http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2006-02-22/

Disney Reviving Hand-Drawn Animation
The Walt Disney Co. is planning to revive traditional hand-drawn animation next year with its live-action/animated Enchanted, Disney watcher Jim Hill reported on his website today (Wednesday). A traditionally animated test sequence has already been created for the film by veteran Disney animator James Baxter, best known for his supervision of the character Belle in Beauty and the Beast, according to Hill. "And those who have seen this particular piece of rough animation say that it is 'simply stunning. A wonderful throwback to the sort of films that Disney used to make.'" Baxter, Hill said, has been secretly working on the sequence with a small crew at his own studio in Pasadena, and, he added, his work is likely to be displayed by Pixar's John Lasseter and Ed Catmull as they make their well-known case for reviving hand-drawn animation to Disney chief Robert Iger. Said Hill: "They're going to tell Iger: 'Doesn't that look terrific? People are really going to eat this picture up. They've been waiting for Disney to do a new film that features traditional animation. Which is why this movie is going to do HUGE box office next year.'"

I smell a renaissance in the air in Burbank!

I don't know. I don't necessarily see much there on which to pin hopes. If it is all correct then one 15 minute sequenc in an otherwise live action movie has been commissioned for live action work from an independent production company.

The assumption that this will do big box office because people are graving a hand-drawn Disney movie is odd since it is only a fraction of the movie and apparently the cravings weren't that big for the last few hand-drawn Disney movies.

And of course there is the fact that computer animation is perfectly capable of looking hand drawn if that is the style you're going for (see the Lorenzo short from a couple years ago).

But who knows. May be five years we'll be seeing a traditionally animated feature film produced in house by Disney.