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2D Animation Spins Gold with Next Feature

- J. J. Delude

Burbank, CA-  In the past year the infamous Disney lot has been nothing but a buzz about the news of 2D animation coming back. It all started with Pixar miracle worker John Lasseter being brought on as the new head of feature animation. Well, Lasseter wasted no time in making sure that Pixar did the CGI features and Disney returned to 2D animation. He announced that Disney’s latest musical Enchanted would be the first Disney feature film to display 2D animation since Disney’s 2004 flop, Home on the Range. “If [Bob] Iger likes what he sees, then we could very well be on our way back to Disney doing what they’re known for,” states Lasseter.

Well, Disney CEO Robert Iger must have liked what he saw because he is allowing not only one, but two new 2D animated feature films to be released. The one that has been no secret is John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin)’ The Frog Princess, due out in 2009.

This next film has just recently been given the approval to go ahead and is looking to bring back co-directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) for the classic fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin. “We tried to convince Michael [Eisner] that not only did a new traditionally animated movie need to come out, but it needed to have the same fairy tale look as told like Walt [Disney] would have wanted it,” started Gary. “We’re just thankful now that John [Lasseter] is backing us up and letting us try our hands at the story, Rumpelstiltskin.”

Rumpelstiltskin is the story of a young girl handed over to the king by her father, because it has been said that she can spin straw into gold. When the king locks her up and threatens her life, a magical dwarf appears to save the day, but only if the girl gives up her first born. The next day, the king found that the wish had been granted and married the girl. Years later, the dwarf returned for his prize, but the queen refused to hand over her child. So, the dwarf gives her 3 days to come up with his name, so that she may keep the baby. On the second night, the queen sent out a messenger to find out his name. When the messenger returned with the name, the queen told the dwarf that his name was Rumpelstiltskin and he vanished.

“There is a great story found in this tale, and we want to keep the basics of it, but over all, the outer shell of the tale will be changed. We want to keep to the Disney formula that Walt had and turn the girl into a princess and add in the character of a prince. There’s just something about the innocence of a girl becoming a princess that we like so much,” continued Gary. Several sources, that asked to remain anonymous, have also stated that the story will be given a longer ending, due to its short length.

Sources state that Tim Rice and Alan Menken have been recruited to work on the music for this project, and Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Kelsey Grammer, Liz Callaway, and Robin Williams have all been contacted for several members of the voice cast.

Rumpelstiltskin is due out in 2011.

© The Hollywood Hill News 2007