Day 11: A Brave Halloween

October 11, 2022

Dear Disney,

As I was looking at the Disney+ Halloween section, I saw a short that I thought I had never heard of before. I looked at it, selected it, and began to watch the short. I was very confused. I finished the 8 minute short and sat back in my chair. Why did I just watch this? What had this short have to do with Halloween? I still do not know. So today, for the 31 Days of Disney Halloween we are looking at the 2012 Pixar Animation short, “The Legend of Mor’du.”

“The Legend of Mor’du” tells the story of the main villian(?) of the 2012 Pixar movie Brave. Mor’du was the eldest of four princes, each known for a specific trait. Mor’du was known for his incredible strength. When Mor’du’s father was on his deathbed, he asked Mor’du and his brothers to share the throne as hi felt that the brother’s were stronger together than they were apart. Mor’du felt betrayed, as he thought, as the eldest, he deserved the kingdom all for himself. He fought his brothers for the throne, and although he and his army was mighty, so were his brothers. Finally, he found himself alone in the woods when he came upon an old hut. In the hut was a witch. He asked the witch to give him a spell that would let him have the strength of multiple men. She saw in him the strife that the war with his brothers had created, as such, she created a spell that would indeed give him the strength he wanted but also a way to mend his familiar ties if he wanted. Taking the potion, he brought his brother together under a banner of truth. He took the potion and he turned into a giant bear. Refusing to mend the ties, he killed his brothers and remained a bear for all time.

When I watched this short, I remembered that I had watched it years ago on the DVD extras. I have no idea why Disney+ has specifically earmarked this short as a Halloween movie, seeing as it has nothing to do with Halloween. Darling says it is considered a Halloween movie because it is creepy, similar to “The Mad Doctor” or “The Skeleton Dance.” I can see the rational, but it still bothers me a little.

I have no real emotions or memories associated with this short. I do not want to make people assume I did not like it, because I did. The visuals were pleasing. The transitions between the 3d digital portions and the hand drawn animatics are very pretty and smooth and scream Pixar-perfection.

As far as a 31 days of Halloween feature, its scary and dark adn I suppose that’s everything anyone could ask for.

Sincerely,

Jim Dear and Darling