Merida was created to break the mold, to give young girls a better, stronger role model, a more attainable role model, something of substance, not just a pretty face that waits around for romance.' Enough hell has been raised over the major Disney goof - how can they so badly misunderstand much of their audience? - an online petition campaign has already collected more than 100,000 signatures. Merida's creator and co-director of the film, Brenda Chapman, calls the re-design of her character 'atrocious. To top off the ludicrous transformation, the 'new' Princess Merida is sans bow and arrows, and wears an overly tight gown the character rejected in the movie.

Enough kudos that they should have seen the current tsunami of criticism coming when they turned the tomboy-ish, assertive Merida into a stereotypical Disney babe from the company's Sleeping Beauty era. When the movie was released, a veritable wave of 'thank yous' and 'hoorays' from grateful parents washed over the Disney company. Of course, the bow and arrow set a certain tone, too. Unruly hair, non-bedroom eyes, a smart mouth and a confident, brassy outlook. Or as normal as a cartoon character can manage.

And - most incredibly - she looked, you know, normal. Here was a film with a strong, fearless female character, who slung a bow over her arm and went out to grab her future, rather than just waiting around for someone else to decide it for her. After 'the kid' outgrew juvenile films, I still kept an interest in what was happening in the genre, which is why I thought it was a great move (albeit an 'it's about time' one) when Brave was first announced. In the '90s, I saw a ton of kids' films while my wife and I raised our first child I often winced at animated films' frequent depictions of female characters as silly weaklings with big, flirty eyes (the intelligent, assertive Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast was a breath of fresh air). Kids pick up on those kinds of cultural messages a lot more than many parents realize, and it's high time Disney realized that the world has changed since the Snow White days of 1939. Some readers are probably going, 'WTF?' at this point, maybe thinking, 'It's a cartoon, pal, what's the big deal?' It's a big deal because the new version sends a message to kids that the preferred look and attitude for girls is sexy and doe-eyed rather than spunky and resourceful.

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