Animation, whether big in scope or small, takes years either way. A live action team with a ready script could knock out a film in a matter of weeks.

But with all the time and effort it takes to make an animated film most studios and writers believe it’s just not worth it to go small. A movie about a group of people who spend the whole film in and around a single location that takes place over the course of two or three days? Easy and probably well received as “artsy” if done right. Live action films have it easier when it comes to scale. But the consequences of the decision to take the easy way out may be more than her family and the kingdom can bear. A witch offers her a spell that will change her fate.

When tradition requires her to be wed to the first born of one of the kingdom’s major clans, the princess defies her mother and her royal duty. But Merida just doesn’t seem cut out for it, which is fine by her. Her mother, the Queen, tries to school her in the ways of courtly propriety. As her daddy happens to be the head of the Scottish kingdom of DunBroch, Merida is a princess. Merida is a strong-willed, fiery tough, daddy’s girl. But after so much success going big, does the smaller feel of this film work? But with Brave, Pixar has gone in a much different direction. And WALL-E actually leaves the planet to go after the object of his affection. Carl flies his house to a completely different continent in Up. Marlin swam across vast stretches of ocean to rescue his son in Finding Nemo. Flik ventured off to the big city in that epic of miniature proportions A Bug’s Life. The Toy Story films took the toys well beyond the safety of their owner’s home. Pixar films (and really just about every recent animated film in the past decade or two) have always been spectacular in scope, and epic in the journeys they take their characters on.

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