History YMMV / Brave

** The triplets. It depends on wether you find their comedic antics funny or annoying.

** A shockingly large community of fans have taken to pairing Merida with [[WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon Hiccup]], which is interesting due to the fact that Vikings are the (historically) sworn enemies of Merida's kingdom. This one even has been named [[PortmanteauCoupleName "Mericcup."]]
** Merida has also been paired up with Jack Frost from ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', Ralph from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Hawkeye]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Flynn Rider]], [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet Jim Hawkins]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax The Once-Ler]]. On the LesYay side, she's been paired with [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]], WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}, [[Film/TheHungerGames Katniss]], and now [[Franchise/{{Frozen}} Elsa]]. This probably isn't even all of them.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Merida has become a victim of this. Fans all over the internet are either making up some CrossoverShip for her, pairing her with their [[OriginalCharacter OC]], or pairing her up with one of the suitors she outright rejected in the movie.

* WhatAnIdiot: Merida decides, for some reason, that poisoning her mother with a cake that was made with magic and by a person she has met only once would be a good idea and not end badly. This happened ''after'' the witch tries to talk her out of it.

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Of course Scotland loves this film! It helps that much of the cast are genuinely Scots, and they were encouraged to tweak the dialogue as much as they saw fit, so it certainly ''sounds'' authentic.

* ItWasHisSled: Merida unwillingly turns her mother into a bear. What was meant to be a twist, as it was kept a secret in the trailers, [[AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame is now probably the one thing that anyone talks about when they mention this movie]].

** One popular interpretation of Merida is that she's not interested in any of the male suitors because she's [[Main/AmbiguouslyGay homosexual.]] Though controversially, it still rules out her ''simply not wanting to get married''.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform, two very large demographics that would usually be expected to ''like'' a film like ''Brave,'' owing to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' (the other major animated Disney feature) and ''WesternAnimation/{{ParaNorman}}'' (an experimental stop motion feature) getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform, two very large demographics that would usually be expected to generally like a film like ''Brave,'' owing to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph,'' the other major animated Disney feature, and ''WesternAnimation/{{ParaNorman}},'' an experimental stop motion feature, getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform owing to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph,'' the other major animated Disney feature, and ''WesternAnimation/{{ParaNorman}},'' an experimental stop motion feature, getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

** Merida has also been paired up with Jack Frost from ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', Ralph from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Hawkeye]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Flynn Rider]], [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet Jim Hawkins]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax The Once-Ler]]. On the LesYay side, she's been paired with [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]], WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}, [[Film/TheHungerGames Katniss]], and now [[WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}} Elsa]]. This probably isn't even all of them.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The work that was needed on Merida's hair was the hardest by far ([[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/06/pixar-brave-princess-merida-hair Pixar even had to develop a new software]] to animate the thing), and it beautifully shows given how gorgeous and life-like that ginger mane of hair is.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The work that was needed on Merida's hair was the hardest by far ([[https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/06/pixar-brave-princess-merida-hair Pixar even had to develop a new software]] to animate the thing), and it beautifully shows given how gorgeous and life-like that ginger mane of hair is.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform owing to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph,'' the other major animated Disney feature, and ''Film/{{ParaNorman}},'' an experimental stop motion feature, getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform owing to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph,'' the other major animated Disney feature, and ''Film/ParaNorman,'' an experimental stop motion feature, getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform owing to ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph,'' the other major animated Disney feature, and ''Film/Paranorman,'' an experimental stop motion feature, getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

** The dislike it gets isn't helped by the fact that its existence divides fanbases that otherwise tend to overlap owing to the fandom rivalry that resulted from a major AwardSnub. It received--and continues to receive--a lot of resentment from fans of other Disney films ''and'' fans of animation as an artform owing to ''Film/WreckItRalph,'' the other major animated Disney feature, and ''Film/Paranorman,'' an experimental stop motion feature, getting passed over for ''Brave'' at the Academy Awards despite ''Brave'' being generally thought of as the inferior film among the three. This AwardSnub was so upsetting to fans of the other two films that it permanently damaged the credibility of the Academy Awards in the eyes of these newer viewers and caused the award to derisively be considered "the obligatory Pixar award" for years after.

