Movie review: Brave ****

Stars: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson
Director: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell
Rated: PG
Showing: Neptune Cinema week of Friday, July 13. For more information call 292-7296.
Tickets: Buy tickets online
Runtime: 94 minutes
Animation/adventure

There are so many rules for a Disney princess. Too many for Disney's newest princess, the Scottish heroine Merida in Brave. But here's the one that makes the fiery redheaded archer snap: "A princess should not have weapons."

Pixar's first "Disney princess" completes the evolution of the studio's distinctly American take on young womanhood. Princesses have evolved from sailor-obsessed mermaids to Merida, a spunky, self-assured lass who'd rather eat an arrow than take up with some guy her parents point her way. She has duties, obligations, an arranged marriage to endure. But as Merida narrates, her fate should be her own.

Brave is a spirited, Scottish-accented romp that packs female empowerment into a generally amusing tale of youthful impulsiveness and its consequences.

Merida (Kelly Macdonald of Nanny McPhee) seizes her destiny when her father (Billy Connolly) and mom, Queen Elinor (voiced by Emma Thompson), start parading unsuitable suitors before her, a marriage that will keep the peace among the Scottish clans. As tradition would have it, the would-be-kings compete in feats of strength to win her hand. But she selects one sport where she herself dominates. She hopes to win her independence with the draw of a bow.

Her mom says "Nothing doing." So Merida takes her case to a witch, which is how mum gets turned into a bear. And since this is the bear-hunting-happy corner of Scotland, that's when Brave tumbles, delightfully, into slapstick.

Bear gags pile up, and I love the way the animators turn the queen into a critter who can't shake her dainty manners, or sense of decorum, even in ursine form. Merida has to protect the mother she endangered from a castle full of burly Scotsmen who want a trophy for the castle wall.

Merida's helpmates in all this are her mischievous younger brothers, three wee hellions with can-do attitudes about any prank, hurling themselves (without dialogue) into the mayhem.

Since its inception, no animation house has been as good at telling an adult story for children, as adept at tugging the heartstrings as Pixar, and Brave continues that tradition. The colors are stunning, the animation lush, photo-realistic and wet. And if they haven't progressed as far as some in animating the human face, that's just as well. Princesses are supposed to look otherworldly.

It's the destiny of Pixar's "Scottish Play" to change the way movies, and wide-eyed young viewers, look at "princesses" from now on. They're beautiful, yes. They're also smart, self-reliant and able to learn from their mistakes, as long as they're the ones who get to make those mistakes in the first place.

Also showing at Neptune: Madea's Witness Protection