones became the Ring of Stones in the movie, where Merida sees the wisps for the first time as an adult and where the curse on her mother and on Mor’du are finally lifted. Glen Affric has one of the largest Caledonian pinewoods, and shows authentic Scottish wilderness, which was perfect for capturing the essence of this Medieval Scotland that Brave would be based in[8]. The weather and cloud formations would have also been studied to get an idea of the usual weather experienced in Scotland. At one point, it was said that the majority of Brave was going to be set in snowy terrain, as could be seen in an alternate opening of Mor’du and Fergus’ initial fight, however, this was later scrapped. Traditional Celtish and Pictish symbols are also used throughout the movie. This love of Scotland that all of the research team discovered on their trips around Scotland is easily found in every aspect of Brave.
In terms of incorporating magic into Brave, they wanted this to include “real” magic, as in using elements of spirituality and folklore to create something more believable than just fairy magic and spells. They discovered that will-o’-the-wisps are a natural phenomenon that were created when gas on the Moors was ignited by static electricity; this electricity then turned the gas blue and the current created by walking towards them seemed to make them move. Legend says that wisps would appear to lost travellers and would either lead them home or to their doom. The Ring of Stones is the spiritual arena in Brave, feeling like there is an air of mystery attached to them, through legend or myth.
As well as the animation struggles of animating Merida’s hair, there were other challenges that the animators faced on the movie. One of these was trying to make everything look dirty, because this is Medieval Scotland, after all; it’s not like there was any indoor plumbing. This required some investigation into how dirt sticks to surfaces and how to make clothes look unwashed. Computer graphics are apparently great for making things look pristine, but not so good at make things less-than-perfect. But the team persevered and successfully managed to make this work, even going so far as to ensure that the Scottish characters had stained, crooked teeth and very scruffy hair!
A key element of Brave is the family tapestry. The movie was even going to open with Merida and Elinor sewing this family tapestry together. It is initially a metaphor to show the family bound together for life, but then shows how the family has been torn apart, quite literally, by the emotional divide between Elinor and Merida. Firstly, it was going to be difficult to animate a hand-sewn tapestry anyway, as it had to look like it was sewn with individual threads, to give it that handmade, traditional quality to it. But then, it was going to need to be ripped through with a knife, so how would they figure that out? By experimenting in real-life, of course! After much close-up inspection of sewn tapestries being ripped apart, the animators were able to replicate that look of frayed threads. To make it worse, a completely new tapestry is made at the end of Brave, showing a new harmonious relationship between Merida and Elinor, so there were two completely different designs needed, along with the sewing scenes, the ripping, and the sewing back up moments!
There were also animals that needed to be animated in Brave. One of these is Angus, Merida’s horse, who allows Merida to have some freedom away from the castle. Angus is a huge Clydesdale, so he had to be big and powerful. There was also more hair that was needed on this character, with the texture being different depending on where on Angus’ body it is. For example, Angus has his regular body hair, but then has thick hair on his mane and tail. Angus also has thinner, wispy white hair on his hoofs and his chin, which, being white, would get muddy riding through Scotland, so that was an added difficulty. But Angus is an important character, so it was worth the effort to make him look like a real horse.
Then, there are the bears, Mor’du and Bear Elinor. Disney Animation has had a history of animating bears, such as Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967), Brother Bear (2003), and the huge bear in The Fox and the Hound (1981), which looks the most real of them all. To start with, the animators went to the zoo to look at a wide variety of bears, like polar bears and grizzly bears, to get a feel for how they move and how they behave. However, Bear Elinor, for the most part, does not act like a real bear, walking around on two legs most of the time, and having her human eyes used on her bear form. Bear Elinor is a more caricatured version of a bear, however, Mor’du, “the demon bear” is not. He had to be really scary and feel more like a monster than a bear. Mor’du became very muscular and wide shouldered. It also had to seem like Mor’du had been around for centuries, as we don’t know when the legend of the four princes was meant to have taken place. This is shown by Mor’du having spears stuck in his back, and wounds and scars all over his body, proving that he has fought back against humans for years – and won[9]. This was also going to be presented in a more disturbing way. The initial scene of Merida and Bear Elinor at the ruined kingdom where they encounter Mor’du was going to be full of bones and skeletons of past warriors who’d tried to fight him. A preview audience deemed this to be too scary so the bones were edited out[10].
