http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/...s.ap/index.html

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. has started production on an animated musical fairy tale called "The Frog Princess," which will be set in New Orleans and feature the Walt Disney Studio's first black princess.

The company unveiled the plans at its annual shareholders' meeting in New Orleans.

John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Disney and the Disney-owned unit Pixar Animation Studios, said the movie would return to the classic hand-drawn animation process, instead of using computer animation that has become the industry standard. He called the film "an American fairy tale."

"The film's New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said.

The movie will be scored by Randy Newman, who also wrote the music for Disney's "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc." and "Cars."

Newman performed a song from the score for the shareholders.

John Musker and Ron Clements, who co-directed "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," and "Hercules" will co-direct the movie. The pair also wrote the story for the film.

Disney said its new animated princess -- Maddy -- will be added to its collection of animated princesses used at the company's theme parks and on consumer products.

The film is set for release in 2009.

Great idea that they're doing this (too bad it only took them 40+ years to do it), but I have some major issues with it.

Great idea that they're doing this (too bad it only took them 40+ years to do it), but I have some major issues with it.

What issues do you have with it?

said the movie would return to the classic hand-drawn animation process, instead of using computer animation that has become the industry standard.

Oh good, nothing against the computer animated movies but I prefer the hand-drawn animated movies. They have a much more timeless feel to them.

What issues do you have with it?

1. The villain, Dr. Duvalier. In the movie he's African-American, but Dr. Duvalier isn't African-American. He was a Haitian dictator better known as Papa Doc.

2. Now, I have absolutely no problems with interracial relationships, but Disney squandered an opportunity by making the prince white. What does it say about how we view black men when Disney is seemingly incapable of having a BM/BW romance with a "happily ever after" or even having a black man as a hero?

First of all, it's about damn time that Disney go back to the classic hand-drawn techniques. I haven't really liked the look of Disney movies since all that 3-D computer-animated crap that started coming out after Toy Story (which I loved...but I digress...)

Danni, you kinda have a point about the interracial relationship. Just as long as they don't make this similar to Pocahontas..which I HATED. I hated when that guy that Pocahontas was supposed to get married to (Kokuam?) died and was painted as this villain. Maybe that wasn't their intention but as a kid, I remember not feeling comfortable at all with how the movie played out. They made it seem like Pocahontas wasn't liberated enough with the culture she was living in..that she would be more free living the life that John Smith led. Again, maybe that wasn't their intention...maybe it was simply about not being in love with one person and being in love with someone else but I can't say that thinking about it in that way makes me like the movie any more.

Kool, its about time. It dawned on my last Christmas when I was buying "Disney Princess" stuff for my goddaughter that they didnt have a black princess. Plus, the return to the classic animation style is exciting.

Here's an an article from E!

Alicia Keys into Next Movie Role

By Marc Malkin

Is Alicia Keys' career about to go South? It will if she has anything to say about it.

I'm told that the multi-Grammy winner is on a campaign to land the lead role in Disney's upcoming animated musical, The Frog Princess, set in the South.

How interested is she? So much so that after Keys auditioned, she actually called Disney's studio chief, Dick Cook, directly to let him know how much she wanted the gig, according to a well-placed source. "She did it all herself," the source says. "She got one of his personal numbers and just called him up."

Keys is one of many hopefuls being considered to voice Maddy, a young southern girl living in New Orleans during the roaring '20s Jazz Age. "One of the big questions is if Alicia can do a Southern accent, because she has such that New York voice," my source says. Keys' movie career is off to a pretty good start. Right now, she's in theaters opposite Ben Affleck and Jeremy Piven in Smokin' Aces, and in April, she has The Nanny Diaries with Scarlett Johansson.

Not only could Frog be a major boost for Keys, it's also history-making because Maddy is, as she's been described, "the first black Disney princess." Keys has gotten a callback for a second audition, my source says.

Other top contenders, I'm told, include Oscar-nominee Jennifer Hudson and her Dreamgirls costar and Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose

Danni, you kinda have a point about the interracial relationship. Just as long as they don't make this similar to Pocahontas..which I HATED. I hated when that guy that Pocahontas was supposed to get married to (Kokuam?) died and was painted as this villain. Maybe that wasn't their intention but as a kid, I remember not feeling comfortable at all with how the movie played out. They made it seem like Pocahontas wasn't liberated enough with the culture she was living in..that she would be more free living the life that John Smith led. Again, maybe that wasn't their intention...maybe it was simply about not being in love with one person and being in love with someone else but I can't say that thinking about it in that way makes me like the movie any more.

Don't even get me started on Pocahantas. That's possibly the worst butchering of history Disney has never done.

I was kinda hoping they wouldn't go with big name... at least not one in the lead voice role. I just hope whoever does it, can pull it off.

I have no problems with an interracial romance as I am the product of one and we need to be tolerant of those relationships and the children created from them. However, my beef is why doesn't she get a fancy frilly name, like Ariel, Aurora, and Jasmine? Maddy? When I hear that name I picture a two year-old blonde girl with pink overalls.

Almost every black American comes from an interracial relationship, whether concensual or by force. However there are so few BW/BM relationships on mainstream TV (Bailey and her husband do not count as he is not an integral part of the show as McDreamy or Burke is), and there are no hugely popular mainstream movies that feature BM/BW. Worse yet, there are NO Disney films that feature a BM as a hero.

Here's an an article from E!

Alicia Keys into Next Movie Role

By Marc Malkin

Is Alicia Keys' career about to go South? It will if she has anything to say about it.

I'm told that the multi-Grammy winner is on a campaign to land the lead role in Disney's upcoming animated musical, The Frog Princess, set in the South.

How interested is she? So much so that after Keys auditioned, she actually called Disney's studio chief, Dick Cook, directly to let him know how much she wanted the gig, according to a well-placed source. "She did it all herself," the source says. "She got one of his personal numbers and just called him up."

Keys is one of many hopefuls being considered to voice Maddy, a young southern girl living in New Orleans during the roaring '20s Jazz Age. "One of the big questions is if Alicia can do a Southern accent, because she has such that New York voice," my source says. Keys' movie career is off to a pretty good start. Right now, she's in theaters opposite Ben Affleck and Jeremy Piven in Smokin' Aces, and in April, she has The Nanny Diaries with Scarlett Johansson.

Not only could Frog be a major boost for Keys, it's also history-making because Maddy is, as she's been described, "the first black Disney princess." Keys has gotten a callback for a second audition, my source says.

Other top contenders, I'm told, include Oscar-nominee Jennifer Hudson and her Dreamgirls costar and Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose

Blah to Keys, and No to J.Hud. They should pick Anika! Her voice and style is perfect for a Disney Princess flick.

I have no problems with interracial marriages but the storytelling matters and when certain cultures are subtlely painted in a bad light (a la the Native American culture in Pocahontas), that's just not cool.

They're already [!@#$%^&*] it up.