* TrailerJokeDecay: All together now: "Feast yer eyes!"

* NeverLiveItDown:
** Often mockingly compared to ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' courtesy of its harshest critics, which also featured a [[BalefulPolymorph character turning into a bear]] and was similarly met with mixed feelings from audiences.
** Its Oscar win over ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' and ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'' caused many animation fans to turn on not just the Academy – a perennial target for myriad reasons – but also Pixar itself (the fact that the film came on the heels of the CriticProof ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars2}}'' didn't help one bit). This was the movie that caused people to start derisively referring to the Best Animated Feature Oscar as the "Obligatory WesternAnimation/Pixar-Gets-An-Award Award" (or similar).

* BrokenBase: Brave is arguably the most divisive of all of Pixar’s films. A lot of people hate it, a lot of people love it, and a lot of people are indifferent to it. The closest thing there is to a consensus is that is is good [[SoOkayItsAverage but not as good as Pixar’s other fare.]]

* RewatchBonus: A small one, but keep an eye on Elinor as the suitors are introduced. For all her talk about upholding tradition and her insistence on Merida marrying one of the three, you can see she's having at least some reservations along the lines of "this...is not what I was picturing as a man to marry my daughter." Could count as a touch of foreshadowing.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: A ''lot'' more could've been done with Mor'du. He's a genuinely threatening and scary presence, with an interesting backstory, and there are hints that there's more to him that murderous monster -- it's hinted that he genuinely [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regrets his past actions]], and is possibly trying to [[DeathSeeker get himself killed on purpose]]. Unfortunately, he has nothing to do with the film's actual conflict, so he's mostly just an obstacle. If his story and Merida's had been more intertwined, and his backstory and current situation was explored more, he could've been a truly great Disney villain.

** Merida has also been paired up with Jack Frost from ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', Ralph from ''Disney/WreckItRalph'', [[Film/TheAvengers2012 Hawkeye]], [[Disney/{{Tangled}} Flynn Rider]], [[Disney/TreasurePlanet Jim Hawkins]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax The Once-Ler]]. On the LesYay side, she's been paired with [[Disney/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]], Disney/{{Mulan}}, [[Film/TheHungerGames Katniss]], and now [[Disney/{{Frozen}} Elsa]]. This probably isn't even all of them.

** Young [=MacGuffin=] spoke in a very thick Scottish accent that no one understood, causing him to be TheUnintelligible to everyone around him. One of the trailers for ''Disney/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' shows that Merida is having that exact same problem with talking to the other Disney Princesses.

** Often mockingly compared to ''Disney/BrotherBear'' courtesy of its harshest critics, which also featured a [[BalefulPolymorph character turning into a bear]] and was similarly met with mixed feelings from audiences.
** Its Oscar win over ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' and ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'' caused many animation fans to turn on not just the Academy – a perennial target for myriad reasons – but also Pixar itself (the fact that the film came on the heels of the CriticProof ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars2}}'' didn't help one bit). This was the movie that caused people to start derisively referring to the Best Animated Feature Oscar as the "Obligatory Disney/Pixar-Gets-An-Award Award" (or similar).

** Alternatively, an epic adventure that would have given Merida CharacterDevelopment all the same instead becomes a reskinning of ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', ''Aladdin'' and ''Brother Bear'', but with less creativity than all those films.

* EarWorm:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhLH2L7h02E Mor'duuu, Mor'duu, Mor'du, Mor'du!]]
** "Touch the Sky" also counts.

* ItWasHisSled: Merida unwillingly turns her mother into a bear. What was meant to be a twist, as it was kept a secret in the trailers, [[AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame is now probably the one thing that talks about when they mention this movie]].

