I think I’ve found my new hero! I love that real curls are finally getting their due in Brave, an animated film by Disney and Pixar featuring a plucky Scottish lass with long, flowing red curly locks.

They’re such a paramount part of her image, and I love the association that curls have with strong, independent, and unique women! Take that, Cinderella.

The premise reminds me a bit of one of my Disney favorites, Mulan, which was also about a young woman defying her family to go off and fight more valiantly than any other dude in her village. She had to dress as a man to pass muster, but it doesn’t look like this firecracker betrays her true identity at all.

Check it out in theaters this Friday, June 22. Can’t wait!

UPDATE: Saw this on opening day at 11:30am (when 3-D tix in Manhattan were only $10–it felt like 1995 all over again!) and I loved it. The blend of character development and interactions, animation, and story line were as close to perfect as I’ve seen in an animated film, and I was fighting back tears at the end. The overarching theme, to me, was to always respect and value the lessons that your good-willed parents (specifically, the main character Merida’s mother, Elena) aim to instill in you. Don’t try to change who they are, because they’re only human and are doing their best to raise you right. Also, you should listen to your loved ones instead of projecting your own ideas of their intent onto them.

Those fabulous red curls adorning Merida and her three terror-inducing brothers’ heads definitely played a starring role and are the center of movie reviews web-wide. Hers were not restrained for one moment; even while Merida scaled sheer rock faces, galloped wily nily on her trusty steed, or flew through the air to grab a bear’s paw. In the movies, hair always seems to blow in the opportune direction. Woe is me.

I also give an A+ to the animators for including lots of curl clusters that did that wonky “not-quite-curling-in-the-middle-but-then-getting-back-in-line-at-the-bottom-of-the-curl” thing. You know what I mean. Definitely recommend seeing this one, but maybe not with Mom–unless you’re the super sentimental type.