But the good news for Jim Cummings fans is that he plays Jonah Hex in these motion comics so fans will definitely want to check them out.

The first episode is available right now from Amazon where you can also subscribe to the entire season and automatically get every episode as they come out. It’s also available from places like iTunes so wherever you prefer to get your digital media, an episode is only a buck so you can’t go wrong!

Jim Cummings has three, count ‘em, three new songs on the CD which just came out today and is available for purchase here.

Of course, all the hip kids prefer to download music today so, of course, you have that option too.

After a few plays, I really love these songs so I recommend giving them a listen. Preview Jim Cummings’ songs below.

Q: I had the pleasure of interviewing Ray’s animator Mike Surrey a few months back. He said Jim Cummings made his job easy. What made you choose him for Ray? 

John Musker: Jim Cummings was a riot to work with. We have worked with him in the past but what we didn’t know was that he had spent years in New Orleans where he worked alongside Cajuns whose speech patterns he picked up.

Q: Being a Louisiana native, it’s eerie and extremely entertaining how well you got the Cajun character down. Was there a lot of research involved in Raymond and the film as a whole?

John Musker: We wanted to do right by Louisiana and the culture there including the great Cajun populace. John Lasseter really wanted authenticity, so we took several trips down there. We met with a number of people including a man named Reggie who was our bayou tour guide. We noted his speech patterns, and picked up more phrases at jazz Fest. We also did research where we read stories written in a “Cajun” voice and found Cajun glossaries online. Best of all though, we cast Jim Cummings as our firefly. When he auditioned, he did a great Cajun accent and we learned he had a home there for several years and had worked with Cajuns in the Merchant marines. He was able to improvise in his Cajun speak, so he added a lot of flavor to our gumbo.

You can pre-order your copy today!

You can read all the reviews as they come in over at Rotten Tomatoes.

But I want to know what YOU think! Did you see the movie? Did you like it? Let us know and share your thoughts below!

I have been trying for a while to get my streaming audio player to work and I just can’t get it to cooperate so I am posting these on the honor system. These are meant for you to listen to as a preview so listen to them and enjoy but then, please, delete the file and support Jim Cummings’ career by purchasing the music yourself.

Gonna Take You There
performed by Jim Cummings featuring Terrance Simien on Accordion

Ma Belle Evangeline
performed by Jim Cummings featuring Terence Blanchard on Trumpet

If anyone knows of a good plugin or other tool for posting audio on WordPress, please let me know. The search has been frustrating!

But, unfortunately, an extended clip of the film that was displayed at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this weekend brought the controversy back to the forefront.

The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, or CODOFIL, a state agency charged with the protection and promotion of French in Louisiana, is taking issue with the portrayal of a Cajun character in the film, a toothless, lovesick firefly voiced by former New Orleans resident and preeminent voiceover actor Jim Cummings.

“It’s a continuation of the stereotyping of Cajun people, which is inaccurate,” CODOFIL President Warren Perrin said of the character this week from his Lafayette law office. “It has been done in so many movies over so much time, people think that’s the way we are — and it’s just wrong. I can list several other movies where they have portrayed us as backward, toothless, illiterate people who fart.”

This week, Perrin sent a letter to Robert Iger, the president and CEO of the Walt Disney Co., expressing his concerns and offering his organization’s free assistance in answering “any questions the movie’s producers, directors and promoters might have regarding the Cajun people, as well as south Louisiana history and culture in general,” according to a draft of the letter provided by Perrin.

Throughout, the letter maintains that same cordial tone, while pointing out that derogatory portrayals of Cajuns wound “the pride and morale of all ethnic groups.”
The movie poster for ‘The Princess and the Frog.’

A studio spokeswoman said the letter had been “referred to the appropriate office at Disney,” although Disney officials had not responded as of Friday.

Of the footage released so far by Disney, the Cajun firefly character — named Ray — figures prominently in only a few seconds of a short teaser trailer. (Watch it at the official “Princess and the Frog” site.)