Once the movie was ready, it was deliberately marketed in a way to stop the story from being actively shown with even the main trailer not giving much away, as is typical from Pixar. At the D23 Expo in 2011, more details of the film were shown then, with some of the Pixar team appearing at the expo to show scenes from Brave. One of these was the big archery scene. It was also confirmed that Brave was going to be set in 10th Century Scotland and be released in theatres on 22nd June 2012[11].
But, even with the older setting for Brave, Pixar couldn’t resist including some of their most loved Easter eggs. One of these is the Pizza Planet truck, which can be seen as one of the witch’s wood carvings in her cottage. Also in the cottage, A113, the number of the classroom that many of the animators studied in at CalArts, is written in Roman numerals, as ACXIII, above the witch’s cottage door. A tribute to Steve Jobs, who died in 2011 and helped found the Pixar company, was also included in the Brave credits with a dedication message.
One last fact about Brave that occurred during production on the movie was that the baseball team The Atlanta Braves apparently opposed Disney’s attempt to trademark the title ‘Brave’ and filed their opposition at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board; the team had been calling themselves the Braves since 1912. This, frankly quite ridiculous, issue was allegedly resolved soon after June 2012 through settlement discussions[12].
MUSIC
Brave, like most Pixar movies, does not feature many original songs, as Pixar don’t make big Broadway musical-inspired movies like Disney do. However, a lot of effort still goes in to the soundtrack of Pixar films, and in this case, continuing that authenticity of the Scottish setting from the animation and story to the music was essential. In this case, Brave has five original songs, with only two being sung by one of the characters. The other three are performed by singers as though they are expressing Merida’s thoughts and feelings.
The first of these is “Touch the Sky”, which accompanies the scene of Merida on one of her “days off” from princess lessons early on in the film; she rides off with her horse, Angus, into the forest and countryside to explore. It’s a good introduction to both the film and the character of Merida, highlighting Merida’s wish to be free from the constraints of royal life. It’s reminiscent of a traditional folk song, but also quite a powerful one. Another song that is similar in style and shares the same performer is “Into the Open Air”. This is sung over the top of the scene of Merida and Bear Elinor catching fish together. This is my favourite song on the soundtrack; it’s quite calming and melodic. These songs were performed by Julie Fowlis, a Scottish folk singer who primarily sings in Scottish Gaelic. They were both written by Alex Mandel.
The song at the end of Brave is “Learn Me Right”. It’s a less relaxing song than the other two I’ve mentioned, but it still sounds distinctly Scottish and folk in style. It’s not the best song in Brave for me personally, but it does embody the spirit of the movie. This song was performed by Birdy, and Mumford & Sons, with the band also writing the song. Birdy’s most popular songs include “Skinny Love” and “Wings”, as well as “Just A Game” which featured on The Hunger Games (2012) soundtrack and “Ghost in the Wind” from The Edge of Seventeen (2016). Mumford & Sons are a British folk-rock band who have been recording and performing music since 2007. Some of their biggest hits have been “Little Lion Man”, “I Will Wait”, and “The Cave”.
The final two songs to mention are “Song of Mor’du” and “Noble Maiden Fair”, both performed by characters in the movie. The “Song of Mor’du” is a silly drinking song, that is performed by Billy Connolly as King Fergus, building up motivation amongst the clans to finally slay Mor’du the bear who has been a constant terrorising figure in their lives. “Noble Maiden Fair”, or “A Mhaighdean Bhan Uasal” in Gaelic, is a lullaby that we see Elinor singing to Merida in a flashback moment from when Merida was little and scared of a thunderstorm. It is also played again as Merida begs for her mother to come back to her and not stay as a bear forever. It is the first Disney song to feature lyrics in Scottish Gaelic and is performed by Emma Thompson and Peigi Barker. These songs were written by Patrick Doyle.
