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Pixar's Fast And 'Brave' Female Comedy: 'Delightful'

David Edelstein

In Brave , Merida goes in search of a spell to get back at her mother, who wants to force her to marry a suitor. Disney/Pixar hide caption

• Directors: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
• Genre: Family, Animation, Comedy
• Running Time: 93 minutes

Rated PG for some scary action and rude humor

With: Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Kevin McKidd

First, I hate the title, and not because it's an adjective. Notorious, Ravenous, Rabid: great titles. Brave? Generic. And with the poster of a girl with flame-red curls pulling back a bow, it looks like yet another female-warrior saga, another you-go-girl action picture suggesting the biggest injustice to women over the last millennium has been the suppression of their essential warlike natures.

You'd hardly know this latest Pixar movie is a broad comedy, a farce, and that it centers not just on the redhead who wants to shoot arrows but the mom who constantly undermines her. It's closer to the uproarious Freaky Friday than the recent, glumly revisionist Snow White picture — and all the more delightful for it.

Now, the first part of the film is a bit misleading. After a prologue in which the huge medieval Scottish king Fergus goes nose-to-snout with a giant bear, Brave depicts his daughter, Merida, growing up and longing to head out. She wants to shoot arrows like her dad, to chase the wind and touch the sky — as proclaimed in a Celtic-inflected song on the soundtrack called, uh, "Touch the Sky."

But then the central conflict emerges: Merida, who teases her dad for constantly declaiming the bear-who-took-his leg story to anyone who'll listen, and who walks around with a longbow; and the mom who wants her to act like a stereotypical princess.

The hearty Scottish verbal attacks throughout the film splendidly evoke a world in which all the people are wayward, headlong, acting before thinking. After Merida humiliates three ludicrous suitors from three different clans competing for her hand, she gallops off and sees a magical glowing orb called a will-o'-the-wisp that leads her to the house of an enterprising witch who sells her a spell. I can't tell you what that spell does — it's a major spoiler — but the rest of Brave consists of Merida trying to undo it and prevent a potentially fatal disaster.

Merida's parents, Queen Elinor and King Fergus, try their best to control Merida's wild behavior, with little success. Disney/Pixar hide caption

Merida's parents, Queen Elinor and King Fergus, try their best to control Merida's wild behavior, with little success.

The film has three directors, Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, and Steve Purcell, and my tam-o'-shanter is off to them for a second half in which farce, suspense, and surprising sentiment are in perfect balance. You can detect the influence of the great Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki in those will-o'-the-wisps and in the central idea of a misunderstood child who wishes a parent would change and then has to use all her wits and strength when the parent changes too much. But Brave is pure Pixar in its mischievousness and irreverence and the brilliantly delineated facial movements of its characters — with Kelly MacDonald an inspired choice for Merida, her voice both melodious and edged with exasperation.

Some Hollywood commentators have pointed to the previews for Brave and the recent, poorly-received Cars 2 to wonder if Pixar is losing its edge and becoming more formulaic. True, Brave is not as groundbreaking as the last two Toy Story pictures, Finding Nemo or Ratatouille . But it's fast, funny, and unpretentious, its message more powerful for its lack of stridency. Merida wants nothing more than to control her own fate, her rage provoked by her mother's refusal to see the world through her eyes. Her cataclysmic attempt to change her mom's mind at least has the effect of giving them both a common cause and spares Merida the kind of estrangement that nowadays would lead to thousands of dollars in therapy.

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Brave – review

F or the animation studio's debut foray into fairytale, Pixar has delivered a rousing family melodrama set in a fantasy medieval highland Scotland populated by rowdy, larger-than-life clan chieftains, mischievous magical spirits and monstrous, murderous ursines – all impressively grounded in a reassuringly vigorous reality.

Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) – the animation studio's first proper lead female heroine, no less – is a feisty teenage redhead with magnificently unkempt hair who prefers shooting her bow and riding her beloved horse to the courtly travails constantly foisted on her by her mother, Queen Elinor ( Emma Thompson ). Her father, King Fergus ( Billy Connolly ), is a giant, peg-legged boy-man with an epicurean passion for food, booze and fighting, and only one apparent hatred: the hideous bear Mor'du, who chomped off his limb many years earlier. Matters come to a head when the leaders of three clans, who have united with Fergus to keep the kingdom at peace, travel to court in order to fulfil a ceremony which demands that his daughter must marry one of their eldest sons. Merida sets off in a Kevin-the-teenager style rage into a nearby spooky forest; there she finds what may just be a way to shift the course of her life away from its seemingly inevitable conclusion.

