Brave

I took three small children and one teenager to see Brave this weekend, and we all liked it. It was very witty and had moments of magic, and the story was ok. If you have little ones, I recommend taking them.

One thing, though. What, you might ask, is the great evil against which the heroine struggles? What power of darkness does she contend against? What terror threatens her life?

Arranged marriage. Yes, the worst, most evil thing that the storytellers at Pixar could come up with for their heroine to fight is a match arranged by her family. And both the children and the teenager in my party thought this was entirely appropriate. I have noticed before, sometimes, appalled looks on the faces of my students when I discuss this in class. In today's world, we think the right to find your own love is perhaps the most fundamental right of all, and there are few things that do more to separate us from our ancestors.

It also occurs to me that even though the movie has a female action hero who is quite likable, the point is weakened, because rather than combating some cosmic menace she is still basically focused on matters of marriage and family.