I watch a LOT of animated movies and of all Pixar movies, Cars 2 has been the only one that's disappointed me. Up, Ratatouille, The Incredibles and wall-e even belong in my movie top 10.. well make that top 20.
I remember I wasn't particularly impressed with the 4 movies mentioned above when I watched their trailers; so I have faith Brave is better than the trailer suggests.
The only Dreamworks movies I really love are How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda (especially the first one), the others are imo simply not up to par when compared to Pixar's fine efforts 
Look at Monster vs Aliens, Madagascar, Sinbad; they're not terrible by any means but I think they lack emotion, a soul if you will.
How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda on the other hand...