Once titled The Bear and the Bow, Brave's title has drawn comparisons with a certain Mel Gibson movie beloved of Scots nationalists. But while Brave's gorgeous and innovative use of shading and colour – the movie has the look of a living, breathing pastel painting – will no doubt boost tourism, there is little here to suggest that directors Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman are cheerleaders for Scottish independence. Like many of its predecessors, from Up to Finding Nemo , Brave imagines lead characters with hugely conflicting objectives and achieves its happy conclusion by bringing them satisfactorily together. Disappointingly for Alex Salmond et al, the message is that putting aside one's differences, no matter how repugnant such a compromise may at first appear, is the path to enlightenment.

Likewise, when compared with the refreshingly daring efforts which helped to make Pixar's name, Brave may appear to have been misnamed. And yet the film no more resembles the traditional fairytale (as espoused by parent company Disney) than The Incredibles does a superhero movie. At its heart, this is a Pixar film which eschews the genre's trademark reliance on facile, saccharine moralism in favour of the robust, no-nonsense and heartfelt nonconformity that runs through all the studio's best efforts.

• Animation in film
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• Billy Connolly
• Emma Thompson
• Kelly Macdonald

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'brave' review, even though brave is solid from beginning to end, the experience might be a little underwhelming for older viewers who expect pixar to continue pushing the boundaries of animated film storytelling..

Easily one of the most trusted names in animated filmmaking, Pixar is back with another original story for children and adults, alike. Following behind a pair of franchise sequels ( Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 ), with  Brave  the studio is set to tackle its very first full-length princess fairy tale story - a staple of Disney's hand-drawn animated classics. This round, Pixar alum and John Carter co-writer Mark Andrews is stepping into the director's chair, after the film's creator, Brenda Chapman ( The Prince of Egypt ), left the project following a series of creative differences.

After the mixed response to Cars 2 , which received Pixar's harshest critical lashing to date, has the film studio managed to produce an animated experience that successfully balances a new story, enjoyable characters and groundbreaking visuals for movie lovers of all ages - not just the juice box crowd? Following in the footsteps of films like Up and Wall-E , not to mention franchise threequel Toy Story 3 , does  Brave once again raise the bar for animated films?

Fortunately,  Brave is a return to form for the studio and delivers plenty of fun for moviegoers from all walks of life. However, for anyone who was especially moved by the studio's more "mature" films - namely the aforementioned Up and Wall-E - Brave could come across as somewhat less ambitious (and subsequently a little underwhelming) - as the core storyline relies on a lot of familiar fairy tale tropes. This isn't to say that the film fails to deliver a competent narrative or charming characters - but, for some, the studio may not have provided as many memorable or thought-provoking story beats this round. But even though Brave may not soar quite as high as some of Pixar's most celebrated efforts, the movie still offers plenty to enjoy - not to mention, a solid mix of traditional princess power coupled with the studio's trademark charm and humor.

Brave  (originally titled  The Bear and the Bow ) follows reckless tomboy Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald) whose mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), has been diligently preparing her for a life of royal responsibilities. Unlike more traditional Princesses, Merida takes after her warrior father, King Fergus (Billy Connolly), and would much rather be riding through the forest on horseback firing arrows, or climbing mountains, than dressing for a royal function or practicing proper etiquette. Her rebellious attitude comes to a head when the Queen invites three leaders in the kingdom to present their sons as suitors for Merida, and the Princess makes a deal with a local witch who promises to help change the girl's fate. Unfortunately, the witch's spell results in unexpected consequences, forcing Merida to rethink her obligation as Princess - for the sake of her family as well as the betterment of the kingdom.

