I love “princesses” who are like my daughters or like my wife. This girl in FR news today fits a mold that would make a great female hero: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3207980/posts “ Girl, 11, shoots man attacking mother . . .”
There are a lot of real girls like that, and I’d guess many (most?) of us on FR raise our girls to be able to defend themselves when needed and take pride in our strong and self-reliant mothers, wives, and daughters, just as we take pride in our strong, self-reliant sons. I doubt that Disney would make that movie though - they are more into girls being rescued than being able to take care of themselves.
You must not have seen Brave or The Princess and the Frog. Since I have kids, I've seen them over and over and over... The Disney princesses in recent movies are anything but helpless.
Unfortunately, most animated films today do not simply see a need to portray women and girls as self-reliant. Almost every single one must also portray all men and boys as cowardly, stupid, disgusting, or outright evil. I don't take my kids to movies like How to Train Your Dragon because of the constant misandry. Girls are almost universally portrayed as strong, brave, and self-sacrificing, qualities that used to be attributed to men and boys.