A cartoon princess is banished to Manhattan and must contend with urban realities as an actual human. That is the plot ofEnchanted, a Nov. 21 release and the first Disney event movie since 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit to mingle traditional animation and live action.
Since no in-house 2-D unit existed when production began, an outside studio run by former Disney and DreamWorks animator James Baxter (creator of Jessica Rabbit and Belle from Beauty and the Beast) was put in charge of doing those portions.
According to Baxter, director Kevin Lima "wanted Enchanted to have its own style and not just cherry-pick designs from past Disney movies. There had to be a unity to it." Just as most Disney animated features are inspired by an artistic source, the creative team chose art nouveau as a jumping-off point.
Baxter explains to USA TODAY how Enchanted's two worlds — also straddled by Nathaniel (Timothy Spall), the prince's valet who is secretly in cahoots with the queen, and Pip the chipmunk —— visually collide.
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