Disney Plans to Keep Living Happily Ever After with ENCHANTED 2

In 2007, Disney successfully added another princess to their repertoire with Enchanted‘s Giselle.  The clever narrative transported the naive maiden from an animated paradise to “real world” (read: Disneyfied) Manhattan, where she taught New Yorkers how to break into song and that divorce is bad.  Notably, the film helped introduce the delightful Amy Adams to the widespread public after she stole every scene (and an Oscar nomination) in the indie feature, Junebug.  Representing a huge step in Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation, Enchanted earned solid critical praise and upwards of $340 million worldwide, so understandably, Variety reports that a sequel is in the works.

More after the jump:

It appears the creative team behind the immensely likable original (writer Bill Kelly and director Kevin Lima) has been jettisoned for a new take.  Disney has recruited Anne Fletcher, who helmed last summer’s success The Proposal for the Mouse House, to direct and assigned writing duties to Jesse Nelson, the mind from whom both I Am Sam and Fred Claus somehow came into being.

The report suggests the studio will “likely try to bring back the first film’s stars”, namely Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Susan Sarandon.  It would be great to get the whole gang back together, but the relentlessly perky redhead Adams, who supplied 110% of the original’s charm, is probably the only absolutely essential component to the franchise.

Luckily, the story seems to lend itself to additional chapters.  In particular, I foresee some original characters getting in on the hand-drawn action if the production schedule permits.  Who wouldn’t love to see McDreamy in animated form, perfect quaff intact?