The Flames of Love and War

FireWater would be a 2024 American hand-drawn animated romantic drama film directed by Dana Terrace in her feature directorial debut. from an screenplay co-written with ND Stevenson, Molly Ostertag, and Rachael Vine, and produced by Clark Specer and Roy Conli, while Stevenson, Terrace, and Jennifer Lee would serve as executive-producers. The film would star the voices of Erin Kellyman, Gabrielle Nevaeh, Benedict Cumbertbatch, Jim Pirri, Sarah-Nicole Robles, Zeno Robinson, Ted Raimi, and Fra Fee, while Michael Giacchino would compose the score for the film. In the film, the princesses of two kingdoms in war with each other must work together after getting lost during a battle.

Disney would announce the film during the D23 2021, with Terrace being set to write and direct the project, and Cravalho and Nevaeh set to star. The film would use hand-drawn animation because Terrace would feel "it gives the story a deeply artistic visual companion that complements it". Animators would use older Disney fims such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Fantasia 2000 (2000), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) and the works of Milt Kahl as inspiration for its visuals. The filmmakers would also consult with several former soldiers in order to show a realistic depiction of war in the film, as well as with the GLAAD in order to feature an adequate representation of lesbian characters in the film. Marc Okrand would be hired to develop the languages featured in the film.

The film would be released on November 22, 2024, and would became a critical and commercial success, grossing 1.2 billion dollars over a budget of 150 millions, and being praised for its direction, screenplay, themes, vocal performances (particularly Paquin and Page's), use of hand-drawn animation, visuals, depicition of LGBTQ+ characters, and musical score. The film would also have an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Picture and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Film, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Original Score.

Synopsis
In a far-away world, two opposite species are at war with each other: One made of fire, and one made of water, with each other seeing the other as a threat to their existence. However, the curious princess of the water realm, Aqua,and the cold and hardened princess of the fire realm, Phoenix, discover a mysterious danger that threatens the safety of both if their kingdoms. Now, the two must work together in order to save their homes. As the relationship between these princesses blossoms into love, the two realize how to finally end their kingdoms' war.

Voice cast

 * Gabrielle Nevaeh as Aqua, the princess of the water realm, who holds a lot of curiosity and excitment for anything new and different to her. Nevaeh would say that "Aqua holds an obsession with everything new that she has been told to supress, but she just can't help it, and really hates herself for that cause her dad always told her 'new is bad', but her love for Phoenix brings her some questions". Terrace would compare her to Hunter from The Owl House, as "someone who really wants the love of someone who isn't worth the trouble, but ends up finding that love with the right people". Lauren MacMullen would serve as Aqua's supervising animator.
 * Erin Kellyman as Phoenix, the princess of the fire realm, who developed a distant and hardened personality due to the war and developed a hate against the water creatures because of it. Kellyman said the film would be "Phoenix' coming of age story. Througth the film she finds out what kind of leader she will be thanks to her love for Aqua", citing the characrer's healing of PTSD as "the journey to that conclusion". Kofi Fiagome would serve as Phoenix' supervising animator.
 * Benedict Cumbertbatch as Basileus, Aqua's father and the king of the water kingdom, who fears that the fire people may one day destroy their kingdom, as he believes them to be demons. Terrace choose to have the character be "as unlikeable as possible" because she "wanted him to be scary. Villains are meant to be frighting and threatening and imposing. Not sympathetic". The character was inspired by villains from the James Bond franchise, as Terrace didn't wabyed to hide hus role as the villains but at the same time not making Aqua look unintelligent for assuming he cares for her, and she felt the "charisma and charm" of James Bond villains would allow the writers to accomplish both things. Writer Nate Stevenson would describe his bigotry as "a reflection of how he truly sees himself as: A god who thinks he can determine good and evil based on what he likes", comparing him to other Disney Villains such as Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Emperor Belos from Terrace's The Owl House. Spencer Wan would serve as Basileus' supervising animator.
 * Santino Fontana as Calidi, Phoenix's father and the king of the fire realm. Director Dana Terrace would serve as Calidi's supervising animator.
 * Alan Tudyk as Praelia, Calidi' general, servant, and personal bodyguard. Andreas Deja would serve as Praelia's supervising animator.
 * Sarah-Nicole Robles as Amica, Aqua's best friend. Eric Goldberg would serve as her supervising animation.
 * Zeno Robinson as Sodalistas, one of Aqua's friends who is fascinated with conspiracy theories. Jorge Rizo would serve as Sodalistas' supervising animator.
 * Ted Raimi as Confine, one of Aqua's friends,
 * Fra Fee as Caecus, Basilius' aide

Additionally, director Dana Terrace would provide the vocal effects for Amabilia, a creature that Aqua finds in the forest and eventually befriends. Co-writer ND Stevenson would voice Auditor, Aqua's assistant. Wendie Malick voices Curat, Phoenix' mother and Calidi's ex-wife. Stephen J. Anderson makes a cameo as a Water librarian.

Writing
Terrace worked with Nate Stevenson and The Owl House writers Molly Ostertag abd Rachel Vine on the screenplay. The writers sought to make a film that was darker and more dramatic in tone than previous Disney romance films, while still being family-friendly, so they put an emphasis on war and its effects after early screenplays underused that concept. The writing team used as a primary basis for the war the Dr. Seuss book The Butter Battle Book as well as the Amphibia episode "The Three Armies" and how both depicted conflicts escalating due to sides disliking each other.

Regarding Phoenix' arc, Terrace wrote her as "a hardened soldier who gets softer", describing her arc as "learning to love again". She worked closely with experts on PTSD to potray the condition as accuretly as possible througth her. During talks with psychiatrists, Terrace realized Phoenix' PTSD could also be used as a way for Phoenix and Aqua to bond while furthering both of their arcs, so she incorporated scenes of Aqua learning of and helping Phienix to deal with her PTSD. For the scene where they realize their feelings for each other, Terrace was inspired by the "Can You Read My Mind?" sequence from Superman.

Terrace noted the main reason for the film's existence was to diversify the Disney Princess brabd with a lesbian couple and a princess who struggles with her mental health. Whike she did wanted to explore the mental focus aspect of the film, she also wanted the lesbian relationship to be "something that just happens" and the leads being girls never being brought up im the film. Terrace also said the film's focus on war and mental health made it darker than most modern Disney films, describing it as more in line with the Disney Renaissance films of the 90s. However, she said replicating those movies wasn't the intetion, and that the dark tone was "simply the product of what we explore in this film". The filmmakers neverthless cited Tarzan (1999) as an influence regarding the film's balance of dark tone and lighthearted content. According to the writers, the film would be intnende "to be a very Disney film in a rather un-Disney way", citing the use of a cover of Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" in the ending over an original song as usual in a Disney feature film as an example of "doing typical Disney stuff but with a twist to it".

Animation
Director Dana Terrace wanted the film to be made enterily in hand-drawn animation dye to her love for traditional animation. In addition to other Disney animators, Terrace would hire previous collaborators such as Stephen Wan and Kofi Fiagome to work on the film. Regarding character designs, Terrace would use the Fantasia 2000 short "The Firebird Suite" as her main inspiration, while the film's art style would be inspired by the works of Milt Kahl, particularly One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Robin Hood, due to how "unashamed his works were of the fact that they were drawings". For the film's underwater sequences, the animators would study the work done in The Little Mermaid in order to fully capture underwater movement, while the Fire Kingdom would be modeled after the Kingdom of the Brine from Warner Bros.' Aquaman.

For the scenes where Phoenix is the main focus, the film's art style wpuld change to "something more threatening and gothic". According to Terrace, this would be to showcase how she perceives the world as following her war esperiences, since she wanted to "explore the insecurity and feeling of danger that soldiers with PTSD have" wothout having her repeteadly say it, so the animators resolved to have the art stylechange to showcase her emotional state, inspired by the successful use of multiple art styles in Sony Picture Animation's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. For the art style during those sequences, Terrace would be inspired by Tim Burton's depiction of Gotham City in Batman.

Score
Michael Giacchino, who previously compsed the score for Disney's Zootopia (2016), would compose the film's music. Giacchino would say that the film's plot would require for him to create a score that could "combine war, romance, and wonder, perfectly as one". Giacchino would call the Phoenix's theme as "a hard nut to crack", as the character would require a "hardened, warrior theme that could be used in a romantic light", througth he would describe Aqua's theme "easier to do" than Phoenix, as the character's theme would requiere a "sense of curiosity that also work as a romantic theme".