Finally, the score was also composed by Patrick Doyle, as Pixar turned to a new composer after a long-standing collaboration with Randy Newman, as well as frequent collaborations with Thomas Newman and Michael Giacchino, on previous Pixar movies. Some of Doyle’s previous works include the score for Sense and Sensibility (1995), being nominated at the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes for it; Hamlet (1996), also being nominated for his score at the Academy Awards and the Satellite Awards; Gosford Park (2001), winning the World Soundtrack Award for Soundtrack Composer of the Year; Nanny McPhee (2005); and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). More recently, Doyle has composed the scores for Disney’s live-action Cinderella (2015) and the Poirot remakes Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022).
One of the best instrumentals within the score for me is “We’ve Both Changed” which is played during the final battle scene between Mor’du and Bear Elinor and when the curses are finally broken. The end of this piece is beautiful as the two reconcile, believing that they’ve failed to break the curse, but then it all ends happily, as so many animated movies do. I also really like “The Games”, with all its bagpipes, despite there being little evidence that those were used in Scotland before the 15th Century, and fiddles.
The soundtrack of Brave reached No. 2 in the US Billboard Soundtracks Chart, making it the highest-charting Pixar soundtrack since Cars in 2006. “Learn Me Right” was nominated for Best Original Song at the Satellite Awards and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, but lost out to “Suddenly” from Les Misérables (2012) and Adele’s “Skyfall” from the Bond movie of the same name. It was also nominated at the Grammy Awards for Best Song Written for Visual Media, but lost to “Safe & Sound” from The Hunger Games (2012). “Touch the Sky” also received a nomination for Best Original Song, along with “Learn Me Right” at the Houston Film Critics Society, and Patrick Doyle was nominated for Best Original Score for an Animated Feature at the International Film Music Critics Association Awards and the Annie Awards, but sadly, no there were no wins at any of these events for music.
RECEPTION
Brave was revealed to the world on 22nd June 2012, after the film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on 10th June that year. Brave also had a British premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 30th June 2012.
When Brave was released in theatres, it was released alongside the Pixar short film La Luna (2011), which originally premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France in June 2011. This short film also has a story about family dynamics, so it pairs well with Brave. Specifically, La Luna follows a young Italian boy who goes to work with his father and grandfather, where they sweep away stars from the Moon’s surface. The two adults argue over how the boy should be wearing the cap that he has just been given, and how the boy should sweep up the stars, wanting him to follow their way of doing it. Then, a huge star falls onto the Moon. Thanks to the boy’s clever thinking, showing he is independent from his older relatives and capable of making his own decisions, he hits the star, causing it to separate into many smaller stars. All three then sweep them up together.
Over Brave’s theatrical run, it grossed a worldwide total of $539 million, becoming the third highest-grossing animated film of 2012, behind Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012), which were both additions to two already successful animated movie franchises. But money isn’t everything; Pixar’s movie release of 2011, Cars 2, did well at the box-office, yet was not received well by critics and audiences. So, what did the reviews say?
Luckily, they were mostly positive. Many enjoyed the twist on the traditional fairy tale, because, of course, Pixar wouldn’t just follow in Disney’s footsteps. Audiences liked the contemporary, strong, and unconventional Princess Merida, which also leant into a debate around feminism and how Merida chooses to fight for her free will by not allowing herself to be forced into an arranged marriage. It also would appear that Merida is not interested in falling in love and perhaps would never have gotten married herself, which adds a new layer to this non-traditional princess. The landscapes were considered to be beautiful and the message about mother-daughter relationships was received well also. Brave explores some important themes and wasn’t afraid to have some dark, deep moments in places.
