Offering romantic interest, daring and flipper-kicking bravery to Prince Naveen is the great RANDY HAYCOCK. Haycock made his mark at Disney when he stepped into his first supervising role on both the infant and teenaged Hercules in the Clements and Musker feature of the same name. Haycock�s characters exhibit exceptional inner life, and appear to operate with a direct connection between their hearts and their eyes, through which we can almost watch their emotions take shape. It�s as evident in the villainous Clayton � from �Tarzan� � as it is in Haycock�s gamin and vibrant Princess Kida from the vastly under-appreciated �Atlantis: The Lost Empire�. Kida, voiced by the stunning Cree Summer, is realized with such surprising power and playfulness that it�s hard to understand why she isn�t more visible in the �Princess� franchise, as she�s the most fearless and unapologetically strong Disney heroine of the last decade. Haycock�s supervision of her is well worth a second look to anyone wise enough to go back and visit �Atlantis�. There is, about Haycock�s acting style, a reliable attention to physicality without falling into the trap of too much moving about for the sake of showing off. This athletic but carefully edited approach to movement should serve him well with Prince Naveen. From the look of Tiana, any man worthy of such beauty is going to have to have some pretty amazing moves to earn a kiss from this Disney princess.

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Serving the Prince is a valet named Lawrence, supervised by the capable and clever TONY DeROSA, who returns after a long absence from Disney. DeRosa recently brought his artistry to the Tom Hanks produced �Curious George� for Universal, where he animated the lead character with great charm. His twenty plus year career goes back to �The Black Cauldron�, and his first supervisory role was on �The Rescuers Down Under�. Among his most memorable turns with Disney are supervising the animation of the Sprite in the Firebird sequence of �Fantasia 2000� and guiding the daffy doings of Moliere, the deliciously quirky, dirt-digging specialist of �Atlantis: The Lost Empire�, to whom the animator bears slightly more than a passing resemblance (in face only, not in hygiene.) DeRosa also lead the team on Zeus and Hera in �Hercules�. His work is punctuated by a quirky comic physicality that is unique and specific to each character he portrays. If tradition holds, then the valet to a prince will require just such peculiar rhythms, and it makes DeRosa an ideal casting choice to support Haycock�s smooth moves.

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NIK RANIERI will release his inner-diva on the spoiled, jealous, comic Southern belle, Charlotte LaBouff. How can this be anything but one of the most delicious comic turns in recent animated history? Consider the flawless timing that is second nature to Ranieri, and his Chaplinesqe sensibilities. Nobody understands comic timing, rib-ticklingly prefect takes and pure seething silliness like this animator. While he was praised (and teased) as the �poster boy for computer animation�, Ranieri�s ability to bring all of his gifts to CG can�t be matched by his straight-ahead, facile mastery of hand drawn personality animation. Meeko is still the best pantomime performance of the second generation at Disney. Adding up Wilbur, Lumiere, Hades and Kuzko, the sum total of Nik�s previous efforts are enough to make most live action comic actors bow their head in humble awe. What�s in store for us next year could be the best send-up of Southern manners since Carol Burnett donned a drapery rod in her parody of Scarlet O�Hara. After ten years away from a traditional supervising assignment, Nik Ranieri is most likely going through paper like�well like a raccoon through hard tac; even the crumbs are sure to be delicious.

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