As mentioned, while the Brave storyline is definitely entertaining, it's not nearly as innovative as some of Pixar's other works - relying heavily on familiar "be yourself" and "put aside selfish behavior" plot threads. Many of the story beats and dramatic setups will be familiar to most adult moviegoers - making it easy to predict events before they are revealed. Much like its Pixar predecessors, fans will no doubt defend the movie by reminding naysayers that, above all else, Brave is a kids movie - and without question, as a kids movie, the film succeeds. However, adults looking for a contemplative and "mature" animated offering may find Brave to be a bit on-the-nose and too predictable to provide anything more than moment to moment entertainment. As a result, there are plenty of enjoyable comedy and action beats that will appeal to viewers of all ages - there just isn't a lot to unpack after the lights go up.

Those who can relate to Mother/daughter relationships will be able to draw a bit more value out of the onscreen character drama - since the conflict between Merida and Queen Elinor  is the central motor of the story. This isn't to say that Brave  will only appeal to women, but it doesn't take too long to see that nearly all of the male characters are designed to provide little more than comedy relief. Hollywood is overstuffed with male heroes, so it's refreshing to see Merida (and Queen Elinor) take center stage in the film; although, with so many rash and downright knuckleheaded men running around in the kingdom, some male audience members might have a hard time connecting to the film's emotional touchstones (even though King Fergus and the royal triplets are among the most entertaining players in the film).

That said, even with a number of predictable story beats and a lot of one-note male characters, Brave provides plenty of eye candy for animated film fans. The hair effects alone are incredible - not to mention the gorgeous rolling hills of the Scottish countryside. Additionally, the movie offers a solid story that, in spite of a heavy reliance on familiar archetypes, manages to put a unique stamp on the fairytale genre. Merida isn't exceptionally different from prior Disney Princesses (who yearn to be free of their responsibilities and live a "normal" life) but the similarities won't prevent audiences from identifying with the character or her personal journey.

Like most animated films, Brave is screening in 3D and, like most animated films, the movie looks sharp in the premium format - rarely relying on "jump out of the screen" gags. Consequently, either version of the film is recommendable - since the 3D effect is neither distracting nor essential to enjoying the onscreen action.

While it doesn't break a lot of new ground, Brave is a beautiful and competent entry in Disney's robust fairytale film pedigree - one that is sure to dazzle younger viewers. Princess Merida will, without question, have no trouble competing alongside iconic Mouse House heroines like Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, and Ariel, as one of Disney's best animated leading ladies. Nonetheless, even though Brave is solid from beginning to end, the experience might be a little underwhelming for older viewers who expect Pixar to continue pushing the boundaries of animated film storytelling with another "mature" offering. Ultimately, it's an easy film to recommend, but some ardent cinephiles might want to temper their lofty expectations.

If you’re still on the fence about  Brave , check out the trailer below:

[poll id="337"]

Let us know what you thought of the film in the comment section below.

Follow me on Twitter @ benkendrick  for future reviews, as well as movie, TV, and gaming news.

Brave is Rated PG for some scary action and rude humor. Now playing in theaters.

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Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a ... Read all Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse.

• Mark Andrews
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• Steve Purcell
• Kelly Macdonald
• Billy Connolly
• Emma Thompson
• 583 User reviews
• 505 Critic reviews
• 69 Metascore
• 20 wins & 48 nominations total

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Did you know

• Trivia Kevin McKidd was particularly happy to work on this project because it was the first time in years that he'd been able to use his natural Scottish accent in a movie.
• Goofs (at around 7 mins) When Merida hops on her horse and takes her "day off" she is wearing a royal blue dress. However, when she climbs the rock next to the falls, and on the top of the rock, her dress is dark green. When she goes back home, she is wearing a blue dress again.

Princess Merida : [last lines; narrating] There are those who say fate is something beyond our command. That destiny is not our own, but I know better. Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it.

• Crazy credits When Mor'du is killed towards the end of the film he turns into a will o' the wisp and we realise that they are the spirits of the dead. During the credits a will o' the wisp appears over the credit "dedicated with love and gratitude to Steve Jobs , our partner, mentor and friend."
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Reviews: Cars 2 (2011)
• Soundtracks Noble Maiden Fair Music by Patrick Doyle Lyrics by Patrick Neil Doyle Performed by Emma Thompson and Peigi Barker Gaelic translation by Donald MacLeod

User reviews 583

• Jun 17, 2012
• Is 'Brave' based on a book?
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• June 19, 2012 (United States)
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• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $185,000,000 (estimated)
• $237,283,207
• $66,323,594
• Jun 24, 2012
• $538,983,207