However, there’s always a contrary opinion and some of the more negative comments included that the story felt rushed and that it was not funny like Pixar movies normally are. I can agree with this to a point; the build-up to the spell does seem to take up more of the runtime of the film than the reversal of it, but I certainly find Brave just as funny as Pixar movies normally are. Perhaps some of these reviewers didn’t understand the Scottish accents and missed the jokes? Other comments were based around the many historical inaccuracies within Brave, such as the clothing material and body paint on the Macintosh clan being from later time periods and that bears did not exist in Scotland during the chosen time period. Although the two living bears featured in Brave are actually cursed humans, viewers with incredible attention to detail spotted stuffed bears within the film, suggesting that those bears had been killed within the same timeframe as Brave. Those who worked on Pixar admitted that they weren’t bothered about being historically accurate.
In terms of accolades, Brave won numerous awards, including Best Animated Film at the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, and the Academy Awards. Brave was also nominated for many Annie Awards, in categories such as Animated Effects, Character Animation, Writing, and Music, winning awards for Editorial and Production Design. Brave was nominated here for Best Animated Feature too, but lost to Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph (2012).
LEGACY
Brave will always have a place in Pixar history, by being the first movie from the company to be co-directed by a woman; the first Pixar movie to have a fairy-tale-type story; and the first Pixar movie to follow a female protagonist. Merida also became part of the official list of Disney Princesses. However, Brave ultimately did not hit audiences in the same way as other Pixar movies have done both in the past and the present, making it one of the least represented movies of the Pixar movie collection on both screen and in the Disney Parks.
Pixar don’t generally set out to make sequels – unless the movie is so incredibly popular that they know good money can be made. Sorry, that was cynical of me; maybe if they hadn’t made Toy Story 4 (2019) I might have believed their official reasoning: that a sequel is only made by Pixar if they know that there is a good enough story to be told in a further movie. Brave works perfectly well as a stand-alone movie, so even though some fans may have wanted another outing for Merida and Elinor, it didn’t make sense to push the story past the singular film. Nor have Pixar decided to follow Disney’s lead and make live-action remakes of all their past movies – and I hope they never do.
If you did want to see Merida in a live-action format though, then there’s no need to be disappointed because Merida was a recurring character in Season 5 of Once Upon a Time (2011-18), first appearing in Episode 1 of the season. It is supposedly set ten years after the events of Brave, but as the storylines in Once Upon a Time don’t generally follow the storylines of the animated movies that some of the characters come from, it doesn’t make much difference! Episode 6 of Season 5 is even titled “The Bear and the Bow”, paying homage to the original title of Brave. Amy Manson was chosen to portray Merida in this series. Prior to her casting on Once Upon a Time, Manson had been cast as Medea in the British series Atlantis (2013-15). She went on to appear in movies such as Spencer (2021), as Anne Boleyn, and in series, like Bodies (2023), as Charlotte Hillinghead; The Nevers (2021-23) as Maladie/Sarah; and the Scottish crime drama Rebus (2024-present) as Rhona.
And if you wanted to see Merida in animated form once more, she featured in that much loved Disney Princess scene within Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). The recurring joke around Merida here is that none of the other princesses can understand her, partly for her thick, strong accent, and also because she is from “the other studio”.
