Our tale begins in a forest glade with Queen Elinor playing hide &
seek with Princess Merida. Merida has a mop of curly red hair and a
fiery, independent spirit. It is Merida's birthday and her father, King
Fergus (Billy Connolly), has given her a bow, which elicits a disapproving frown from
the queen. After a sad first outing of archery, the little band plan to
return to the castle when Mor-Du the Bear attacks. The wicked one-eyed
beast has haunted the woods for years. King Fergus leaps to battle
with his men-at-arms while Elinor scoops up young Merida and rides away.
The story resumes a decade or so later as Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is now marriageable and she has a trio of younger brothers. King Fergus lost a leg in the battle with Mor-Du and he delights in telling the tale and blustering about his plan for revenge. Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) has harassed Merida for years into being a princess but she is more interested in riding her horse Angus and shooting targets with her bow; she has become an amazingly good archer in the intervening years. She is not at all excited by the idea of being married off to one of the three other great clans. This is made all the worse by the arrival of her three suitors. However, she gets to set the test by which the suitors will win her hand; she chooses archery. As only the firstborn can seek her hand, Merida, a firstborn herself, steps onto the archery field to win her own hand! Queen Elinor is not amused.
Desperate to avoid her fate, Merida rides into the woods and is led to a witch's hut by willow-wisps. Merida barters for a spell that will change Queen Elinor's mind on the matter of marriage. Not surprisingly, the spell doesn't work quite as Merida had hoped; chaos and hilarity ensue. Merida's mute triplet brothers are great.
The story is interesting in that it works with the idea of gender roles. Women don't run around in armor and hack away like Xena. Merida is an oddity in her world. Many period pieces ignore that gender roles existed. Of course, much of the story is Merida trying to break free of the expectations of a king's daughter. The inclusion of Mor-Du the evil bear is a bit curious, as his story is tangential to our heroine. The CGI is great and the acting is really good since most of the voice cast are Scottish actors. Thumbs up for the movie.
The story resumes a decade or so later as Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is now marriageable and she has a trio of younger brothers. King Fergus lost a leg in the battle with Mor-Du and he delights in telling the tale and blustering about his plan for revenge. Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson) has harassed Merida for years into being a princess but she is more interested in riding her horse Angus and shooting targets with her bow; she has become an amazingly good archer in the intervening years. She is not at all excited by the idea of being married off to one of the three other great clans. This is made all the worse by the arrival of her three suitors. However, she gets to set the test by which the suitors will win her hand; she chooses archery. As only the firstborn can seek her hand, Merida, a firstborn herself, steps onto the archery field to win her own hand! Queen Elinor is not amused.
Desperate to avoid her fate, Merida rides into the woods and is led to a witch's hut by willow-wisps. Merida barters for a spell that will change Queen Elinor's mind on the matter of marriage. Not surprisingly, the spell doesn't work quite as Merida had hoped; chaos and hilarity ensue. Merida's mute triplet brothers are great.
The story is interesting in that it works with the idea of gender roles. Women don't run around in armor and hack away like Xena. Merida is an oddity in her world. Many period pieces ignore that gender roles existed. Of course, much of the story is Merida trying to break free of the expectations of a king's daughter. The inclusion of Mor-Du the evil bear is a bit curious, as his story is tangential to our heroine. The CGI is great and the acting is really good since most of the voice cast are Scottish actors. Thumbs up for the movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment