Trailer for Pixar's BraveRunning in front of last weekend's Cars 2 was the first official teaser trailer for Pixar's next animated feature and the studio's first venture into the realm of classic fairytale princess stories, Brave.

In the trailer we meet the fire-haired maiden Merida (voiced by Kelly MacDonald) who is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

The trailer doesn't reveal very much about the plot, nor does the official synopsis for that matter, but we couldn't help becoming mesmerized by the realistic treatment of Merida's curly hair. Just imagine the number of man-hours that went into animating that mane. No more grouping and cloning to save time. That stuff looks realer than real.

A bit of controversy swirled during production of Brave in the fall of 2010 when Mark Andrews was brought in to finish up and polish off the film which was originally being directed by Brenda Chapman.  Andrews directed the Pixar short, One Man Band which preceded Pixar's 2005 feature, Ratatouille. Pixar had began to receive a bit of criticism for its lack of female protagonists in its films as well as women in the upper echelons of its filmmaking crews.

Brave is not slated to be released until Summer of next year 2012, but rest assured, if the pre-release marketing campaign for Cars 2 was any indication of what the company is willing to do to get the attention of the movie-going public, there will plenty more Brave to come before its release.

You can watch the trailer for Brave below: