Oh the emotional rollercoaster Disney takes us on. First they launch Pixar into a mega giant studio under their banner. Then Pixar leaves the nest and Disney abandons traditional 2d animation for the new popular cg format. Now Pixar is back in the fold and they bring back their 2d feature film department.
First project out of the gate? A take on the Princess and the Frog, but this time its set in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Written/directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, creators of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, the animated musical is set in New Orleans. The movie follows Tiana, a young African-American girl who lives in the infamous French Quarter. The new movie will feature a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells, and the music of Randy Newman (as heard in the teaser). The Princess and the Frog hits theaters on Christmas 2009.
Clearly this is taking a cue from some of the amazing scenery found in Beauty and the Beast and still implementing 3d landscapes and objects in with traditional cel animation.
But for me, the quality of the cg scenery is still a tiny bit of a distraction from 2d. Go one way or the other.
Now this is just a teaser trailer, so I will reserve judgement on the animation until later.
I for one am glad to hear that traditional animation styles are not forgotten forever. This is what made Disney GREAT, and Pixar is GREAT too. So let each of them do their own thing and lets get back to the magic of these films.
Hop on over to /Film to see the teaser trailer!
