Brave
Directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
Starring Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
5-Disc Blu-ray | 3-Disc Blu-ray | DVD
Release Date: November 13, 2012

The number 13. It is a bad one, often fraught with misfortune. Sadly that misfortune applies to Pixar’s unlucky 13th feature, Brave, a bold, well-intentioned and genuinely good film with many elements that regretfully do not work in its favor. Fortuitously, though, its Blu-ray release is among the best you can find this holiday season. So bear with me and embark on a Blu-ray review of Brave.

Film

After an intense prologue set in medieval Scotland, where it looks like King Fergus (voiced with gusto by Billy Connolly) will be slain by demon bear Mor’du, we think the film will strike a consistently dark tone. In one sense, yes, Brave heads down an intense path with some accomplished guidance. Yet it also wanders around a trail scattered by silliness and irrelevance. That is perhaps the most consistent issue with Brave, in that it holds a conflicting narrative, never knowing if it wants to be a forceful or relaxed picture.

Brave
Co-Directed by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, and Brenda Chapman
Written by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman, Irene Mecchi
Starring Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, John Ratzenberger
Disney/Pixar
Rated PG | 93 Minutes
Release Date: June 22, 2012

November 22nd, 1995. Aside from it being my sister’s 23rd birthday, it’s also the theatrical release date of Pixar’s first feature film, Toy Story. I was 10 years, 11 months and 18 days old, the perfect age (approximately) for your typical adolescent boy to be super-excited about an all-CGI film.

The thing is, I wasn’t really a normal kid. As a chubby, four-eyed fourth grader, I was wearing Aliens t-shirts and watching Terminator 2: Judgment Day and RoboCop on VHS while other kids sang along to “Under the Sea” or “A Whole New World.”

Walt Disney classics like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King didn’t interest me. I was too busy tugging at my mom’s shirt, begging her to rent Alien 3 from the local video store – which she did, only if I promised not to repeat any of the bad words I heard. She still ended up fast-forwarding through the gory moments, but by God no cartoon could ever compare.

Though production began long ago and we already have a wonderful first trailer to watch (a couple hundred times…per day), director Peter Jackson still had some casting to get done for his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s beloved classic, The Hobbit.

It’s being reported that Jackson has brought in Billy Connolly as the final addition to the cast. He’ll play the great dwarf warrior and cousin to Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Dain Ironfoot.

The summer of 2012 brings with it a special treat as the ongoing kick of sequels and prequels from Pixar Animation (Toy Story 3, Cars 2, and 2013’s Monsters University) takes a break for a brand new and original title from co-directors Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, titled Brave. We’ve seen the wonderful-yet-brief teaser trailer, and now a full trailer has been released

The movie is the first period film from Pixar, going back to old Scotland where the daughter of a king decides to shake things up a little.

You can check out the new trailer and read a full synopsis by continuing on below.

A trio of new images from the upcoming Disney*Pixar feature, Brave, have been released online.

In the images we see a new shot of the fiery-haired Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald), a look at Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), King Fergus (Billy Connolly), Merida, and triplet Princes Harris, Hubert, and Hamish, and lastly, an image of Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

You can see the images by heading below now, and be sure to peek at the teaser trailer if you’ve not yet seen it.