please assume at any given moment that I am thinking about at least one of these:
- Brave (2012) opening scene where the refined, distinguished queen elinor shamelessly plays hide and seek with her daughter and making silly bear noises to make her laugh despite the few clansmen standing guard nearby
- the dunbroch triplets knowing every nook and cranny of the castle and using it to outsmart their father & visiting clansmen despite only being, like, six
- merida scaling the crone’s tooth barehanded and drinking from the fire falls just for the heck of it
- “you’re a witch!” “woodcarver.” “that’s why the wisps led me here!” “woodcarver!” “you’ll change my fate!” “WOODCARVER!” “you see, it’s my mother—”
- the first prince breaking his family’s stone engraving with an axe, which also happened to be the symbol of his kingdom vs. merida tearing her family tapestry with a sword, which also happened to be the symbol of her clan
- I AM MERIDA FIRSTBORN DESCENDANT OF CLAN DUNBROCH AND I’LL 👏 BE 👏 SHOOTING 👏 FOR 👏 MY 👏 OWN 👏 HAND!!!!! 👏
- a freaking bear with a crown enters the room and start gesturing at the triplets to clean up their mess and they immediately made the connection that it’s mom
- young macguffin and young macintosh slowly becoming friends in the background
- fergus and merida roasting her suitors from their seats
- the witch’s mismatched earrings
- elinor saying “may the lucky arrow find its target“ moments before young dingwall’s arrow did just that, sealing her daughter’s fate as an unwilling bride vs. merida saying “you’re a beast!” seconds before slashing the family tapestry and triggering the events that will turn her mother into one
- baby merida playing with her tiny horse figure in the flashback
- merida as the only one who can tell her identical brothers apart and calling each of them by name even when they’re in bear form
- the contents of the witch’s cauldron turning magma-like after getting a strand of merida’s hair
- how elinor, in her last moments before fully turning into bear, is probably trying to tell merida that she’s sorry, too
- the fact that the first and last scenes of Brave were about a pair of mother and daughter, playing together