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 33 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• Dolby Digital
• D-Cinema 96kHz Dolby Surround 7.1
• D-Cinema 48kHz Dolby Surround 7.1

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Brave review: Lives up to the Pixar pedigree, but doesn’t exceed it

If there is any movie studio in the business that has earned the benefit of the doubt, it’s Pixar. Again and again the studio has swung for the fences, and again and again it doesn’t just hit a homerun, but makes the ball explode as stunned fans drool over what they were witnessing. Pixar and Disney have enjoyed a fairly stunning string of successes, both commercially and critically. And because of that, Pixar may be its own worst enemy.

After years of setting the bar so high with movies like Up , WALL-E , and the Toy Story series to name a few, any Pixar film that doesn’t instantly become a classic is tinged with just a bit of disappointment. Naturally, that isn’t fair, but it is unavoidable. Just look at last year’s Cars 2.  It wasn’t a bad movie, but neither was it anywhere near the same level as The Incredibles , Monsters Inc. , or one of the several other groundbreaking films bearing the Pixar logo. It became the first Pixar film not nominated for any Academy Awards, and many critics called it a failure, even as it went on to earn well over half a billion dollars. Granted, a big box office haul doesn’t mark a great movie, but Cars 2  was at least decent. People just expect more from Pixar than decent.

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Princess Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) is the daughter of the jovial King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and the loving, but controlling, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Merida has been herded toward a predetermined destiny her entire life: wedding one of the sons of a local Lord. Despite rebellious tendencies that often put Merida at odds with a mother that constantly wants her to be more “ladylike,” Merida loves her deeply, even while fundamentally disagreeing with her about her fate.

On the eve of the decision on who she will marry, Merida runs away. Led on by Will O’ the Wisps who are said to lead people to their fates, Merida meets a witch who gives her a spell to use on her mother, allowing her to change her destiny. Naturally, it goes badly and the spell has unintended side effects that lead the Queen and the Princess to flee the castle and seek a way to undo what was done.

The moral of Brave will definitely resonate with children, even if most adults find it a bit obvious — not in a bad way, just a familiar one. There is no traditional “bad guy,” so to speak; instead the conflict comes through a series of circumstances.

Pixar has taken a great deal of effort to include 3D, and it works well, but retains the same inherent problem that all 3D movies face — it makes the picture darker. Generally you can overlook this, but the art and colors of Brave are so vibrant that the muted hues caused by the lenses of the glasses are almost a shame. It’s a tradeoff. The 3D technology is well used and it adds depth to the world, which is how the technology should be used. But skipping it won’t affect your enjoyment.

Brave is not on par with some of Pixar’s more groundbreaking works, but it is still a good movie, packed with the smart humor you would expect from Pixar, and presented with animation that is always enjoyable to watch. The voice cast is also top notch, and there is real effort behind each of the actors’ performances.

Brave is the type of movie that will improve on the second viewing, after you shake the lofty expectations that Pixar fans will unavoidably carry in with them. It is far more predictable and traditional than most of Pixar’s other works, but the writing, dialog, and humor are still very good. Brave is a quality film, and will likely be another feather in Pixar’s crowded cap.

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Great storytelling can do more than trigger an emotional response. It can evoke powerful olfactory memories and tickle your senses in ways that bring the audience deeper inside the world in which the tale unfolds.

Therein lies the beauty of Luca, Pixar's animated feature about a pair of young sea monsters whose adventures on the coast of Italy are so thoroughly immersed in the sights and sounds of the region that its wonderful coming-of-age tale should come with an advisory: Best experienced with pasta.

There's plenty of pedigree behind Infinite, the sci-fi thriller from Training Day director Antoine Fuqua that casts two-time Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg as a diagnosed schizophrenic who discovers that his hallucinations are actually the memories and accumulated experiences of past lives.

The film pits Wahlberg's character against a similarly reincarnating -- but fully aware -- villain played by Oscar-nominated 12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor, and was produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who famously shepherded both The Matrix and Transformers franchises to the screen. The movie's concept is also pretty slick, with two factions of characters who wield a wide array of abilities, expertise, and wealth gained from their past lives battling it out across the globe -- one trying to protect humanity while the other tries to end their infinite reincarnation by wiping out all life on Earth.

