Very disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (5 August 2012)

I felt compelled to write a review to counter all the excellent reviews that this movie has received.
It is not excellent, in fact it is dull, celebrates disobedience and feels like two completely different stories taped together to make up the time.
I can't really see the point of the movie, young girls in Scotland today (or the USA or even South Africa)are not forced to marry, in the tenth century when they were it was accepted and not the great drama made out in the movie.
The whole movie reeks of feminist fantasy- wanting to live in a romantic Scottish medieval setting, sorting out mother issues and having modern rules and standards.
I found it disturbing that every male character in the movie was portrayed as at best, big stupid and loving, (King Fergus) at worst violent and evil (the bear). They only males given any intelligence in the movie are the triplets, who are constant thieves, conniving, ruthless, destructive and very small! The basic story and message was if you are a young woman with serious mother issues, don't worry. Do something really nasty to your mother, then say you are really sorry then your mother will change her mind and you can have it all your own way! Don't worry about any men involved as they are too stupid to understand what is going on.
A lot of this I could have forgiven if the movie did not feel so disjointed, and in the second half frankly boring. This is not "How to train your dragon" with a female lead (that would have been great) this is a feminist Disney "Mother bear" done very beautifully by Pixar, with great voice acting but ultimately very unsatisfying.