Also on screen, a short film was released along with the DVD and Blu-Ray of Brave called The Legend of Mor’du (2012). The Witch tells us the story of the four princes that we hear in Brave. We are told that in an ancient kingdom, each of the four sons of a king had their own gifts: the youngest son was wise; the third was compassionate; the second was just; and the eldest was strong. When the king died, he proclaimed that the rule would be divided between each of the four brothers, wanting them to rule together to create a strong kingdom, however, this annoyed the eldest who felt he, and he alone, should be king. He declared that he should be king, and the brothers fought against each other. As the war came to a stalemate, the eldest son sought a way to victory. He found himself at the Ring of Stones and was led by the wisps to a cottage, that housed “a ravishing vision of loveliness”, the Witch, of course. The Witch gave him a spell to either fulfil his wish of becoming king or to mend the bond with his brothers. Luring his brothers with talk of a truce, he drank the spell, which turned him into a bear, which surprised him as he wanted the strength of ten men. The eldest son accepted his new form and defeated his brothers, but his people fought against, and fled from, the bear. Mor’du’s soul has been forever buried within his bear form. We then see that Wee Dingwall has found the Witch’s cottage, and she is telling him the story, showing him the cake spell that Merida received. He freaks out, saying he just wanted a drink of water, and leaves – after realising he needs to pull the door, instead of push it!
Julie Walters returned to voice The Witch again, and Steve Purcell, who was also a co-director on Brave as well as working on the screenplay, reprised his role as The Crow. Wee Dingwall was voiced by Callum O’Neill here and in Brave, though strangely, I don’t recall him speaking in the movie at all…
At the Disney Parks, Merida used to have her own meet-and-greet area at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Florida, called Fairytale Garden, which can be found next to Cheshire Café, to the side of Cinderella Castle. For Merida, the area was decked out with Scottish tapestries and an archery target. Her meet-and-greet location was open from May 2012 until July 2023, when it was refurbished to make way for a new Mirabel meet-and-greet themed to Encanto (2021) instead. Merida has since been seen at the gazebo in Liberty Square but she does not appear at scheduled times. She has also been spotted on the Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade recently, though these characters do swap out fairly frequently. Within the Happily Ever After fireworks show, “Touch the Sky” can be heard with some narration from Merida. Clips from Brave can be seen throughout the show. Merida was a permanent feature in the daily Festival of Fantasy Parade, which has been running since 2014, with her own bagpipes-shaped float and using music from Brave, however, this section of the parade was removed when the parade returned after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is unclear if this float will ever return to the parade, or if it will be repurposed in some way. “Touch the Sky” from Brave also used to feature within the Epcot fireworks show Harmonious as part of the Europe section, along with some small animations, but this show was removed in April 2023.
At Disneyland, Merida used to have her own dedicated meet-and-greet area, themed with a tent like we see at the start of Brave, archery paraphernalia, and small animatronic figures of her three brothers, still as bears. This area was opened in 2012, around the same time that Merida’s location at Walt Disney World opened, but nowadays, it looks like Merida can be seen walking around Fantasyland at times. She also had a small meet-and-greet location during Pixar Fest 2024 at Disneyland near the Fantasyland Theater. Sadly, even though Disney California Adventure has Pixar Pier, and Disneyland has the Pixar Place Hotel, it looks like Merida and Brave in general are not particularly referenced, though Merida is on the mural of Pixar movies within the Pixar Place Hotel. It looks like Brave can join the same club as A Bug’s Life (1998) as being one of the forgotten Pixar movies…
In the Disney Parks outside of the US, Merida has been seen at Disneyland Paris, most recently at Princess Pavilion, and around the castles at both Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland. There are also clips of Merida riding on a mechanical horse in front of Shanghai’s castle as part of the Golden Fairytale Fanfare stage show. It is unclear if Merida has been available to meet at Tokyo Disneyland though I have seen one photo of Merida at Tokyo DisneySea from 2021.
Within shows, Merida is featured within the Princess section of the show Mickey and the Wondrous Book at Hong Kong Disneyland, which has been running since 2015, singing “Touch the Sky”, shortly after Ariel’s “Part of Your World” and Rapunzel’s “When Will My Life Begin”. Although a similar show appears at Shanghai Disneyland, called Mickey Storybook Adventure, this section is instead relaced with Moana, Mulan, and Rapunzel singing “I See the Light”, but there is a mosaic of Merida within the Enchanted Storybook Castle.
