Every Pixar Hero Ranked From Worst To Best

It took Pixar way too long to give us their first female protagonist, and while Brave itself may be a relatively divisive entry into the company's canon, its spunky Scottish teenage princess hero Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is a sheer delight.

For starters, she's one of the most distinctive-looking Pixar heroes, what with her paler-than-pale skin and striking red hair.

But beyond her design she's a headstrong young woman and kickass archer who flatly rejects the patriarchal system she's born into, even at great cost to herself and her family.

In this sense Merida's a revisionist Disney princess and a welcome contemporary role model for young girls, while the film also offers up one of the more complex and nuanced - if contentious - mother-daughter dynamics in Pixar's back catalogue.

Merida is a great character stuck in a decent movie, basically.