The story begins with Scottish Princess Merida as a little girl who gets a bow and arrow for her birthday. But a bear comes, and she and her parents need to leave.

Years have passed. Merida has gotten older and has 3 little brothers. Unfortunately, as the princess, she has to follow strict rules that she disagrees with. Her mom constantly reminds her how to act and it drives her crazy.

At some point, Merida’s parents arrange for princes from different kingdoms to compete to marry her. Merida is strongly against that.

The day comes. Various princes are introduced. Merida decides to have them compete through archery.

After a few of the princes shoot their arrows to the targets, Merida joins in and shoots an arrow – probably as a way to rebel against her parents’ requests. This infuriates her mother. The two get into an argument to the point where her mom destroys her bow and arrow in the fireplace.

Merida runs away on her horse in tears and ends up at a wood shop run by a witch. The witch offers Merida something that will change her mom. Merida accepts it and returns to her castle with a small cake. She gives it to her mom and hopes that she will call off the marriage. But her mother feels sick.

In her bedroom, Merida’s mother falls off her bed. While under the blankets, she transforms into a bear, and can no longer speak. Merida has to hide her bear mom from the others in the castle and help her escape.

Merida returns to the witch’s shop – only to find that she is not there and is unavailable. She finds out that she needs to remember certain words to break the spell before it becomes permanent by the next sunrise.

She spends some quality time with her mother and their relationship improves. Eventually, Merida ends up in the same place her mom had told her about as a legend. She learns that the oldest prince went under the same hex and turned into a bear forever. He also functions like a wild bear and tries to attack Merida. Her mother saves her.

But there is little time left for Merida to turn her mom back into a human.

This movie had a lot of memorable moments and aspects. The biggest one to me is Merida’s relationship with her mother. It comes off as flawed and believable. Her mom wanted her to strive for perfection, which was not a good idea. I am glad that their relationship improved throughout the film.

I also loved Merida as a character. She is portrayed as a rebellious teenager who just wants to make her own choices. Like many other Disney princesses, she is adventurous. I especially admire how she didn’t want to get married.

Regardless of what other people have said about her character design, I have no problem with Merida’s appearance. I do find it interesting how her brothers were apparently nonverbal. They received no lines and only some screen time, but were still smart.

The movie is also fastpaced and not too long. It’s only around an hour and a half. I will admit, though, that the plot was a bit hard to follow occasionally. But that is a minor flaw.

Overall, I enjoyed Brave. It makes a good watch for people of all ages.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.