It would have been so easy to make a point of mentioning Merida and her mother’s beauty, or even the oafishness of her father and his rivals. The stakes are high in this movie, but unlike your traditional princess who’s risking it all for her prince (usually someone she barely knows but inexplicably loves), Merida is fighting first for her own agency and then to save her family. Here are the five least princess-y things about Brave, followed by the five most princess-y.

Though Merida is indeed a teenage princess whose parents want her to live a traditional life and get married, through knowledge, determination, and honest communication with her mother (and some magic-this is a Disney princess movie, after all), she subverts the princess paradigm. (Say what you will about Merida, at least she doesn’t wear a pink tiara!) While our reviews were mixed-as most reviews of the film have been-we all agreed that it was refreshing to see a different take on the princess narrative that has so permeated the media landscape lately. Yesterday, a group of Bitch staffers/friends/kids attended a matinee screening of the new Disney/Pixar film Brave.

Disney brave world of color