Brave

Brave is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It was written by Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi, directed by Andrews and Chapman and co-directed by Purcell. The film's voice cast features Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane and John Ratzenberger. In Brave, a skilled archer named Merida defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in her kingdom. After consulting an elderly wise woman for help, her family becomes cursed and Merida is forced to undo the spell herself before it is too late. The film is scheduled to have its world premiere on June 18, 2012 at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and is due for release on June 22, 2012 in North America.

Preceding the film will be Pixar's Academy Award nominated short film entitled La Luna, directed by Enrico Casarosa.

Plot
"Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In Brave, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts. Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwal (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late. Directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, and produced by Katherine Sarafian, Brave is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and the signature Pixar humor enjoyed by audiences of all ages. The film takes aim at theaters on June 22, 2012, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters."

Voice cast

 * Kelly Macdonald as Adult Princess Merida
 * Julie Walters as Wise Woman
 * Billy Connolly as King Fergus
 * Emma Thompson as Queen Elinor
 * Kevin McKidd as Lord MacGuffin/Lord's son Young MacGuffin
 * Craig Ferguson as Lord Macintosh
 * Robbie Coltrane as Lord Dingwall
 * John Ratzenberger as Gordon
 * Callum O'Neill as Wee Dingwall
 * Peigi Barker as Young Merida
 * Steven Cree as Young Macintosh
 * Steve Purcell The Crow
 * Callum O'Neill as Wee Dingwall
 * Patrick Doyle as Martin
 * TBA as Mor'du
 * TBA as Angus
 * TBA as The Triplets (Harris, Hubert, and Hamish)

Production
Brave was first announced under the title of The Bear and the Bow. Other titles that had been considered include, among others The Bear King and his Daughter, Brave and the Bow and Bravehair. The film, Pixar's first fairy tale, is a combination of Brenda Chapman's love of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, as well as a reflection on raising her daughter.

The film departs from the traditional fairy tale storyline, neglecting the romance that has been associated with these stories. It focuses on the relationship between Merida and her mother Queen Elinor, which was inspired to Chapman by her own relation with her daughter.

Chapman was supposed to be the film's sole director - and Pixar’s first female director. But last October, it was reported that Pixar had replaced Chapman with Mark Andrews. Now, although Andrews is presently in charge of guiding Brave across the finish line, both Andrews and Chapman will be credited as the movie’s directors, according to a Disney spokesman.

Following his involvement as director, Mark Andrews did a heavy lifting to the story, to focus down on the core story. Among others, he cleared away many magic elements, which he found affected the environnement. The film was initially set for release on June 15, 2012 but was later changed to June 22, 2012.

Although the production of the film started in 2008, Brenda Chapman had already began work years earlier. As early as in 2006, several members of the crew made a research trip in Scotland. They made a total of two trips to Scotland for the film.> Among others they visited the Eilean Donan and Dunnottar Castles, as well as the Callanish Standing Stones on the Isle of Lewis, which inspired the circle of standing stones that appears in the film.

To reproduce the lush and texture look of the landscapes of the Highlands, Pixar animators and designers created around 350 custom brushes in Photoshop, so that they could layer different designs, patterns and shapes in layers other to achieve a realistic and invisible look to all of the environments.

Animators were introduced to the weapons used in the film, in order to understand their working: some went into archery classes, while Mark Andrews taught swordfightning to animators. Originally, Reese Witherspoon was planned to voice Princess Merida, but she was unable to work on the film due to scheduling issues and was replaced by Kelly Macdonald as a result.

Celtic and Pictish design and patterns have been integrated everywhere throughout the film, on Merida’s bow, on clothing, walls, as well as to natural elements like snowflakes, moss or tree branches.

The original idea had 80 % of the scenes taking place in the snow. In the final movie however, very few snow scenes remain. John Ratzenberger, who is Pixar's "good luck charm", having been in every Pixar film to date, has been cast in Brave, and will voice a guard in a Scottish accent. The end credits will include a special tribute to Steve Jobs.

Rating
Brave is rated PG by the MPAA for some scary action and rude humor, making it the third Pixar film to recieve this rating.

Release
The film was initially set for release on June 15, 2012, but was later changed to June 22, 2012. The film is scheduled to have its world premiere on June 18, 2012, at the new Dolby Theatre in Hollywood as part of the Los Angeles Film Festival, and is scheduled to have its European premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 30, 2012. Brave will be the first film to be released with the Dolby Atmos sound format, developed by Dolby to reproduce more "natural and lifelike" sound.

Video game
A video game based on the film will be published by Disney Interactive Studios on June 19, 2012, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC and Nintendo DS. A mobile video game Temple Run: Brave, a Brave variation of Temple Run, will be released on June 14, 2012, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android.

Reception
On April 3, 2012, Pixar screened the first 30 minutes of the movie, and it received a positive reaction by the screeners.

Trivia

 * This will be the first Pixar movie to have a main female protagonist and Pixar's first fairy tale.
 * Brave is set in the kingdom of DunBroch, during the 10th century.
 * Mark Andrews confirmed that the Pizza Planet truck, as well as Pixar's other traditional easter eggs will appear in Brave: "All the typical things, those little insider jokes are all in the movie." It was reported that Tia Kratter, art director of the film, has hinted during her presentation at the D23 Expo that the truck would be in the Witch's house.
 * On Fridays, the animators had to wear kilts as part of their work routine.
 * During the Brave Press Event (held April 3-5, 2012), it was stated that 111,394 storyboards were created for the film. This compares to 80,000 for Cars 2 and 92,854 for Toy Story 3.
 * There are more than 100 unique hair/facial hair combinations used in “Brave” for human characters and animals. Each variant can appear in any of nine different colors, creating more than 900 hairstyle/color variants.
 * Brave is the third Pixar film to be rated PG, after The Incredibles and Up.
 * Brave''s logo include a stylised representation of Merida in the "B" and of Queen Elinor in the "E".

Sites
Movie Website: http://disney.go.com/brave/index.html