On paper, Gemini Man is as close to a sure thing as Hollywood gets. It stars Will Smith in not one but two roles: An aging assassin and the assassin's young clone. It's directed by Ang Lee, who's won Best Director Oscars for both a visual effects extravaganza (Life of Pi) and an intimate character drama (Brokeback Mountain), and it's produced by blockbuster king Jerry Bruckheimer. To top it all off, it features next-level visual effects and a groundbreaking 120 frames-per-second picture that's unlike anything you've ever seen.

In all of those aspects, Gemini Man lives up to the hype. It's the film's script that simply isn't up to par. While the special effects and souped-up frame rate make Gemini Man a true spectacle, the film is plagued by poor dialogue, sloppy plotting, and thinly drawn supporting characters. Visually, it's a blast. In every other aspect, it's a missed opportunity.

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Katak, the Brave Beluga Parent Guide

Virtually devoid of the vaguest of plots, this movie is incapable of entertaining a theater full of preschoolers..

Theaters: Katak, a young beluga whale, sets off on a journey to the Arctic to fulfill his grandmother's last wish. (Canadian theaters only.)

Release date February 25, 2023

Run Time: 82 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by savannah sillito.

Katak (Alexandre Bacon), a curious young beluga whale, still has his grey infant color, while all his peers have turned white. Determined not to let his delayed development slow him down, Katak sets out on a perilous journey to the Arctic to fulfill his ailing grandmother’s last wish.

Sometimes a film comes along that is so bland, so boring, so beyond explanation that I enter a mental state outside of time and space only to emerge, blinking in the bright lights of the theater lobby, unsure of where I am or how much time has passed. That was my experience today. I have never seen a theater full of kids as restless as our fellow audience. Kids were walking around, talking, and just generally fidgeting. I don’t mean that the children were badly behaved; they were just all bored. If you can’t keep young children entertained in a theater, you have no business making movies for kids.

The one positive aspect to this production is there is almost no negative content to speak of, aside from some mild peril and name calling. But that’s not enough to make this worth your time. There are some general positive messages around being courageous and not judging by appearances, but they’re not strong enough to make up for the film’s multitudinous flaws. I appreciate the effort by a small Quebec-based studio, but I can’t recommend that’s incapable of keeping preschoolers entertained for 80 minutes. A cardboard box can do that – and it’s cheaper and quieter.

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Savannah sillito, watch the trailer for katak, the brave beluga.

Katak, the Brave Beluga Rating & Content Info

Why is Katak, the Brave Beluga rated PG? Katak, the Brave Beluga is rated PG by the MPAA

Violence: There are a few scenes of mild peril. Sexual Content: None. Profanity: There is some mild name calling. Alcohol / Drug Use: None.

Page last updated January 11, 2024

Katak, the Brave Beluga Parents' Guide

How does Katak feel about his grey coloring? How do his friends and family treat him because of it? How does this perception change?

Loved this movie? Try these books…

Preschoolers who are fascinated by whales will love Raffi’s book, Baby Beluga. (You can listen to the song version here .) Also appealing to youngsters is Hello, Baby Beluga by Darrin Lunde.

Elementary school readers will find plenty of information in Beluga Whales by Victoria Blakemore. Beluga Whales for Kids by Rachel Smith is also full of information for curious kids.

Related home video titles:

If your kids enjoy animated movies about the underwater world, we suggest The Little Mermaid , Finding Nemo , Ponyo , Finding Dory , Luca , Seal Team ,

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• Mel Gibson as William Wallace; Patrick McGoohan as Longshanks (King Edward I); Sophie Marceau as Princess Isabelle; Angus MacFadyen as Robert the Bruce; Sean McGinley as MacClannough; Tommy Flanagan as Morrison; Peter Hanly as Prince Edward

