20 Reasons to Be Excited About Brave (As If You Weren’t Already)

Two weeks ago, the first official teaser for Pixar’s Brave premiered with the release of Cars 2, giving Cars 2 a reason to exist. At the time I was too busy performing in a show, reviewing shows, holding down a job and keeping my cat happy to be properly excited. This week, though, I have had enough of a break to appreciate how excited I am.

And I am excited. Stupidly excited. Obnoxiously excited. I am more excited for this movie than I am for all the Christmasses to come. I am more excited for this movie than I am for my brother’s upcoming wedding (sorry, Josh). I am more excited for this movie than I am for Captain America, the drunken laugh-fest that will be Breaking Dawn, and any and all movies featuring Alan Rickman.

I am in fact so excited that it is actually making me angry. Why do I have to wait another year for this movie? I want it now. I will Veruca Salt all over this place until I get my very own Brave! (kicks things)

Here are twenty reasons why you should be excited if you are not already:

1. It’s the first Pixar movie with a female protagonist.
2. It was written by two women. Progress (for Pixar, anyway)! Keep on swimming, fellow ladies in the arts. Keep on swimming. Especially Brenda Chapman, who, despite co-creating the whole story of Brave and receiving a co-director’s credit, was fired halfway through production for nonelucidated “creative differences.”
3. The trailer alone is better than all of Cars 2.
4. The heroine, Princess Merida (Kelly Macdonald), has curly red hair, which will hopefully not be straightened out in a hilarious makeover montage.
5. The first time we ever see Merida, a princess in a Disney movie, she’s shooting a freaking bear. Yay!
6. Also atypical of Disney princesses: no indication of a romantic interest. Oh, please let this be the first movie princess to not get paired off with anyone in the end. Please, oh, please, oh, please, oh please…
7. Cars 2 is crap because Pixar spent all of their creative energy making Brave as brilliant as possible. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.
8. OMG THERE’S A PONY!
9. Emma Thompson is voicing a character called Queen Elinor. For those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Thompson, she went to college with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, wrote the best version of Sense & Sensibility that ever was and ever will be, and is professionally awesome.
10. We also have the voices of Mrs. Weasley, Hagrid, Uncle Monty, Mr. Wick, or as I like to call them: “cast of the best cross-over fanfic ever”.
11. This movie is probably going to be everything you’ve ever wanted from a Renaissance Faire without the worst parts of actually going to a Renaissance Faire.
12. As of press time, no one at Pixar has confirmed that there will be a dragon…but then, no one at Pixar has not confirmed that there will be a dragon.
13. And what are those blue glowing things? Are they fairies? If there are fairies in this movie, then all kinds of crazy magical shit is possible. Like dragons. Dragons, please.
14. Look at it. Just…look at it.
15. Seriously, the vistas are so gorgeous I can’t stand it. It almost breaks my heart that these magical, misty hills are only computer animated. Why can’t they be real?
16. Who does not love a Scottish accent? Silly people, that’s whom. Since Braveheart is now officially unwatchable, we need a new movie that lilts with the guttural music of a Highland burr, and Brave promises to be that very movie.
17. In fact, why don’t we just say that Brave is full-stop Braveheart done right? Just look at Lord MacIntosh. That’s all the Braveheart you need.
18. Or, we could call it Game of Thrones without the doggy-style.
19. By the time Brave opens we will have probably forgotten that Cars 2 ever happened.
20. In fact, as of right now let’s never speak of Cars 2 again.

If you are not excited by now, there is nothing I can do for you. Your heart must be made of stone; and your blood, Axe Body Spray. As for me…NOW. GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

Amanda LaPergola tweets @LaPergs.