Set against the backdrop of a beautifully lit French Quarter, he flits into the frame as the movie’s Princess Tiana agonizes over the idea of kissing a frog, prince or no. Ray points a thumb at the couple and says to the camera in a heavy Cajun accent, “Oh, ho! Look like this gonna take some time!”

His jagged, jack-o-lantern smile never shows more than eight or so teeth.

With a Dr. John song as musical accompaniment, the sleepy-eyed Ray then buzzes over to a neighboring building that has a sign emblazoned with the movie’s title. “That’s a catchy title right there,” he says, before a Dr. John lyric — “Dreams do come true in New Orleans” — brings the trailer to a close.

Perrin acknowledged that he is basing his judgment on only a tiny piece of film, but he said if his objections help head off a potential insult to Cajuns, then it’s worth it. “I’m simply saying, ‘Let me help you not make a mistake,’” Perrin said.

[SOURCE]

The article continues on to discuss the controversies that the lead character is not “black enough” (their words, not mine), the anger over her job as a chambermaid (which Disney has since changed) and the multi-racial couple.

The various organizations involved are petitioning to get Disney to change the character or remove him from the film. While I hope they do not remove his work from the film, if everyone is going to jump all over every new clip, it might be best.

What do you think? Are you offended by the firefly?

Let me also remind you that I am a huge Jim Cummings fan. I know that this role is important for him both because it is a pretty large, new role for him in a time when he’s mostly been sitting back and only playing his standard characters (Pooh, Tigger, etc) and we already know that he said this role is his favorite in his career. There are both big things for him and big news for us fans.

The official trailer was released a few days ago (as I tweeted when it came out) and I immediately popped over to Apple to watch it in High Definition. If you haven’t done so already, I recommend visiting http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/princessandthefrog/ to do so. My pumped level for this movie was high as heck.

So, taking all of that into account, what I am about to say is going to be total blasphemy but here we go.

I didn’t think it looked very good. This has got to be the first Disney animated trailer I have ever seen that I didn’t think looked good. Mind you, their trailer department is really good. They have made many a terrible movie look good in the trailer. But my reaction after seeing this trailer was just disappointment. It just looks…dumb.

Now, I am willing to reserve judgment until I see the film. Maybe they just did a terrible job with the trailer and the movie is really awesome. But I must say, after seeing this trailer, instead of getting me more excited, my spirits are a little dampened. The frog prince was so smarmy. I hope he’s not like that all movie, I will smack him. And the “funny” parts were…not funny. I actually rolled my eyes twice. That is never a good sign. I laugh at paint drying. Well, I do if it’s a funny color.

I hate to be a Debbie Downer but this is just my honest opinion. Am I alone in this? Did you think the movie looked awesome?

Let me know below.

In the original Disney movie, The Jungle Book, King Louie was a Disney invention as he was not in the original book. He was played by jazz singer Louis Prima.

After Prima’s death, the character of Louie, as we fans know, was taken over by Jim Cummings who played him in TaleSpin and other projects.

But here is the part that I didn’t know until recently. Jim Cummings’ performance and impression of Louis Prima’s voice was good, so good in fact that Louis Prima’s widow sued Disney for unauthorized use of her husband’s voice. Now, of course, Disney wasn’t using her husband’s voice but rather Jim Cummings’ voice and the matter was settled out of court. But in deference to this, King Louie has not appeared in any future projects including The Jungle Book 2 or House of Mouse(where a King Larry appeared instead).

So King Louie fans won’t get any new content from that character because, darn him, Jim Cummings was just too good!

If you visit the Cult of Cummings website (for those of you reading in a feed reader), the random quote sidebar spot has been updated to include some of the great quotes from this interview.

