We think Disney's Brave is a wonderful movie, but today we discovered a poor choice by Disney to give their main character, Merida, an unneccesary makeover. Brave's creator, Brenda Chapman, spoke out against Merida's transformation. In fact, Disney's princess makeover has created such a large amount of public opinion and outcry that a petition from Mighty Girl has been created. So far it has had 150,000 signatures!...and counting! As one commenter said, "Brave turned into Babe" changes girls' aspirations from strong and powerful to pretty and put-together.

It may seem that this strong reaction has had an effect on Disney/Pixar. For now Merida remains unchanged on their official Disney Princess website. However, it is unclear if the new Merida will appear on future Disney products and advertisements.

We've got to think about how this change affects the developing minds of our youth - both girls and boys. Disney's targeted population for this movie, mostly girls between the ages of 5 and 10, are at a sensitive age for suggestion and comparison. To some this may be a trivial change, but to the impressionable youth of today it can mean more. In our opinion, there was nothing that needed to change in the first place!

Here is a shot of Merida's before and after looks.

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