The relationship between the main character Merida and her mother, Queen Elinor, is what drives the plot. In most animated films, of which Disney is notorious, mothers rarely play a significant role: either they are dead and out of the picture completely, they have only a few lines of dialogue at the beginning or end of the film, or they are mere wall decoration.

Brave is actually a coming-of-age tale about family, learning from mistakes, self-sacrificing love, and, particularly, the relationship between a mother and daughter. It is not a fairy tale romance in which princess meets hero/prince, falls in love, hero must defeat an evil villain, and then they live happily ever after. To be completely honest, Brave was nothing like I was expecting. Yesterday I found two strong, decisive, and enduring female characters in Pixar’s new movie Brave (2012).

Whatever happened to strong, decisive, supportive, faithful, enduring female characters? Heroines with integrity, fidelity, and genuine compassion?

In my last post, I bemoaned the plethora of selfish, indecisive female leads in fictional stories, particularly movies and television shows.

Only the brave movie female characters