Staying in Toon

By Jeffrey Ressner

To impress," insists Edna Mode, the diminutive fashionista of the Pixar smash The Incredibles, "you must express!" As Pixar melds with Disney, the big challenge will be to keep expressing originality in an increasingly cluttered field. There's a toon army on the march: this year a record number of animated features will be released, and coming up are the Shrek and Ice Age crews. Here's a sneak peek at what's on the horizon from animation's new power couple:

Pixar may follow its summer vehicle Cars with Ratatouille, a tale about a rat who lives in a fancy French restaurant. Little is known of future projects, but Incredibles auteur Brad Bird has long wanted to direct a noir-style film, possibly based on Will Eisner's comic The Spirit. Meanwhile, creative kingpin John Lasseter, who has a deep affinity for traditional 2-D cel animation, is expected to revive that form in some way. He may even jump-start the long-dormant world-music spin-off of Fantasia, titled Musicana.

Disney's lineup includes next December's eccentric time-travel tale Meet the Robinsons, with a critter comedy, American Dog, and a familiar fairy tale, Rapunzel, in years ahead. Set for 2007 is Enchanted, a live-action-plus-animation hybrid `a la Roger Rabbit, about a storybook princess who enters the real world of modern Manhattan. Then there's Gnomeo & Juliet, a musical remake of Shakespeare's tragedy (it worked for West Side Story) featuring garden gnomes, with songs by executive producer Elton John. Disney is also developing a new Three Little Pigs, using Caldecott Award winner David Wiesner's postmodern take on the porkers. But animaniacs don't see most classic Disney characters getting a face-lift. As Edna says, "Never look back, darling. It distracts from the now."