Animation Scoop got a sneak peek of Disney’ magical fantasy comedy, Hexed (November 25), which included 30 minutes of footage (a hand-drawn prologue of casting out witches done with shadow puppets, breaking free from conformity and restrictions, and finding adventure and meaning in the witches haven of Hexe), as well as animated presentations.

Hexed, directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn (Wish) and Jason Hand (Moana 2), co-directed by Josie Trinidad (Zootopia+), and produced by Roy Conli (Big Hero 6) and Yvett Merino (Encanto), follows rebellious, combat boot-wearing teen Billie (Hailee Steinfeld), who lives in dull Plainsville with her cautious and overly protective mom Alice (Rashida Jones).

However, when Billie discovers secret magical powers, she travels to the wondrous kingdom of Hexe, where, with her mom, they unlock family mysteries. They are guided by an eccentric, three-eyed green cat named  B.R. Crummchuk (Walton Goggins), and run up against the villainous queen of the witches, Celeste (Jodie Foster, making her voice-over debut).

We learned from the filmmakers about leveraging legacy while exploring something new. For example, production designer Lorelay Bové focused mostly on the so-called Bronze-Age of Disney (1970-1988) for inspiration: Hexe has an architectural shape language of triangular and square buildings complemented by warm and colorful embellishment from nature.

“The Sword and the Stone, obviously, was a huge inspiration for us, stylistically,” Hand said. “I love the fun of that and it has this incredible style and design sense to it, but it also has a lot of comedy. Bill Peet storyboarded that incredible wizards’ duel sequence that we have gone over a million times. So that one, in particular, is one we looked at a lot early on with our animation team.”

But, for Veerasunthorn, as a kid growing up in Thailand, the early ’90s Renaissance Disney films were pivotal. Beauty and the Beast was a favorite for being immersed in far away places and entertained by magical objects. In Hexed, there’s a delightful connection to Ms. Quill’s (Tracey Ullman) enchanted feather quill pen and Elias Quire’s bewitching journal.

“When we try and put a new spin onto them, they’re a little spicier in their attitude towards Billie,”  Veerasunthorn added. “They’re not like, ‘Come into this castle and we’ll pour tea for you.’ They’re like: ‘Who are you? Do you have this condition? Do you belong here?’

“We’re all animation nerds,” she continued, “so, obviously, even Alice in Wonderland and the Doorknob was another influence. But, from a personality standpoint, and a particular take on [magic], we wanted to try something different with this mother/daughter story. Luckily, we have three mothers working in the story room, probably more. We talk about movies sometimes (one of the reasons I wanted  Hailee is because she’s so funny and kind of a mess in The Edge of Seventeen), but what I find a lot more interesting is how we all grow up and our dynamic with our moms or the struggle of wanting what’s best for our kids.”

Each character has its own magic signature and that was done initially through 2D, and then that becomes a roadblock for all the elaborate CG effects to follow as well. “Billie is more of a ‘I cannot control my sparks,” Hand explained  “It’s a bit dangerous. And Celeste is on the very opposite spectrum. She’s elegant, she’s masterful. She can wield her magic at will.”

Then there’s B.R. Crummchuk, who has a bit of sparkly in his potion making. But then they put cat hair in it as part of the poofs. “It’s so funny and so unique and special to him,” added Hand. “And his entire trailer hnas got cat hair all over it. It’s like his pixie dust.”

Not surprisingly, the cat was the most challenging to animate in terms of manipulating all of his body parts that can do magical things. First, they explored the character through 2D animation, courtesy of hand-drawn animator Tyler Pacana (who did the shadow puppets). “We told Tyler to do whatever he wanted with that test. It was so inspirational to us,” Hand said.

“The most complex [thing] that we had to deal with was that stretch of him and the arms appearing,” added Merino.” And it was something that had never been done with the rig system that we’ve just started using at the studio.”

“I’ve been through so many different iterations of our technical process,” suggested producer Conli. “New lighting systrms, new rendering systems. In this particular case, we were really able to take the tools that we had and fulfill the image of what’s on screen. But in terms of Hexe, Lorelay, our production designer, created a world that I don’t think you’ve ever seen in a Disney animated film. It’s angularity and color is just beautiful, and has her own unique style.”

But, in the end, it’s more about relationship than magic. “And that [mother-daughter] relationship becomes magic because, in essence, they each fulfill one another’s potential. And that’s what I love about this film,” added Conli.