In 1988, Robert Zemeckis broke new ground with the kooky film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which featured live action characters mingling with old-school cartoons. That technology has been copied a few times since then, poorly, in duds like Cool World and Space Jam. Can Disney resurrect the magic?

They’re sure going to try. According to Variety, they have picked up a live action/animated film titled Animated American. Zemeckis will serve as producer through ImageMovers and Landscape Entertainment, and Peter Ackerman (Ice Age) is writing the script.

The story is about a teen misfit (is there any other kind?) who is out at sea, and comes home to find that his girlfriend has bailed on him. The trauma forces him to do some heavy soul-searching and try to find himself. Sounds like a pretty generic tale, except that he will be animated, while the world around him will be live-action.

Now if only he could find his very own Jessica Rabbit for a rebound romp…but this is, after all, a Disney film. With all the heavy technology involved, expect the film to come out no sooner than late 2007 or 2008.