One part of the interview I wanted to specifically call your attention to, though, is this part. When asked if he had a favorite character, Jim replied:

I have a brand new favorite for a Disney animated feature coming out next Christmas called The Princess and the Frog. I’m Ray the singing Cajun firefly. New Orleans is my second hometown. I was a deckhand on a riverboat there when I was 18, so I have that Cajun accent down pat. Ray is a lovesick firefly who’s near-sighted and falls in love with the Evening Star. Of course, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger will always be favorites of mine too.

So I think its interesting to note that however large the controversy about The Princess and the Frog‘s firefly may be, Jim Cummings himself is either unaware of it or doesn’t care and still cites the character as a favorite. I think its interesting as well that he says he has the accent down pat when that is what most people were focusing on as being racist. Just confirms my idea that it’s not racist if the name grew up there!

There are also some great little tidbits on how Jim creates a character and about meeting Mark Hamill and working on Comic Book the movie which is worth a look. Overall a great interview, better than most so thanks goes out to the Star Wars team for it!

Best Animated Television Production

* King of the Hill – 20th Century Fox TV
* Moral Orel – ShadowMachine
* Phineas and Ferb – Disney Television Animation
* Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II – ShadowMachine
* The Simpsons – Gracie Films/Fox TV

There is a lot of really good stuff up there. I am going to have to give this crown to King of the Hill, though. It’s the last year for that show AND Mike Judge is up for a special award that night so I think this might be a lock for Hank Hill and crew.

Or you with me on this? Or am I totally off base?

Best Animated Short Subject

* Glago’s Guest – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Hot Dog – Bill Plympton Studio
* Presto – Pixar Animation Studios
* Sebastian’s Voodoo – Joaquin Baldwin
* Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death – Aardman Animations Ltd.

Presto was one of the funniest things I have ever seen but I am going to go against my own advice and pick against Pixar this time. I just don’t think that Presto is up to their usual caliber though I think the silliness of it really balanced out the heavy Wall-E well. I am thinking that clay will win the day for Wallace & Gromit here.

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production

* Batman: Gotham Knight – Warner Bros. Animation
* Christmas Is Here Again – Easy To Dream Entertainment
* Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
* Justice League: The New Frontier – Warner Bros. Animation
* The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning – DisneyToon Studios

I am really picking blind on this category so I am going to need some help from you guys on this. I think its safe to say, with all apologies to Jim Cummings, that The Little Mermaid doesn’t have a chance in heck. Batman is solid gold this year but that doesn’t mean it will translate into the animated realm. I’m going to pick Futurama. I didn’t watch this special but I was told by friends it was the best of these.

What do you think is going to win it? Or, better yet, what else doesn’t have a chance in heck of winning?

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children

* A Miser Brothers Christmas – Warner Bros. Animation
* Avatar: The Last Airbender – Nickelodeon
* Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios
* The Mighty B! – Nickelodeon
* Underfist: Halloween Bash – Cartoon Network Studios

This list makes me feel really old. I have only ever even heard of 2 of these and only actually watched an episode of one of them (Foster’s). I’m going to go with Avatar because all the hip kids like it these days.

Best Animated Video Game

* Dead Space – Electronic Arts
* Kung Fu Panda – Activision
* Wall•E – Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.

This one is really easy. This goes to Dead Space. As the only video game actually designed to be a video game int he first place, it has a big advantage over the cheesy movie-tie in games.

Not to get off topic but remember how awesome movie-tie in games used to me? Aladdin for Sega Gensis or Super Nintendo was money! ABABABABABA I say to you and if you don’t heard me, you aren’t a level skipper. (I only skip levels on re-plays, naturally)

As for the rest of the list, it’s a lot of Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E as you would expect.

