No, really. Here's the announcement at /Film and the trailer:
I should probably explain why this was a little unexpected. You see, a long, long time ago, when Disney was in the depths of it's Dork Age, whoever was in charge of pitching story ideas there basically said, "You know what? F*** it! We're all trying to make the next movie that will make as much money as 'The Lion King', right? So let's just do ANOTHER loose Shakespeare adaptation with celebrities voicing nonhuman characters who sing lots and lots of Elton John songs."
And this happened back when there was a weird mini-trend, possibly inspired by "Amélie" or warm memories of Rien Poortvliet's art books or the beloved "David the Gnome" animated series adaptation of them, of collecting garden gnomes.
The last we Disney fans heard, the project had been scrapped. This happened back when "Meet the Robinsons" was being reworked. Since that was the last time I had heard anything of it, the sight of a trailer was a huge surprise. I guess another studio must have picked it up, which might explain why this is released under Touchstone. Disney (which is in the meantime working on a movie based on the whole Magic Kingdom because of COURSE they are) has been known to release "weird" movies under the Touchstone banner; the same thing happened to "Roger Rabbit" and "Nightmare Before Christmas". The whole situation was just too strange not to mention here.
What do I think of what we see in the trailer? Well, let me put it this way. I still dream of someday directing my own animated film. And when I do, I will insist that both the trailers and posters must include this or a similar tagline:
"From a person who was not at all involved in 'Shrek'! And while she kinda liked the first movie at the time, she frankly thinks that the 'Shrek' movies have a lot to answer for. (That God-forsaken 'Cat in the Hat' movie for example.)"
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Announcement: This Sunday is The Big Sit! Register your circle and keep track of the birds you see. This instructional video explains the rules further. Skip ahead to the six minute mark to learn why friends don't let friends drink and birdwatch.
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Sketch of the day:
