A new film by Pixar! Pixar, the champion of all that is good in craft! A Pixar film means we can bank on a couple of things that make it stand out: a great story with layers for adults, rewatchability, characters you care about, a driving theme of hope!

Sadly, this is no longer true. In Brave's case, the blame has to be laid at the feet of the writers. A multitude of them.

Like Promethius, Brave suffers from a nasty case of the "could have been's", and the dreaded "we're trying to tell too many stories in the same film" syndrome. What we're presented with starts out well, and the first act sets up this strong independent character you could picture leading armies, or conquering great opposition. The second act decides that's a little too adult, and so devolves into a completely different film where the lead becomes a one dimensional character in a fairy tale. The jammy paws of Disney are all over it; from anthropomorphised animals to talking ones, no real stakes or risk, and safe, obvious characters. The weak third act culminates in a mighty ... whimper. You're left wondering if that's really all there was to the film.

Pixar films used to be driven by a clear message, and each film had a theme which the characters explored. Brave doesn't do this; instead we're left with a bleary, unfocused mess, and although it's pretty, it's not compelling. The lead isn't brave, she's just young. Calling the film "teenagers are dicks!" or "bearmum!" would have been more appropriate.

The single worst aspect of the experience was the dedication at the end to Steve Jobs, a man who's laser focus and drive for perfection built one of the most well loved brands in history. Brave is an ill fitting tribute.