This film feels like a hodgepodge of story elements all fighting for dominance. It starts out pretty straight-forward.  The main character Merida is determined to live by her own rules while her mother is trying to groom her into being a great queen someday.  The montage of Merida exploring waterfalls and riding through the beautiful landscapes was by far the best thing in the film.  I expected this movie to tell the story of two people who need to each give a little and meet somewhere in the middle at the end...

Then the witch scene happened.  As soon as the awkwardly non-funny but trying to be funny witch wishing scene happens the film completely falls apart.  It's trying to be silly like Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon, to be sentimental like a classic Disney film, but also capture the exquisite natural beauty from Pixar's art department.  Mix it all up and what do you get?  Bears.  Scary, children are crying in the theater-not relevant to this story-realistically rendered, frighteningly loud bears.  I don't understand why.  The montage of mommy bear learning to hunt salmon with silly music is literally taken directly from Brother Bear.  But why?  Why does the mom need to learn how to ACT LIKE A BEAR if she's going to be transformed back the next day?  Wouldn't you want to not try to let her act like a bear, since she might get lost to the bear instincts as the film pointed out?

The art and locations of this film are wonderful and I like the characters (other than the witch).  It's a shame the story is just so utterly awful.  BEARS!?!

2.0 Stars (out of 5)