Brave: 5-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Review

Posted 8 years ago by Movies

Brave Blu-ray

Even though Pixar’s Golden Age may have ended with Toy Story 3 (in my opinion), I’m still a hardcore fan and get giddy with the thought of new movies from the studio. However, Cars 2 was the first Pixar movie I genuinely disliked, and so I was more than ready to wash that taste out of my mouth and hoped Brave would accomplish that.

While it wasn’t as great as I was hoping it would be, Brave is still a fun movie and more than made up for the turd that was Cars 2. When the 5-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition showed up on my doorstep, I was excited to check out the movie again, and I think I liked it better the second time around.

Brave

The Movie

First off, this movie is gorgeous. Pixar did justice to Scotland for sure. Brave makes me want to move to Scotland and just lay around on moss all day. The opening of the film is pretty cool too, with the introduction to Merida (in baby form), her family, and the evil bear Mor’du.

I was worried Brave would feel a little too much like How to Train Your Dragon, both being in the Beardy, Accenty, Rowdiness genre. Instead, Brave feels more focused on the small clan led by King Fergus and Queen Elinor, voiced by the always-awesome Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson. Raise your hand if you first saw Connolly in Muppet Treasure Island. Yeah, me too.

I won’t give up any of the story if you haven’t seen the movie, but it’s Pixar’s first fairy tale, and involves bears. Sold. Bears are awesome, especially big, scary ones with spears sticking out of their backs. All in all, this is a pretty great addition to the Pixar lineup, if not a tiny bit too slapsticky at times. Other than that, it’s a fun movie with great visuals, voice acting, and music.

Brave Blu-ray

The Blu-ray

Disney sent me the big 3D Blu-ray edition, but I don’t have a 3D TV, so I can’t comment on that. The rest of the package is pretty solid though. This version has the 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, Blu-ray Bonus Features, DVD, and Bonus Copy. That’s a lot of discs.

There is a surprising amount of bonus features on the Blu-rays that you’ll interesting if you’re a big nerd like me. It’s cool seeing the Pixar crew’s trip to Scotland, their dedication to getting Scotland right on film, the voice actors, and more.

The Blu-ray also has Pixar’s amazing short La Luna, as well as a not-really-animated-short about Mor’du. I always looked forward to the Blu-ray exclusive shorts, and I hope this Mor’du short isn’t the start of a new trend. It’s only partially animated, and the rest of the story is told with 2D drawings with limited animation that reminds me of motion comics. So, just watch La Luna twice instead.

The Verdict

The picture looks great, and it seems that each Pixar Blu-ray gets better. The audio quality doesn’t disappoint, and it’s packed with bonus features. I wouldn’t have bought the 5-disc version, but if you’re a Pixar fan you should at least get the 3-Disc Blu-ray. I may have liked Wreck-it Ralph better, but Brave is still a great film and is a million times better than Cars 2.

Disclaimer: This review was based on a free review copy. Read my blog disclosure statement for more.

  • We never saw Cars 2, but my wife is a huge Disney fan and she loooooooooved Brave. She saw it 3 times in theaters and twice since we got the Blu-Ray. We happened to be in Disneyland a couple weeks after the movie came out and she was more excited to meet Merida than anything else we did that week.

    A lot of our friends didn’t like Brave as much either, but she brought up a good point. Brave focuses on the importance of a family connection, specifically mother-daughter relationships, more than any other Pixar film. It also mimics my wife’s relationship with her mom in a lot of ways (my wife’s Irish descended not Scottish, but there’s not a lot of difference when it comes to tempers) and I don’t think most of our friends have that strong of a family connection.

    All-in-all I loved the movie too. I’ve always loved Celtic and Gaelic music so the soundtrack was great and the scenery was beautiful. I especially love baby Merida. She’s easily the most adorable of all the Disney princesses.

    • I forgot to mention this also made her want for me to teach her how to shoot a bow which hilariously resulted in a giant welt where she popped her arm twice with the string.

      • Hah nice! I’ve never tried but I’m sure my results would be similar.

        Also, 2012 was a big bow and arrow year for movies. Brave, The Avengers, and The Hunger Games.

        • Oh yeah, it was everywhere. Being kind of a fantasy nerd I’ve always been enamored with archery and she bought me a bow a couple years ago for Christmas. I read a few articles earlier this year where an archery instructor gave his two cents about the archery displayed in movies this year. The gist was Katniss clearly took lessons and learned how to shoot, Pixar did their homework and got the archery perfect, Hawkeye is likely the worst shot in the world.