Question: It's now clear why Angus is found in the circle of stones, even though he was afraid to enter it in the first place. There's one part of that matter I don't quite understand, though. Why is he afraid to enter that circle in the first place? Is there something in that circle frightening him? Is there a special effect?
Question: Is Merida the only Disney princess that you don't see sing?
Chosen answer: She actually does sing very briefly, in an early scene where, as a child, she sings along with her mother (in Gaelic), but, otherwise, yes, she's the only Disney Princess who doesn't burst into a major song at some point in the movie. She does sing in her mind or internally when she is shooting arrows in the forest at the beginning of the film. The song is called "Touch the Sky."
Question: How exactly did Merida get her mother to transform back into a human? Did she do it with her tears or was it by mending the tapestry and putting it on her mother along with the sun to help break the spell? (01:33:00)
Answer: It was sewing the tapestry, for sure.
Sewing the tapestry was just a symbol of mending the bond (as the witch said "Fate be changed look inside, mend the bond torn by pride"). However, we see she sewed the tapestry and that didn't actually turn her mother back to human. It's not until Merida hugs her mother, apologizes, and says she loves her that the bond is mended. After that the tapestry magically seals and her mother turns back to human. Phixius is right.
Question: What happened to the Queen's Crown after she put it on top of that rock to go fishing? I do not recall it being shown in the movie after that, maybe they forgot about it or I missed something?
Answer: They forgot about it. They also got her a new crown because the original one is lost.
Answer: The mother (as a bear) placed it on a rock right before the first time she temporarily turned into a full bear.
Question: I couldn't understand what Young MacGuffin said. Is that because he only speaks the Scottish language? Can someone please translate what he said? (01:33:00)
Answer: MacGuffin isn't speaking gibberish - it's a dialect called Doric. Doric is used in the Aberdeenshire area - including Elgin, when Kevin McKidd (who voices MacGuffin) is from. Quine means girl - basically he's saying there's no use marrying a girl who doesn't want to be married.
Question: While the triplets distract Fergus and the lords with the dead frog they use to form a bear shadow, one of them also roars into a pot to imitate a bear. It that a reference to "A Bug's Life" (1998) when Dot screeches like a bird into a horn while she, Flick, and the girl scout ants fly the fake bird?
Question: Merida points out that the berries Elinor (as a bear) eats are poisonous. I'm sure she meant to say that those berries are poisonous to humans, but are they also poisonous to bears? If not, then did Merida just not know that? (01:33:00)
Answer: The most probable answer is that Merida wouldn't know about a bear's metabolism and what might be fatal to one when berries she knows to be poisonous to humans gets ingested. And although I doubt she wondered if those berries would have been poisonous to a bear, given the fact that she is a sharp girl I assume that if the thought had crossed her mind, in the case of her mother she would choose caution.
Question: Elinor at first didn't seem to care about burning Merida's bow, especially since she didn't approve of Fergus giving her the bow, and became furious after Merida shot for her own hand. What made Elinor rescue the bow from the fire?
Answer: Elinor tossed the bow into the fire in a fit of anger, then regretted what she did and rescued it.
To add to raywest's answer, she threw it in a fit of rage, yes. As a parent, you sometimes disagree with your children's passions, while you try to steer and guide them, they love what they love. She may have disagreed with Merida having the bow, but she also knew how important it was to her. Its hard to explain, but basically while she objected to Merida having it, she knew it was the one thing that made her happy... she loves her daughter and wants her to be happy. She destroyed it in a fit of rage, and then realised she destroyed, for lack of better words, her daughter's "happiness." Marrying her off was one thing, burning her only joy is another.
Question: Why did Elinor throw Merida's bow in the fireplace? What happened to the bow when it was fished from the fire?
Answer: Merida had rebelled against her traditional female role and defied her mother by slicing the tapestry with a sword. As retaliation, Elinor angrily threw Merida's bow into the fire. The bow was fished out before any substantial damage was done to it, and Merida was still able to use it. Historically, wooden weapons (bows, spears, etc.) were often crafted with a process called "fire hardening" to dry out the moisture and make the wood stronger. The flames may have had this affect on Merida's bow.
Question: It seems to be fact that John Ratenzburger voices a character in every Pixar film. But who does he voice in this movie? It doesn't say in the "cast" section of the credits.
Answer: John Ratzenberger is the voice of Gordon, the guard.
Question: Which one of the lord's ships do the triplets stow away on?
Answer: Based on the fact that the ship they are on is in the middle and Lord Macintosh's ship was in the middle, it's fair to say they were on Lord Macintosh's ship.
Question: When Merida is first seen riding her horse, we hear a song. Is that Merida's voice singing, or is that supposed to be a different voice? (01:33:00)
Answer: The singer is Julie Fowlis, a Scottish folk singer. Merida is voice-acted by Kelly MacDonald. Because the movie isn't in the same vein as other Disney movies like "Aladdin" or "Pocahontas" with characters singing part of the soundtrack, it would be reasonable to presume they're considered separate entities. The songs here are more to establish the atmosphere than to serve as "voices" for the characters.
Question: Even though she was more focused on trying to transform her mother back into a human, is it possible Merida was able to apply the same magic to her brothers? If so, then how?
Answer: By reconciling the rift with her mother, the brothers (who were under the same spell) were transformed back when Elinor was.
Answer: The stone circle is like a gateway to the spirit world, something slightly supernatural. Angus senses this, and it makes him freak out.
Ioreth