The Annie’s will be held on Friday, January 30, 2009. So, who is your money on to win? (my predictions are forthcoming)

The full list of nominees are below:

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

* Bolt – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Kung Fu Panda – DreamWorks Animation
* $9.99 – Sherman Pictures/Lama Films
* Wall•E – Pixar Animation Studios
* Waltz With Bashir – Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production

* Batman: Gotham Knight – Warner Bros. Animation
* Christmas Is Here Again – Easy To Dream Entertainment
* Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
* Justice League: The New Frontier – Warner Bros. Animation
* The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning – DisneyToon Studios

Best Animated Short Subject

* Glago’s Guest – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Hot Dog – Bill Plympton Studio
* Presto – Pixar Animation Studios
* Sebastian’s Voodoo – Joaquin Baldwin
* Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death – Aardman Animations Ltd.

Best Animated Television Commercial

* Giant Monster – Curious Pictures
* Long Legs Mr. Hyde – Curious Pictures
* Rotofugi: The Collectors – Screen Novelties
* Sarah – Z Animation
* United Airlines “Heart” – Duck Studios

Best Animated Television Production

* King of the Hill – 20th Century Fox TV
* Moral Orel – ShadowMachine
* Phineas and Ferb – Disney Television Animation
* Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II – ShadowMachine
* The Simpsons – Gracie Films/Fox TV

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children

* A Miser Brothers Christmas – Warner Bros. Animation
* Avatar: The Last Airbender – Nickelodeon
* Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios
* The Mighty B! – Nickelodeon
* Underfist: Halloween Bash – Cartoon Network Studios

Best Animated Video Game

* Dead Space – Electronic Arts
* Kung Fu Panda – Activision
* Wall•E – Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

* Alen Lai “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
* Li-Ming Lawrence Lee “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Fangwei Lee “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa” – DreamWorks Animation
* Kevin Lee “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Enrique Vila “Wall•E” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production

* James Baxter “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Jeff Gabor “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
* Philippe Le Brun “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Victor Navone “Wall•E” – Pixar Animation Studios
* Dan Wagner “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form

* Sandro Cleuzo “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
* Joshua A. Jennings “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine
* Pierre Perifel “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

* Valerie Hadida “Igor” – Exodus Film Group
* Sang Jun Lee “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
* Nico Marlet “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Bryan Arnett – Mighty B! “Bat Mitzah Crashers” – Nickelodeon
* Ben Balistreri – Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Mondo Coco” – Cartoon Network Studios
* Sean Galloway “The Spectacular Spider-Man” – Sony Pictures Television
* Jorge Gutierrez – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “The Good, The Bad, The Tigre” – Nickelodeon
* Nico Marlet “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

* Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures
* Ari Folman “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
* Tatia Rosenthal “$9.99” – Sherman Pictures/ Lama Films
* John Stevenson & Mark Osborne “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Andrew Stanton “Wall•E” – Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Bob Anderson – The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XIX” – Gracie Films/Fox TV
* Joaquim Dos Santos – Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” – Nickelodeon
* Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti – Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” – Cartoon Network Studios
* Chris McKay – Moral Orel “Passing” – ShadowMachine
* Alan Smart – SpongeBob SquarePants “Penny Foolish” – Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production

* Kevin Manthei – “Batman: Gotham Knight” – Warner Bros. Animation
* John Powell – “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios
* Max Richter – “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
* William Ross – “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures
* Hans Zimmer & John Powell – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Carl Finch & Brave Combo – Click and Clack’s “As the Wrench Turns” – CTTV Productions
* Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell – “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
* Kevin Kiner – “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence” – Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
* Guy Moon – Back at the Barnyard “Cowman: The Uddered Avenger” – Nickelodeon/Omation
* Guy Michelmore – “Growing Up Creepie: Rockabye Freakie” – Taffy Entertainment LLC

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

* Ralph Eggleston “Wall•E” – Pixar Animation Studios
* Paul Felix “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Tang Heng “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Evgeni Tomov “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures
* Raymond Zibach “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Andy Harkness “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Tang Heng “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
* Seonna Hong – The Mighty B! “Bee Patients” – Nickelodeon
* Dan Krall – