During the Brave Press Event (held April 3–5, 2012), it was stated that 111,394 storyboards were created for the film, compared to 80,000 for Cars 2 and 92,854 for Toy Story 3. Books: Kilala Princess • Disney Princess • Disney Princess Beginnings • Disney Princess Comics Treasury • Royal Weddings Kelly Macdonald as Princess Merida, a princess who wants to break with tradition regarding marriage. To announce the beginning of the archery competition for Merida's suitors, a carnyx horn with a head in the shape of a bear is blown. In the post-credits scene, the witch's crow and magic broom deliver the wood carvings to the castle, asking a stunned guard to sign the delivery note.

This is the first Pixar film to use the 2011 Disney logo until Lightyear; the first non-Pixar film to use it was The Muppets until Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again. Celtic and Pictish design and patterns have been integrated as decoration throughout the film—on Merida's bow, on clothing, on walls—and added to natural elements like snowflakes, moss, and tree branches. The film departs from the traditional fairy tale storyline, neglecting the romance that has been associated with these stories. It focuses on the relationship between Merida and her mother Queen Elinor, which was inspired by Chapman's relationship with her own daughter. To reproduce the lush and textured look of the landscapes of the Highlands, Pixar animators and designers created around 350 custom brushes in Photoshop, so that they could layer different designs, patterns, and shapes in layers to achieve a realistic and individual look to the environments.

The Brave: Other DVD Editions

Lord MacGuffin and Lord Macintosh both claim to have fought off Vikings, who raided Scotland between the 7th and 11th centuries CE. Tartan was not worn until the early 16th century CE, belted kilts not being common until the end of the century, and single kilts not until the end of the next. All of the elements put together, Brave is a different sort of movie than many were expecting. More focused on a single pair and their quest together, not to mention darker by far, the story of Merida was a leap of faith for the once small studio. Many will have their doubts, left wanting another heart wrenching love story from Up or creative take on a beat to death genre like The Incredibles. That was never the purpose. Just as with every one of their award-winning films (Cars 2 notwithstanding), a new movie means a new chapter, new story and new style of film.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "The good news is that the kids will probably love it, and the bad news is that parents will be disappointed if they're hoping for another Pixar groundbreaker." He said that the film had an uplifting message about improving communication between mothers and daughters. Touch the Sky • Into the Open Air • Learn Me Right • Song of Mor'du • Noble Maiden Fair (A Mhaighdean Bhan Uasal) • My Spirit Flies There are more than 100 unique hair/facial hair combinations used in Brave for human characters and animals. Each variant can appear in any of nine different colors, creating more than 900 hairstyle/color variants. The end credits of the movie include a special tribute to Steve Jobs, who died on October 5, 2011 of pancreatic cancer.

The Brave: Blu-ray Editions

Originally, Reese Witherspoon was scheduled to voice Merida, but later she was unable to work on the film due to scheduling issues and failing to master a Scottish accent, so she had to leave and was replaced by Kelly Macdonald as a result. The Brave Little Toaster (1987) • Valiant (2005) • The Wild (2006) • A Christmas Carol (2009) • Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) • Mars Needs Moms (2011) • Strange Magic (2015) • The Lion King (2019) A video game based on the film was published by Disney Interactive Studios on June 19, 2012, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Nintendo DS. A mobile video game Temple Run: Brave, a Brave variation of Temple Run, was released on June 14, 2012, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android. Also, Merida was a playable character in the game Disney Infinity 2.0. In the United States and Canada, Brave is the first feature-length film to use the Dolby Atmos sound format. Almost half of the 14 theaters set up to show the film in Atmos are in California (Burbank, Century City, Fremont, Hollywood, San Francisco, and Sherman Oaks), with the others located in seven states ( Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Kansas City, Missouri, Paramus, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Nevada, Chicago, West Plano, Texas, Vancouver, Washington), and in Toronto, Ontario. It was released in other theaters with Dolby Surround 7.1. In total, it was released in 4,164 theaters, a record-high for Pixar, which was previously held by Cars 2 (4,115 theaters). 2,790 of the theaters will include 3D shows. Other Heroines: Alice • Wendy Darling • Tinker Bell • Nala • Nakoma • Esmeralda • Jane Porter • Giselle • Mirabel Madrigal