Outside of this, there are no specific attractions solely focused on Brave, Merida, or any of the characters. Since Merida is a princess though, she may appear at character dining locations such as Cinderella’s Royal Table at Walt Disney World or Auberge de Cendrillon at Disneyland Paris, but these princesses swap out on a regular basis. Children can also choose to be made up to look like Merida at the various Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique locations across the Disney Parks. There is also likely to be some other sort of merchandise, like pins or ornaments featuring Brave’s characters, around a milestone anniversary.
You may also be lucky enough to see rare characters from Brave appear at the Disney Parks on occasion. It was a while ago but in 2013 for a special event celebrating Scottish food and drink as part of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival that year, Elinor was available to meet guests with Merida. Elinor was also seen during Merida’s Coronation ceremony that took place at Walt Disney World in 2013 when she was officially crowned as a new Disney Princess. It is possible that Elinor may be seen at future Special Events.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Everybody has a mother. Everybody has a father. Even if that’s only biologically-speaking. This universal truth is why portrayals of family life and parent-child relationships are common on stage and screen, and in literature.
There are ample opportunities for different takes on these types of relationships because each one is different to every person. Sometimes the parent-child relationship is not easy or even healthy. Parents may distance themselves from their children, or the child may distance themselves from their parents, perhaps as they get older. One can be absent from the other for a wide range of reasons.
Brave specifically looks at the mother-daughter relationship which can be fraught with friction, arguments, unsaid words, and angry, impulsive comments. Many mothers have said that all they do is fight with their daughters, especially teenage ones, and that is the sort of relationship Merida and Elinor have with each other.
I did not have that experience with my mother; we are very similar so we don’t tend to disagree or argue on many things, and even if we do, one of us will be apologising soon after. My dad likes to say I am my mum’s “mini me”, which is quite accurate. We aren’t a “mushy gushy” sort of family but I love my mum, and I’m lucky to have such a close relationship with her; I know many aren’t so lucky.
The message that Brave looks to teach us, which can apply to any familial relationship, not just mother-daughter, is that with communication, honesty, and listening to the other person, these relationships can become workable, albeit not perfect. Having a parent-child relationship irretrievably break down is not good for either person, so even if you don’t see eye-to-eye with your family, and perhaps that relationship has broken down in the past, it’s best to try and find some way of making sure the relationship continues in some form, in some way, to avoid that feeling of regret years down the line.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Pixar, Merida & Elinor (2012), Disney+.
[2] Credit: Mark Harrison, ‘Mark Andrews and Katherine Sarafian interview: on making Brave’, DenOfGeek.com, 22nd April 2016.
[3] Credit: Pixar, ‘Brave 2012 Behind The Scenes’, WonderLand YouTube Channel, 31st October 2020.
[4] Credit: Chase Wilkinson, ‘Pixar’s Brave Took Inspiration From a Lesser-Known Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale’, CBR.com, 25th November 2021.
[5] Credit: Petrana Radulovic, ‘Prince of Egypt director Brenda Chapman: ‘We wanted to do something that reached more adults’, Polygon.com, 17th December 2018.
[6] Credit: Steven McKenzie, ‘Andrews and Sarafian on Disney-Pixar’s Brave’, BBC News, 19th November 2012.
[7] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Behind the Scenes of Pixar’s Brave’, Time.com, 24th February 2012.
[8] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Disney Pixar’s Brave’, VisitScotland.com, date unknown.
[9] Credit: Pixar, ‘Brave 2012 Behind The Scenes’, WonderLand YouTube Channel, 31st October 2020.
[10] Credit: Pixar, Deleted Scenes (2012), Disney+.
[11] Credit: Germain Lussier, ’11 Things We’ve Learned About Pixar’s ‘Brave’ [D23 Expo]’, SlashFilm.com, 22nd August 2011.
[12] Credit: Eriq Gardener, ‘‘Brave’ Trademarks Pose Problems for Disney-Pixar’, HollywoodReporter.com, 21st June 2012.
The Disney Purist 