* HypeBacklash: A downplayed example; the trailers deliberately kept the details surrounding the plot a mystery to audiences leaving many curious of what the story behind Merida would be, so when viewers finally saw the film there was a fair share who were not impressed by the ultimate twist in the movie, or for the overall characterization of Merida.

* InternetBackdraft:
** Try asking who is in the right: Merida or Elinor. Either Merida is a SpoiledBrat who [[FemaleMisogynist despises any woman aside of herself]], thinks being a princess entitles her to treat people like shit and causes her long-suffering mother too much trouble, or Elinor is a selfish and old-fashioned [[MyBelovedSmother smother]] who wants to oppress a strong female like Merida and make her bend to both the evil patriarchy and her own ControlFreak nature.
** Certainly got this from animation fans for its Academy Award win during the 2013 Oscars when other animated films like ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' and ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'' were passed over.

** Merida herself has become this for a lot of people. Either she's a very believable character with plausible flaws and great CharacterDevelopment, becoming a wiser person in the process, or a whiny, unsympathetic, selfish and yet another cookie-cutter tomboy princess.
** Elinor on the flipside too. Fans who didn't like Merida see her as a huge [[TheWoobie woobie]] dealing with a BrattyTeenageDaughter on top of her unwanted transformation, others saw her as the one in the wrong and [[MyBelovedSmother keeping Merida down]] for being so over[[JustforPun bear]]ing to her before her CharacterDevelopment.
** Some people dislike the Witch because they feel she's either not funny, doesn't fit into the rest of the movie (and not in the good way), and wastes a lot of screen time since Merida and Elinor have to go back and forth between her place and the castle. Others found her a {{one scene wonder}}.

* ClicheStorm: The movie is often regarded as this, considering it stars [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses a rebellious princess]] (common in Disney films), although it takes off in a different direction.

** As fanart already pointed out, ''Brave'' was the fourth movie in 2012 to involve archery. The others are ''Film/TheHungerGames'' (Katniss), ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' (Hawkeye) and ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'' (William), then Brave was followed by ''Film/TheHobbit'' (Kíli).

* JerkassWoobie: Yes, Merida's actions were pretty darn selfish, but the fact that she recognizes this and becomes more and more fearful over the fate of her mother makes it easier to feel sorry for her. Also, while her mother IS trying to train Merida in how to handle the responsibility of ruling a kingdom, Merida's frustration with her situation becomes understandable when Elinor tells her that "a princess strives for... ''perfection''." Merida knows that she is far from being perfect, so dealing with constantly being corrected must be stressful, not to mention rather disheartening.

** This is what happened to the marketing, which went out of its way to paint ''Brave'' as an epic fantasy adventure when in truth, it's a character driven classically styled fairy tale.

** As mentioned above, its Oscar win over ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' and ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'', which caused many animation fans to turn on not just the Academy – a perennial target for myriad reasons – but also Pixar itself (the fact that ''Brave'' came on the heels of the CriticProof ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars2}}'' didn't help one bit). This was the movie that caused people to start derisively referring to the Best Animated Feature Oscar as the "Obligatory Disney/Pixar-Gets-An-Award Award" (or similar).

* TheWoobie: You can't help but feel bad for Elinor when she [[spoiler:gets turned into a bear]]. Her confusion, her terror, and her struggling to keep herself together is rather painful to watch. It just [[FromBadToWorse gets worse]] once she starts [[spoiler:losing her humanity and actually starts lashing out as a full-fledged bear.]]

* CounterpartComparison: Merida is oddly similar to [[Series/RebeldeWay Marizza Andrade]] if she was a princess in medieval Scotland. Red hair, fiery attitude, a lack of interest in the role society has placed for her, a rocky relationship with her mom...
** Merida has also been compared to [[Series/GameOfThrones Ygritte]] and [[VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn Aloy]], another pair of red-haired archer girls.