Track listing
All score tracks composed by Michael Giacchino

Songs
Melissa Etheridge and Matthew Gerrard, who previously worked on songs for Disneytoon Studios' Brother Bear 2 (2006), would write songs for the film, with Etheridge performing the songs. Director Dana Terrace would hire them because he would feel that their songs for Brother Bear 2 were "incredible", and that those songs' style would "work pretty well in FireWater". Etheridge and Gerrard would be hired for the project during early development in order to give them "plenty of time" to work on the songs for the film. Also featured in both the film and the soundtrack would be a cover and Florence + The Machines' "Dog Days Are Over". While rare for a Disney film to include a cover pf a preexisting song, Terrace choose to incorporate it after listening tonthe song and feeling it worked for the film's ending.

Track listing
All songs written by Melissa Etheridge and Matthew Gerrard and performed by Etheridge, unless noted.

Critical reception
The film would have an aproval rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 9.5/10. The critical consensus would read, "With a timely message and a modern spin on Disney's romance formula, FireWater takes Disney to a slightly more adult territory, while at the same time telling a charming romantic tale that undoubtly will drag-in the small ones." On Metacritc, the film would have an weighted average score of 91 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Short film
A 10-minutes film, titled FireWater: Between Kingdoms, would be released on March 3, 2025, as a part of the film's home-media release. Auli'l Cravalho and Gabrielle Nevaeh would reprise their roles as Aqua and Phoenix, respectively, while Dana Terrace would return as writer and director. The short would focus on Phoenix and Aqua trying to deal with the subjects of each other's kingdoms, only to find out that its a harder deal than expected, througth they refuse to ask for the other's help.

Television series
A television series set after the events of the film, titled FireWater: The Series, would premiere in August 14, 2029. Cravalho, Nevaeh, and Alan Tudyk would reprise their roles from the film, while Melissa Etheridge and Matthew Gerrard would return to write songs for the series. Set after the events of the film, the series would focus on Aqua and Phoenix struggling with both married life and their attempts to keep their kingdom unified as they face several threats. The series would be created by Dana Terrace.

Theme park attraction
A theme park attraction based on the film, titled Aqua and Phoenix's Honeymoon, would open at July 5, 2029. Described as "a crossover between Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway", the attraction would involve the guests watching a short based on FireWater focusing on Aqua and Phoenix's adventures during their honeymoon, before entering the short's story, where the guests help them fight monsters and defeat challenges inside the forest where they are.

Trivia

 * The film would mark the first time a Walt Disney Animation Studios film is directed and written by a former Disney Television Animation employee.
 * Additionally, aside from ND Stevenson, most of the film's writers would have previously worked on Terrace's TV series, The Owl House (2020-present).
 * FireWater would be Disney's first animated film to star homosexual characters.
 * According to director Dana Terrace, the reason there would be a third-year-gap between the climax and the film's ending was because he wanted a "realistic" time for Aqua and Phoenix to marry each other, as he didn't wanted to continue Disney's "married after meeting trope".
 * The film would mark the first time Christophe Beck composes an animated Disney unrelated to the Frozen franchise.

Easter eggs

 * Aqua's first scene has her rausing to the surface similarly to Ariel in The Little Mermaid after becoming human
 * The silhouette of Tamatoa from Moana (2016) would be seen among the creatures in a forest.
 * A "hidden mickey" would be seen near the start of the film, as three circular buildings in the water realm would be seen from above, making them resemble Mickey's head.
 * One of the creatures in the Water realm is a selkidamas, from Dana Terrace's The Owl House.
 * At one point, Aqua would be heard whistling to "La La Lu" from Lady and the Tramp (1955).
 * The "shark tiger" from the Mickey Mouse (2013) episode "Wonders of the Deep" would be seen briefly in the background as many ships from the water realm go to battle.
 * The Firebird from the Fantasia 2000 segment "The Firebird Suite" would make sporadic appearances througth the film as a bird in the fire realm.
 * The argument between Aqua and her father near the climax is an homage to Ariel and King Triton in The Little Mermaid.