5 Lessons Pixar Girls Have Taught Us
Pixar adds a life event to their timeline with the release of Brave, the venerable studio’s first film with a girl in the lead. No robots, talking toys or cars in this one; Brave is all human, starring one princess Merida, who as one would expect modern-day princesses to behave, is against the tyranny of tradition.
In this case, that tradition is in the form of a tournament being hosted by her king father, the winner of which wins her hand in marriage. Merida isn’t one to take this sitting down, so she joins the tournament for herself in a valiant effort to win her own hand. She is very good with a bow, we might add. Better to wed herself, than any of the apparent buffoons from all over the highlands of ancient Scotland.
And you know how these things unfold: when princesses misbehave, a series of unfortunate events are bound to happen. Events that will probably teach Merida a thing or two on how to be, well, brave.
Brave, the studio’s 13th full-length, opens today, and has been praised for its beautiful animation (check out Merida’s glorious locks), and fun, fresh take on the genre of fantasy fairy tales, although it fails to deliver the same level of emotional tug that Pixar films are known for.
While Merida’s the first female lead in the studio’s history, other female characters in Pixar movies have had big roles to fill too. Here are five of them, and the priceless, invaluable life lessons they imparted to us.
Ellie
Up
What we learned: Travel now.
In what could be the saddest opening sequence ever in the history of animated films, Ellie, wife of Carl, dies, just when Carl finally manages to buy two tickets to their dream destination. Which brings us to our second lesson: settle for a dream destination that won’t take a lifetime to save up for.
