Almost every year, a blog or cultural pundit will pose the same question: Does Pixar have a woman problem? Sure, the animation studio has given us Jessie from Toy Story and Dory from Finding Nemo, but the male characters vastly outnumber the ladies in Pixar’s oeuvre, and in twelve movies, no female character has served as the sole protagonist. Next year’s Brave will finally change that. Set in the Scottish highlands, it’s the story of Princess Merida (voiced by Boardwalk Empire’s Kelly MacDonald), a headstrong redhead who’s keen with a bow and arrow, though her action-seeking ways place the kingdom in peril. But most important, it looks gorgeous and it’s not a sequel. Fingers crossed.
