Mention the name PIXAR, and a myriad of emotions doubtlessly crop up. Will you remember that scene where Mike and Sully sing “Put That Kid Back Where He Came From”?  Dory singing whale?  Edna Mode’s rant on capes? WALL-E and his cockroach?  Dug and those squirrels? Or how about that Toy Story 3 ending, a scene that never fails to get me to tear up? Since 1995, they had a spotless track record…until the mediocre Cars 2 debuted last year and seemed to contradict their ideas of story and depth. Where was the PIXAR we knew and loved all those years ago? A year later, has it returned in their newest flick, Brave, or are the glory days of the company officially in their past?

Merida (Kelly MacDonald) is a princess in an ancient kingdom who has high expectations placed on her daily. The source of most of those expectations come from her mother, Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson), who wishes Merida to act royal, whilst Merida prefers riding her horse through the forest and shooting bows and arrows. However, after she defies tradition in a major way, Merida decides to throw the shackles of royalty off by seeking out a spell that will change her fate. Unfortunately, the spell has grizzly consequences and, in order to reverse it, she will discover parts of both herself and her mother and change the kingdom and herself forever.

Here it is in a nutshell: Brave is fantastic and one of the best movies of the summer. However, it’s not PIXAR’s best or even in their Top 5 due to a few problems that holds it back from true greatness. Brave, first of all, has the slimmest story of any PIXAR tale, with a bit of padding needed to officially put it over 90 minutes (and even then, slow credits and a 30 second post-credits coda help make up that running time).   It’s a predictable yarn, and a twist in the second act (one I won’t spoil here) helps the flick out in so many ways. The use of magic also hurts the film, specifically the use of creatures called the Will-O’-The-Wisps (little blue lights that lead people to their destiny) feel too convenient and I’m kind of ashamed PIXAR used something like that, as I always thought they were above such easy ways to show exposition and move the plot. Finally, I felt the movies pacing was a bit off in several areas, especially in the middle, where lengthy sequences drone on and one.

Getting to the good stuff (and there’s tons of it!): the animation is top notch, the scenery gorgeous and the red locks of Merida flow beautifully and all the human characters are designed with amazing detail. After The Incredibles, PIXAR got a good lock on how to design humans in CGI animation, and Brave joins that movie (along with Up and Ratatouille) as showing off splendid looking stylized human beings. In addition, the humor is fantastic, relying on physical gags that harken back to those classic Warner Bros. cartoons of old. Likewise, the emotion is handled wonderfully in the movie, giving the film surprising depth in several scenes, though I felt at the end of the film the major emotional arc (Merida and her mom) was bit rushed and wrapped up unsatisfyingly. Still, a scene showing Merida and Elinor (separately) stating their situations is fascinating, showing just how well PIXAR is into getting into the heads of their protagonists.

The ensemble cast is given a short hand in the movie, but three lords and their eldest sons that figure into the plot are, simply put, fantastic. They’re designed beautifully and I felt that there was some kind of wonderful legend attached to them. It’s a credit to this movie on how much story I could read into their stories and bodies. Their sons, meanwhile, are also fun to watch, including one that resembles a Scottish Napoleon Dynamite. Wish we had seen more of them, as they easily are one of the best parts of the movie. It should also be noted that I adored Merida’s younger triplets (Harris, Hambert and Hamish) that cause humorous mischief throughout the story. The trio is easily the highlight of the picture.

Brave is a great flick that has many moments that show signs of being classic. Sadly, a few problems keep it from being something truly great that only a few movies have achieved this summer (i.e. The Avengers, Prometheus, Moonrise Kingdom).  In terms of PIXAR’s filmography, it’s probably in the back of the pack, ahead of only A Bug’s Life and Cars 2. That doesn’t make it a bad movie…on the contrary, the film is a delight to watch, a hoot to laugh at and has moments of truly beautiful emotion. It may not be PIXARs best, but Brave is still one of the best movies of the summer, and that is nowhere near a bad thing.