Brave (2012) Merida is the Best “Disney” Princess

Brave (2012) Pixar

It’s not often you get to see a real mother daughter relationship on film. In fact, even in television shows the parents resolve most of their issues with their children in less than 22 minutes and always have some special way of connecting with them so that they understand why. Real life is not like that. Most parents fight with their children about the same issues over long periods of time. Both sides hardly ever come to a conclusion without some shouting match or concessions given by both sides.

I felt like Brave was able to display these relationships accurately and asks children a very difficult question for a younger age group. Is what you want for yourself to become someone very different than your mother?

If you have a mother than you know that this is a difficult question to answer. The two of them do not understand the opinions of the other and do not come to an understanding until they are put in a situation where they need to survive. They are both stubborn and if you come from a Scottish family like me than this is no real surprise.

One of my favorite things about Merida is that she is not your typical princess. Not only is she uninterested in a prince to come save her, but it adamantly opposed to the idea of a man she doesn’t love. It’s like a Bollywood film gone Pixar in Scotland.  I don’t mind that she resembles her father both in attitude and looks because I have met a lot of girls that are like their fathers and they are easily relatable. How can you disagree with a girl that wants to change one of her family members? I think we have all wanted to do that on several occasions. My father always tells me that I need to have good relationships with my family because they are the only people in your life that you can’t get rid of haha.

Merida really is the best “Disney” princess. She’s down to earth, free spirited, independent, rebellious, intelligent, soft of heart, and she flaunts no particular features to make women self-conscious about their looks (as animation is so good at doing for both women and men). She is highly gifted for horse riding, sword fighting, and most of all bow shooting. These are important skills to have because there are always dangers in the land and even those who can’t protect themselves can still fall to the sword.

I am excited for the next Brave movie and hope that Pixar eventually explains “The Pixar Theory” which has grown to be an internet phenomenon. Every Pixar film is practically film gold because they are able to adapt stories that resonate with all age groups. They have a lot more to accomplish in the years to come and it’s worth the wait. 

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) How Soon They Forget

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) Disney

Every time I hear about Frozen (2013) being the best movie that Disney’s made since The Lion King (1994), I can’t help but remembering a certain film they made last year. Wreck-It Ralph has been somewhat forgotten. Sure it isn’t the kid’s movies that Disney is famous for, but for the first time in years I have been interested in an animated film that didn’t say Pixar or Madagascar on it. Many of these animated creations can be forgotten (like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and to be fair most of them fall short of a complete film.

For me it can be very difficult to hear opinions on films I haven’t seen yet because I always feel like they are overhyped. To be honest, I didn’t want to see Wreck-It Ralph in theatres. Everyone told me it was good and I was sure that it wasn’t. I was delightfully surprised to witness such a fun film. Even a year later I still think it’s hilarious. Wreck-It Ralph is the first Disney story I could relate to in years and that is saying something. Many people also forget how often Disney actually makes films. To be precise Disney made 13 movies in 2013 alone and 14 in 2012. It is astonishing how many films one company can make that suck. In recent times they basically average that amount of films and practically the majorities that don’t say Pixar on them are forgettable. In fact, I checked and there are 12 Air Bud movies. Is anyone tired of seeing this dog play sports and flying through space?

After all that ranting I guess I didn’t expect Disney to make a movie for my demographic. This arcade based tribute far outdates the majority of the Disney demographic. I thought it was nice to see Disney do more to include more of its fans from an earlier time.

Wreck-It Ralph was fun to watch a features unique dialogue between the two main characters. The plot of the story resonates with many people there are few that haven’t been underappreciated as a human. Bad guys are usually the ones that get forgotten in video games because they are always impeding you from victory.

The story itself was complete and although much of it was a homage to gamers, it could be understood by all. When I write this I hope to interject the feelings that express a joy to see a hate-able character become liked once again as this age old plot from Disney can be reiterated several times in various scenarios. Although the plot wasn’t anything new it did allow for them to create great characters that are sure to be ruined by less qualified actors and script writers in the sequel.

I don’t want to rush through this review because I did generally like the film and think it’s nice for the big guy to get credit once and a while. 

101 Dalmatians (1961) Still a Great Watch

101 Dalmatians (1961) Disney

Last night I did not have a lot of time and decided to watch something that would allow me save some time. Now I know it may be silly to watch a movie like this when you are a male in your mid-twenties, but I happen to love the old Disney movies I grew up watching. There is something about the older ones that makes them unique. They are from another time and are told as stories of old. They don’t intend to make political references or even social inquiries. They just tell thoughtful stories and demonstrate real feelings. Although I don’t mind the way stories are told today, there is always a feeling of nostalgia for the way stories used to be told.

Robin Hood has been my favorite Disney movies since I was a boy and is probably the best version of the Robin Hood story to date. I didn’t mind the Ridley Scott version, but that is not important.

The 101 Dalmatians story actually happens to be one of the only Disney tales that sticks to the actual story version of the book. It is the tale of Pongo and Perdida and their human pets which are named Roger and Anita. They have puppies which are stolen from them by an evil woman named Cruella de Vil who wants to make fur coats out of them. Pongo and Perdida eventually save their 15 puppies and the other 84 as well. This heartwarming film is fun to watch and won’t waste your time. It is good for viewers of all ages.

(As a side note) Cruella de Vil is supposed to translate to “Cruel Woman Devil” and I say woman devil because the ‘a’ at the end of her name denotes that it is a female in Latin based languages. What’s great about her name is that it was obviously used to be deliberately evil as a joke. The sad part is that many movies of our time fail to name the villains of the stories properly. For instance, in the Star Wars series the names of the villains are supposed to make them inherently evil, but they do not disguise them well and they are not joking. One name I hate from the Star Wars series is General Grievous. It is literally the word used for pain and suffering except they didn’t mask it cleverly. It just comes off as being stupid because there was no thought put into it. The same goes for Darth Sidious. His name is just half of the word insidious which means slow harmful effects which is obviously the basis of the character. Cruella de Vil acutally has a name that makes sense in real life because it could be construed as Cruella De Ville which properly states that her family name comes from “the village” and has actual roots in a Latin base.

Sorry for ranting about that, but someone needed to say it.

There are some differences from the book to the movies that I thought I should note such as:

For one, the name of “Perdida” (which means lost is Spanish) is actually referring to another female Dalmatian in the book who is found abandoned in the snow by Mrs. Dearly (Annita).

Mr. Dearly in the book also happens to be an accountant (not a songwriter like in the movie) and lives off of a lifelong tax exemption from the government because he apparently is one of the greatest financial minds in the whole of England. He later purchases the property of Hell Hall from Cruella de Vil when she sells it after the puppy kidnapping goes south.

The car that Cruella drives actually does not exist at the time, but it is basically the same car developed in the seventies and known as the Panther DeVille. The odd part of the car was that it was made in the seventies, but it was made to look like a car from the twenties or thirties.