As far adat cleave goes, Brave I think is a big step in a different direction. Tonally different than a handful of Pixar movies. Not as much a concept piece as Toy Story or Wall-E or even Monster's Inc. A relatively straight-forward story with memorable characters and a jump from toddler to pre-teen subject matter. Not to say Toy Story 3, Wall-E, or Up aren't mature in their own right, but as far as the plot and presentation: less straight up cutsieness and a bit more edge. That being said, I didn't really care for it. Brave isn't a bad movie, there's nothing at all wrong with it. It's just a bit more derivative than most other Pixar works. I'd compare it tonally as closest to The Incredibles, but I still think that movie's better, or if anything, funnier.
In other news, I saw Crazy Stupid Love with Gosling and Carell and that was fantastic. The best rom-com I can ever recall seeing. It's an ensemble film that really delivers. Great performances. Well-woven story, even though it's aware it follows many rom-com tropes, it still does it cleverly and with more finesse than any I've ever seen. Also, it's made my new life goal to make Ryan Gosling be my bar mate.