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Movie Review

A nominee for 10 Academy Awards and the winner of five (including Best Picture and Best Director), Braveheart captures both the picturesque serenity and abject brutality of 13th-century Scotland and her quest for independence from England’s cruel pagan ruler, King Edward I (aka Longshanks). Leading the charge in this bloody campaign is Scottish hero William Wallace, a warrior whose dreams of a home, family and peace are quickly snuffed out by English tyranny. Now, his only quest is freedom. Both a brilliant military strategist and a savage warrior, Wallace tackles oppression head-on, yet faces resistance from comfortable bourgeois countrymen reluctant to rock the boat. Such compromise sickens Wallace who, oddly enough, wins the heartfelt support of lovely Princess Isabelle, Longshanks’ under-appreciated daughter-in-law. This often violent tale is part history, part mythology, all action-adventure. At its core lies a fundamental life-and-death struggle for what so many 21st-century Americans take for granted … life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

positive elements: Early in the film, a young Wallace receives sage advice from his father who tells him, “I know you can fight, but it’s our wits that make us men.” Following his father’s death, William’s uncle reinforces this by telling him that using one’s intellect should precede the use of force. A girl demonstrates kindness and sympathy by, without a word, handing the grieving orphan a flower at his father’s funeral (this is the girl Wallace will later marry). The boy decides to travel abroad, learn numerous languages and work toward an enviable education.

Fighting for one’s noble convictions—indeed, a willingness to die for them—is central to this 3-hour saga. Wallace is a devoted, loving husband before becoming an inspirational leader of men. He also shows humility by asking for forgiveness from his father-in-law following his wife’s murder. When he rallies troops to medieval combat, he doesn’t watch from a distance like Longshanks does; he stands at the front of the charge. Wallace’s own brutality in war is not without a decent respect for women and children. He has little patience with political squabbling among well-to-do Scots afraid to enter the fray. In fact, when he tells them, “You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom,” American viewers may rise up, cheer wildly and wish he could materialize in Washington to address Congress. After betraying Wallace to the English, a fellow Scot experiences regret, saves Wallace’s life and tells his rationalizing father, “No! I will never be on the wrong side again” (after Wallace’s death, it is he who spearheads the battle that finally wins Scotland its freedom). Even faced with public torture and sure martyrdom, Wallace prays for strength and refuses to bow to the evil authority of Longshanks.

spiritual content: A religious funeral (spoken mostly in Latin) includes a clearly Christian benediction. Wallace states, “God makes men what they are,” which may not be entirely true (often a man created by God can make ungodly choices that shape his identity), but at least his statement recognizes that individuals are part of a divine plan. A mercenary warrior mixes spirituality with bloodlust and dicey language, and claims to have been sent by the Almighty to kill Englishmen. Wallace makes a sincere plea to his comrades in the name of Christ, and later prays for strength to face a painful fate.

sexual content: Longshanks decrees that whenever a Scottish nobleman is married, Englishmen are to have sex with the bride first in order to “breed out” the Scots. There’s breast nudity and implied sex between Wallace and his new bride (whom he marries in secret because he refuses to share her with any other men). In one scene, a lecherous soldier tries to take advantage of Wallace’s wife. Much later, the widowed Wallace sleeps with Princess Isabelle, who has grown romantically attached to the passionate patriot. It is strongly implied that Prince Edward and his male aide are involved in a homosexual relationship. Dialogue between the princess and her handmaid reveals the servant’s promiscuity.

violent content: Many brutal combat scenes more than justify Braveheart ’s R rating. Men are bludgeoned with maces, struck with axes, hit in the face with arrows, set on fire, speared, stabbed, impaled, hanged, decapitated and beaten to a pulp. A leg is severed. A man loses his hand. Another is gouged in the throat with a set of antlers. Horses and their riders are speared with long poles. Several people have their throats cut. The most disturbingly graphic occurrence involves Wallace casually slitting the throat of the man who killed his wife in similar fashion. It’s easy to feel for him, but he seems to enjoy his vengeance a little too much. In separate incidents, Longshanks has his archers fire into a scrum aware that his own men will be hit, and personally hurls his son’s gay lover out a tower window to his death. Wallace beheads the king’s nephew and sends Uncle Longshanks the disembodied noggin in a basket. Bloodied bodies litter the landscape following vicious hand-to-hand combat.

crude or profane language: About a dozen profanities, including two f-words.

other negative elements: To antagonize the enemy, Wallace’s army moons the opposing troops.

