For an animated film so concerned with family values, Brave doesn’t feel like a labour of love. This story of a diminutive, red-haired, Scottish lass named Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) makes one step towards ambition and takes ten steps back in terms of execution. The best part takes place early in the film, so early it causes the rest of the storyline to fall short.

We are introduced to the princess and her mother in a camping scene. Everything appears to be fine until Mor’du, a menacing bear comes along. The pre-title sequence ends ambiguously with the creature roaring at the camera. It all becomes very daft and formulaic from then on. Merida has to choose from three potential suitors for her betrothal. She rebels against her mother’s wishes where, in one of the film’s least convincing moments, she runs away deep into the forest. A wisp or tiny blue fairy light appears, leading the girl to the realm of a witch. She wants to change her destiny by literally changing her mother. The bargain goes awry when the queen transforms into a giant bear.

Brave hardly warrants the uneven treatment it’s given by directors Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman (they also co-wrote the script). This picture wouldn’t be half bad if we believed in the mother/daughter relationship at its center. Instead, Merida comes across as a selfish, spoiled brat. The mother treats her with no greater subtlety, succumbing to a stock, possessive stereotype mode.

Things are made increasingly worse by Patrick Doyle, a composer who has recently shown great dexterity, especially in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. In Brave, he tries very hard to win an Oscar. The reason why he won’t is because he delivers a lazy score, ripped from a hundred others. With no originality, there probably can’t be any awards recognition either. Let’s hope Doyle aims a bit higher next time.   

The animation is no great shakes in Brave. I’d say it was halfway between Shark Tale and Cars. In this environment, there’s no excuse for half measures with the visual design. Most settings look identical, while the night scenes are hard to decipher with those tanned 3D glasses. The effect has not worked on me yet -- the three dimensional aspect failing to overcome the slight squint in my left eye.

Brave might please its audience -- it has done well in America -- but it did not entertain me. The film comes up short next to How To Train Your Dragon -- its benchmark a little lower than expected.

Billy Connolly lends his voice to King Fergus, yet even a man with his talent and humour can’t get past an inconsistent script, co-written by Steve Purcell and Irene Mecchi.

I feel justified in saying that Brave misses out on the standards of its forebears. The new thing appears to be: write a story for kids and make some money – not write a story for the whole family and surpass their expectations. We live in a culture built on the premise of giving audiences what they want. I believe viewers should demand more from entertainment packages like Brave. It’s one thing to be given a nice-looking package on a special occasion. However, what makes it even nicer is if there’s something substantial inside. Perhaps the makers of Brave should remember that on their next outing.

(Released by Walt Disney Pictures and rated "PG-13" for some scary action and rude humor.)