Disney’s Brave

Brave opens today in theatres nationwide. I am not posting specifics (prices, bathrooms, etc) because theatres vary so much.

You can find where Brave is playing near you, or purchase tickets online.

Our experience:

We were invited to an early screening of Brave but I wasn’t allowed to post anything about it until today. We took both boys to see the movie. For some reason, despite the fact that we told him we were seeing Brave several times, Cooper kept thinking we were seeing Madagascar 3. Fortunately, he did not seem disappointed that it wasn’t about circus animals.

Brave is about Merida, a Scottish princess and her family. Merida is independent, a bit wild, and a tomboy, but her mother is trying to make her a proper princess. Of course, there is tension between them and when Merida resists her mother’s attempts to follow tradition to find her a husband things get ugly. Merida runs off and encounters a witch and asks for her help to change her fate. The witch’s spell doesn’t turn out the way Merida expects and leads to a very dangerous situation for Merida’s mother. In the end, Merida has to use her strength and independence to save her mother and mend their relationship.

There were several scary bits throughout the movie. The first scare comes early in the movie and John and I didn’t anticipate it, so we were all caught a bit off guard. Dexter was sitting next to John and pretty literally jumped into his arms. Cooper and Dexter generally aren’t easy to scare, but the vicious bears were enough to push them over the edge. Although it didn’t seem to bother them much, there are also some chase and battle scenes and a creepy witch that might be scary for some kids.

We saw Brave in 3D and the animation is incredible. The animation on Merida’s hair alone is amazing and a bit mesmerizing. This was a bit of a double edged sword because I think it made some of the moments in the movie even scarier. John and I enjoyed the movie. Cooper and Dexter seemed to, but when we asked Cooper afterwards he said he didn’t really because it was scary. There were no nightmares and they haven’t brought up scary parts of the movie so I don’t think there was any permanent (or semi-permanent) damage, but if you have a timid child I would suggest waiting for this one on DVD or at least not seeing it in 3D.

Will you be going to see Brave? Have you seen it already? What did you think of it?

My family was invited to a pre-screening event for Brave. All opinions are my own.