conclusion: There’s something especially compelling about the person of William Wallace, a larger-than-life revolutionary who operated under Nike’s “Just Do It” mantra centuries before heroes started pulling down six-figure endorsement deals. To face martyrdom so bravely. To die with one word on his lips— freedom —as he’s being drawn and quartered. To reject being “bought out,” but rather to persevere on behalf of his oppressed countrymen, their children and their children’s children. Just as in Gibson’s more recent war story, The Patriot , there are a lot of healthy messages here. But just as in The Patriot, this Oscar-winner asks audiences to endure raw, extremely graphic violence along the way. Now available on DVD, Braveheart can be viewed in all of its widescreen splendor—great when the cinematographer focuses on fog-swept hillsides enriched by James Horner’s soothing Celtic score, but a little less desirable when painted barbarians are butchering each other in living color. Is the extreme violence necessary to convey the events leading to Scotland’s liberation? I’m not convinced that it had to be quite so extreme, explicit and, in a few cases, exploitative. Leaving a bit more to the imagination would have made Braveheart a more accessible entertainment without diminishing its inherently powerful messages.

special DVD features: A pair of rousing theatrical trailers are joined by a 28-minute “making of” featurette that includes background on William Wallace (and shows the monument to him that still stands today), interviews with the cast and crew, and a look behind the scenes at how Gibson staged and choreographed the battle scenes. There’s also a version of the film overlaid with commentary by Oscar-winning director/star Mel Gibson that’s interesting, but seems rather flat considering Gibson’s manic story-telling ability.

Bob Smithouser

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Though he’s been quite the presence in fantastical, supporting roles in the likes of “Game of Thrones” and “ Justice League ,” Jason Momoa ’s day as an action lead has yet to come. Enter Lin Oeding ’s “Braven,” a movie as dumb and bloody as a slab of meat, but with Momoa playing an emotionally vulnerable logger who you also believe would throw an ax at someone's face. 

Wearing modern clothes and leading an action vehicle for one of the first times ever, Momoa positions himself as a snowball-tossing, Porter-drinking, tree-chopping family man, with specifically no mentioned history of him ever killing before. But before he finds himself squaring off against drug dealers in his small family cabin out in the woods, we get a sense of his loving relationship with wife Stephanie ( Jill Wagner ) and their daughter Charlotte ( Sasha Rossof ). In the script’s most unexpected edge to this type of story, Joe has an emotional vulnerability for his father Linden ( Stephen Lang ), whose mental health is deteriorating. After Linden is in a scuffle at a bar when confusing a random woman for his late wife, Joe decides to take him up to the family cabin for a tough chat about getting medical care, with Charlotte sneaking aboard the truck. 

But woe, as we see during drawn out sequences of cheesy goonery in between hints of Joe’s quiet life, the cabin has become a drug stash locale by one of Joe’s worker friends ( Brendan Fletcher ) and an accomplice ( Zahn McClarnon ), after they crashed a logging truck that was carrying a log with a whole lot o’ drugs inside. This propels lead baddie Kassen ( Garret Dillahunt , whose riff on malevolence is to smoke cigarettes inside a diner and generally seem weary of this shit) and his men to to the cabin to get the drugs themselves. The stakes are obvious from the beginning to Joe that his family will not survive after giving the drugs back, so the second half of “Braven” turns into a bloated fight scene with more dead bodies than pings of simple amusement you might feel owed from the premise alone. 

With such a simple concept, and with its big showdown happening only over the course of a couple hours or so, there’s a disappointing lack of tightness to the big picture. Instead of sharpening its basic elements like character and location, "Braven" piles on more stuff; the script even works overtime to set things up at the cabin and with the dumb truckers, as if we’re to be emotionally invested in their oopsie-daisy, until it starts to directly affect the Bravens. Later on, the script adds crossbow-toting Stephanie and some cops, creating more opportunities for people to battle but less chance of immediacy. As “Braven” becomes more than just than an impromptu OK Corral showdown, there are still too many moving pieces to worry about any one of them in particular. 

Oeding, himself formerly a stunt coordinator, makes a case that he could be a strong fight scene director in due time, but his directorial comprehension lacks a sense of space and the people within it. While Momoa's character is more compelling than just watching a modern, housebroken Khal Drogo, the forces of evil he's up against (gun-toting henchmen with beards) aren’t so much forgettable as inconsequential. And the free-for-all setting of the snowy woods, for all of its opportunities of visibility and camouflage, is wasted by not establishing a concrete sense of the property's geography (even though the opening credits are dedicated to setting Newfoundland's amazing views). 

