Don’t get us wrong, Pixar knows how to make captivating movies despite the perpetual predictable happy ending. Brave centers around a princess (Disney has decided to be original), whose name was too complicated to remember and who doesn’t like her mom deciding her fate for her. The princess chooses to follow her own fate (literally, there are these apparitions that lead her to her fate) and in doing so makes the decision to change her mom.
As the cliche “be careful what you wish for” goes, instead of figuratively changing her mom, her mom is literally changed into a bear. In order to change her mother back, the princess needs to “mend the bond” of their relationship. The happy ending ensues.
What bothered us the most about the movie was how the ultimate moral — learn to love those around you — was achieved. Do we really live in a world where a mother has to be morphed into a bear to earn her daughter’s love?
With all the time that the princess and queen had together, why didn’t they ever just talk, and more importantly, listen?
Believe it or not, there aren’t witches in every forest that can change our parents or siblings or friends into bears in order for us to see the good in them. The only asset we have to accept one another is our words and ears. By relying on a witch or any outside force to help us seek love, we give up that choice within ourselves.
Disney should make a movie about that — it can be called Real.
Image Source: The Hollywood Report, Courtesy