I want to share some of my reflections on the film, Brave. I apologize in advance. I have a tendency to spoil things.

Reflections (SPOILERS):

The first half of the film was pretty much everything that you had seen from the trailers: the tomboy Scottish princess wants to escape a politically arranged marriage to pursue an adventure; thus changing her fate.

What happened after that? A completely unexpected mother-daughter story. This probably wasn’t quite the imaginative journey of Finding Nemo. But it was certainly a powerful story of rebellion, remorse and a mother who is truly willing to fight for her daughter.

The mother-daughter story comes at an awkward time for my wife and I. Her mom died just two months ago. The wounds are still fresh. We still don’t have a cause. It sucks.

Now, the mom in the movie (major spoiler alert) turns into a bear and spends a good chunk of the movie that way. She’s a very queen-like bear for the most part. But she often loses her mind and goes ferral.

My wife’s mom had the last name Bair. I affectionately referred to her as Mama Bair (“Bear”). She was very proper and sensible, but had a tendency to lose her senses and act like a wild bear.

Needless to say, the personal connections that I made with the movie were a little affected by life’s circumstances…

Brave is a story of tragic rebellion with a sense of humor. In the end, it all works out the way you might expect from a Pixar movie. But somewhere after the credits, the fun and joy in the redemptive story revealed some of the void in our own lives. Our mama bear didn’t return to normal. The story didn’t end happily.

Regardless, it’s always nice to fill our imaginations with redemption. And to reflect on the hard things in life with a good sense of humor.

Your Thoughts?

Did you see Brave? What did you think of the themes?