Well whoop-de-doo! Finally celtic lore gets its big break! And pixar did it:))
I doubt they’ll Americanise too many of the characters. In animated movies, or American ones at least, there are always some American actors it seems. That probably won’t stop. But at least they got a Scottish lady for Merida. 
So far all of the cast we know of is Scottish or British, so I think they are trying to not cast any americans in the lead roles. Though I expect all of the extras, plus John Ratzenberger, to be American.
I don’t know why all of you are happy Reese is gone. Reese Witherspoon has a Disney princess voice. I know that ya’ll want Pixar to use realism, and Pixar IS known for their realism, that’s how Cars and Toy Story are so successful…but Merida shouldn’t be counted as a Disney princess if they can’t even bother to give her a Disney princess voice.
Does Belle sound French? Do Snow-White and Aurora sound German? Does Rapunzel sound Danish? Cinderella’s voice isn’t representative of her nationality. And there is NO WAY you can argue that Jasmine sounds Arabic with her voice.
What do all these princesses have in common? They have uber-sweet voices like Reese Witherspoon. I would have LOVED for Reese to do a Disney princess voice. Even Ariel has that uber-sweetness in her voice.
I guess Merida isn’t supposed to be anything like other Disney princesses. She’s not beautiful, and I’m sure that’s purposeful. Hey, if Pixar is going to make a female lead for the first time, they might as well make it an unattractive lass instead of a Barbie. And Pixar certainly wants to differentiate themselves from Disney, which is why I’m already against Brave, though I guess it doesn’t matter since I’m sure any movie Pixar does with huamns as the focus will be unappealing to me. (The Incredibles was good, but it’s not something I’d see again for a long, long time…and I still have only seen in once. Then Up was terrible. And although Ratatouille had a lot of human characcters, the rats were more important.)
Anyway, I hope Reese Witherspoon does do a Disney princess voice again, when Disney gets off their high horse and desire to only have a young male audience and returns to fairy tales.
“Disney gets off their high horse and returns to fairy tales”? Sorry, but the last two Disney movies were fairy tales.
About the rest of the statement, I can’t agree either, cause it’s just about pairing this Pixar film in tone with the Disney Princesses franchise, just because.
I don’t think they’re neither trying to fit in the Princesses franchise nor want to purposely differentiate themselves. I just think they’re making their original film and Disney is already thinking in marketing it in the franchise.
I don’t care who does her voice, unless the actress is terribly annoying. But as for the accent, I don’t care. I do agree Merida is not attractive in the least(from what I’ve seen. I’ll try not to be certain until I see the movie) and she’s definitely no Jasmine or Rapunzel. And I’m not interested in this movie, either. I don’t resent Pixar or what I know of this movie, it just doesn’t -grab- me like most Pixar projects do before I know anything about them. I think this is the first time I’ve agreed with most of your post. 
However, like Spirit said, I don’t think they’re intentionally trying to fit in or not fit in with the Disney Princess line. I would love for Pixar to do a Disney Princess movie, but I would prefer that they make a movie to make it, not to sell dolls.
But, I still hope Merida becomes more attractive before the movie is released. Please, God, please!!
Hahaha, that statment is awesome. Yes, two fairy tales in a row followed by classic Winnie the Pooh? What else do you want from them?
I don’t really mind what voice she’ll have as long as it fits within the whole atmosphere of the movie… and with her character
Good voices can really make up for a lot of flaws, you know
how would you think I would manage to sit through the whole Donkey Kong Country animated series
Well Reese Witherspoon has such a lovely voice but I’ll have to see what Merida looks like and what her persnality is before giving a judgment…
Well, we now know the reason for Witherspoon’s departure. In an article which I believe was posted in the main Brave section, she left due to conflicting projects, so there was no fall out between her and Pixar.
I read that a long time ago. I don’t know why so many people thought she had problems with Pixar.
This means she can still voice a character in a future Pixar movie.