But you’re probably reading this review wondering most of all if the action delivers, or if it fulfills in the crude art of “cool kills.” That is one facet where the movie does have some inspiration, where its nimble brawn sometimes comically zigs when you think it’s going to zag—a character is stabbed despite the promise of being shot, or a fight scene ends with men being thrown off a cliff, in two cases. Even a bear trap is used in a way that might make you think, after laughing, “well, that's unusual.” “Braven” is an automatic type of action movie, often only challenging its predictability by getting goofier and goofier. 

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Braven (2018)

Rated R for violence and for language throughout including some sexual references.

Jason Momoa as Joe Braven

Stephen Lang as Linden

Zahn McClarnon as Hallett

Jill Wagner as Stephanie

Brendan Fletcher as Weston

Sasha Rossof as Charlotte

Garret Dillahunt as Kassen

• Thomas Pa'a Sibbett
• Michael Nilon

Cinematographer

• Brian Andrew Mendoza

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Lonely Are the Brave Reviews

It's worth noting that Kirk Douglas long professed that Lonely Are the Brave contains one of his own favorite performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 23, 2020

Such a shocking beginning is the first of many attributes that place this film as the best - and most atypical - western in which Jerry Goldsmith was involved throughout his professional career. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Sep 11, 2019

Afterwards, [Kirk Douglas] made no mystery of his love of the film, later declaring it his all-time favorite of his work. And why not?

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 28, 2018

Lonely are the Brave, a film fairly stuffed with symbolism, shows how inevitably the heroic, human, in its real sense unsophisticated world of the West and its values are crushed by the synthetic, the mechanical, the wasteful and vicious in modern life.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2018

David Miller builds sturdily on Philip Lathrop's widescreen cinematography, but Douglas and Dalton Trumbo's screenplay are the auteurs here

Full Review | Nov 1, 2009

Kirk Douglas produced and starred in this elegiac Western, scripted by Dalton Trumbo, which laments the vanishing Old West, its heroes and their mores, replaced by a modern world dominated by progress and technology.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 13, 2009

Kirk Douglas remains the epitome of the rugged individual in the classic neo-western Lonely Are the Brave

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 30, 2009

Douglas oferece uma atuao curiosamente divertida, mas o roteiro de Dalton Trumbo (normalmente um mestre) fracassa ao se concentrar na longa perseguio em vez de fornecer elementos para que possamos comprender melhor as motivaes do protagonista.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 2, 2009

One of only a few Kirk Douglas films where the hammy actor didn't want to make me gag.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Feb 6, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 24, 2005

Kirk's favorite, and a true classic.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Oct 16, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 7, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 18, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 17, 2001

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Docu on country trailblazer has language, addiction.

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Women can do anything, given opportunities to expl

Carter Cash is described and depicted as a thought

Carter Cash is depicted as ahead of her times in m

The subject of the documentary is no longer alive,

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"Bitch," "ass," "whore."

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Interviewees discuss Johnny Cash's addition to pil

Parents need to know that the documentary June paints a portrait of country singer June Carter Cash, best known to many as Johnny Cash's wife, as an independent woman and successful artist in her own right, who was ahead of her time in many ways. Mature content includes descriptions of Cash's drug addictions,…

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Parents need to know that the documentary June paints a portrait of country singer June Carter Cash, best known to many as Johnny Cash's wife, as an independent woman and successful artist in her own right, who was ahead of her time in many ways. Mature content includes descriptions of Cash's drug addictions, which led to near overdoses, interventions, and stints in rehab. There's also some language ("bitch," "ass," "whore") and mildly suggestive talk of romance, crushes, and unexpected pregnancies (as well as some on-screen kissing). The film could inspire interest in a slew of musicians and their published works, but mostly it is about Carter Cash and what she meant to her family and the wider country community as a kind of "matriarch." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

Is it any good, talk to your kids about ..., movie details.

• On DVD or streaming : January 16, 2024
• Cast : June Carter Cash , Johnny Cash , Roseanne Cash
• Director : Kirsten Vaurio
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Paramount+
• Genre : Documentary
• Topics : History , Music and Sing-Along
• Run time : 98 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 8, 2024

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