Inside Out, the new Disney/Pixar collaboration is in cinemas this week, ready for the June-July school holidays.

It’s an ambitious project about the emotions inside the head of Riley, an 11-year-old schoolgirl. There’s joy, happiness, disgust, sadness and fear, depicted as colourful characters operating and fighting over the control room that is Riley’s mind. But after seeing the movie with my son, I experienced another emotion — disappointment.

media_camera From left, Anger (voiced by Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear, (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) in the film “Inside Out”. (Disney-Pixar via AP, File)

And it’s not because this isn’t a great movie. Early reviews say it is the best animated flick from the Pixar stable, and I agree.

On a basic level it’s goofy enough to amuse the kids. For the mums and dads who pay for the tickets it’s very clever. There’s an explanation as to why after years of piano lessons all we can remember is chopsticks, or why we can’t get that annoying advertising jingle out of our heads.

And it has that obligatory message about life, in this case — without sadness there can be no joy.

But having sat through Disney’s Frozen, with its two strong female characters and negative depiction of men, I was hoping Inside Out would offer some inspiration for boys. After all, in Frozen, the handsome prince was a schemer pretending to love princess Anna to gain control of the throne, and her other love interest, Kristoff, could at best described as a mountain nerd who preferred the company of his reindeer to people.

I was hoping Inside Out would include a positive male role model. Instead what we got was another strong female leads in Riley and the two emotions that are the heroines of the movie — joy and sadness. Disgust is also portrayed as a sassy teenage girl, which leaves the boys with anger and fear.

In an interview, director Pete Docter said anger was a response to the unfairness in the world, making it a noble emotion, but what the audience sees is a short square red man who is quick to blow his top and loves to swear. The message is clear — boys are fearful and quick to get angry.

Girls are sensitive and fun.

Maybe they are just re-dressing the balance? In the Toy Story movies, for instance, the main characters Buzz and Woody were male, but at least there was the fearless cowgirl Jessie and the caring Bo Peep. For the sake of this argument I’m forgetting about the nagging Mrs Potato Head. Andy’s mum was busy looking after her son and his younger sister but where was Andy’s dad? He literally wasn’t in the picture.

Riley’s dad is at least around, however as soon as they get to their new home he abandons his wife and daughter to race off to work. The message is dads put work before family. And in a scene at the dinner table when Riley’s mum is trying to find out what is troubling her daughter, we get a glimpse into Dad’s mind — he’s thinking about sport.

I asked my son if it worried him that main character was a girl — and that the heroines of the movie were both girls. “No,” he replied. “It’s just the way things are. Girls are better than boys.”

And that sums up my point. Let’s continue to show girls they are intelligent and able, but in doing so, let’s not forget our sons need the same encouragement.

Michelle Collins is the mother of three boys.