Trailer Park: “Brave” Looks Like One Of Pixar’s Most Stylish Films Yet

The latest trailer for Pixar’s upcoming film Brave is actually more like a full-blown clip from the movie, but it still succeeds in telling us everything we need to know about it. Set in the Highlands of Scotland, Brave centers on a young woman named Merida, who strives to shrug-off tradition by becoming a fierce warrior. Voiced by Kelly Macdonald, this clip serves as an introduction to Merida’s character for viewers, and also gives us a look at the central conflict that will drive the movie.

The trademark Pixar humor is here as expected, but this film seems much more grounded than the studio’s earlier efforts. Instead of focusing on talking aliens, toys, animals, or cars, Brave puts the spotlight on humans for a change. It’s clear that the studio was beginning to run out of things to anthropomorphize, so going back to humans was an obvious choice. It certainly worked for Up.

The real selling-point of this clip is the absolutely stunning CGI. In past movies, Pixar found a nice balance between realism and stylized animation to convey cartoon settings, but because Brave is a more down-the-Earth story, the movie is meant to look near photorealistic to our own world. Buildings are crisp and heavily detailed, Merida's hair flows to perfection, and the plant life looks incredibly lifelike. The atmosphere feels so authentic that you can almost smell the muddy grass and dried-out hay here. Plus, the slow-motion arrow shot at the end might wind up being the most impressive piece of animation that Pixar has ever put out when the movie premieres.

With Pixar’s near-flawless track record over the past decade, it’s hard to doubt Brave. We’ll see where the movie ranks among the studio’s best when it is released on June 22.