A Lenda de Mor'du

'Brave', one of Pixar's most underrated features, hosts a villainous prince consumed by greed whom is transformed into a monstrous bear by an eccentric witch, voiced enthusiastically by Walters. Mor'du garnered surface level characterisation in the animated film, merely supplying functional antagonism to a story that did not really require such menace. Consequently, this storyboard of what is clearly a deleted scene was projected to be its own companion piece to 'Brave', offering in-depth background to Mor'du himself. The problem being that Larsen's onslaught of originating information and simplistic illustrations forced this short to be forgettable as soon as the minimal credits rolled.

The witch retells the tale, commencing with three-dimensional CGI before withering to hand-drawn stills, with an abundance of energy. Four brothers, three of which equipped with mental "gifts" whilst the eventual Mor'du facilitating the only physical "gift" of strength, all wanting a piece of the kingdom. It then proceeds to imitate 'Brave's' narrative with the will-o'-the-wisps guiding the eldest son to the witch's cottage and, oh, turned into a great black bear. A foundational layer of repetitive storytelling with predictability applied on top. Regardless, the bulk of the short is the retelling of Mor'du's origins, and it's excessive information to say the least. Considering the promising start and final attempt at forced humour, one was hoping for originality.

Whilst the traditionally drawn darkly fantastical stills looked beautiful and exuded fluidity, they are unable to masquerade the overall uninspired "deleted scene" structure that made the previous short 'George and AJ' just as forgettable.

Saw 'The Legend of Mor'du' for many reasons. Love animation, and always have done as a child, will be forever grateful towards it for helping me relax when very much needed. Love Pixar and a vast majority of their films. Really like to love their theatrical short films and the feature-related shorts are fun enough though don't put them on the same level personally. Will admit that 'Brave' is not one of my favourite feature films of theirs, consider it one of their lesser films while not disliking it anywhere near as much as some (still liked it actually).

'The Legend of Mor'du' is one of their feature related films and is an interesting and well made one in its own right, did like the visuals and how it focused on the witch. If comparing 'The Legend of 'Mor'du' to 'Brave', it is to me inferior, inevitable as it is not a feature film and didn't have as much time and budget to make, and one can be forgiven if they questioned the point of it. From reading my review summary, one would understandably think that it seems like my thoughts on 'The Legend of Mor'du' were negative. Not so, have already said it was interesting and well made, but it could have done with more magic.

In terms of the story, 'The Legend of Mor'du' is slight and generic and the pace could have been tighter.

Do agree that the character design and movements for Dingwell were blocky and suggestive of time and budget starting to run out.

Otherwise, the animation is very good. Very stylish and atmospheric, simple but effective and the purposefully rough look at times didn't look cheap. Loved the sweeping camera movements and the first segment was imaginatively animated. Also loved the dark use of colour that added to the creepiness and the meticulously detailed backgrounds.

The opening credits are cleverly done. The music at times brought chills down my spine and not just adds to the atmosphere and action but enhances it. The witch is an interesting character and it was great to have some focus on her as she had enough to her to warrant more focus. Julie Walters does a great job voicing her. The other characters aren't as strong but far from bland. Headed by Walters, the voice acting is well done.

Altogether, not bad at all. 7/10

"The Legend of Mor'du" is a Pixar short that is a spin-off from "Brave", though it apparently was made first....so I guess 'spin-off' isn't exactly the right word...especially since the characters are from the "Brave" universe but not ones from the movie "Brave".

The story was visually a big disappointment. While the witch who tells the story is rendered using traditional CGI, the story itself is like a slideshow...which is bound to disappoint most viewers. It tells a story about four brothers...and the selfishness of the eldest following their father's death.

The story is mildly interesting and the only part that really interested me was the guy's reaction to the witch at the end of the story. Otherwise, a big disappointment.

This short fleshes out the legend that is central to Brave's story and that is problem. On its own it fits too comfortably in as legend trodding over a well known path. But its bigger sin is the legend in Brave *didn't* need to be fatten up like this. The big beats of the story are perfectly clear from Brave's text. To see the fat is to rob the little mystery in Brave to keep it just a bit more legendary.

A good story sometimes only has suggestion and implication. This trend to tell every single thing in the 2010's in a series of connected media annoys me on that front.

The Witch recounts the story of four prince brothers to Wee Dingwall. Their family had ruled an ancient prosperous nearby kingdom. The youngest prince was wise, the second youngest was compassionate, the second oldest was just, and the eldest was strong. When the king died, the kingdom was split among the four brothers hoping a blend of their traits would create the best rule. The eldest expected to be the only king and battled the others to take the entire kingdom. He came to the Witch for magical strength. She offered him tenfold his strength but he's also turned into a black bear. Instead of letting go and make peace, he murdered his brothers destroying what's left of the kingdom.

This is a 7 minute short from the Brave franchise. It tells a fitting fable that teaches something. It also has a fun joke to wrap it up. It's a well made animated short.