Mark Andrews, the director of Disney-Pixar’s Brave, recently stated that he would be up for making a sequel to the film—provided that they can find the right story. Initially, Pixar made it a point of never doing sequels, but once the company was bought by Disney it became a far more likely occurrence, and they’ve been stacking up ever since. So does this sequel sound like a good idea? What should it address in Princess Merida’s journey?
Mark Andrews’ only comments in regard to the sequel were that he would like some additional characters, and that he found that American audiences didn’t understand the “Scottish humor” in the film. The suggestion that the humor might be dumbed down for American audiences is worrisome, and adding new characters would really only be useful if they felt like natural additions to Merida’s life. But maybe she could use a riding buddy?
Brave was, of course, about family, and it might make the most sense to allow that family more active roles—Merida does have three little brothers that could be aged up a bit for a sequel and who could contribute some interesting new plotslines. One would hope they would keep Merida single; it’s understandable that after shunning marriage they might be inclined to create a “perfect partner” for Merida who was a commoner or a Robin Hood type, but giving her a romance would be aggravatingly predictable and also make it seem like Pixar couldn’t stick to their guns in creating an unattached princess.
It would be even more satisfying if the film could find a way to keep Merida’s mother involved in the tale. While Brave was meant to be a story that saw mother and daughter come to an understanding in their relationship, the actual adventure they shared together was a bit hurried in the film. Could we find an excuse to turn the Queen back into a bear? Because that would be awesome, and would give her reason to accompany Merida—maybe on a quest! Who knows what the quest would be for, but fate did have plans for the princess. Who’s to say they ended at familial understanding?
Oh, and add in more Scottish mythology!
Emmet Asher-Perrin wishes her mom was a bear. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
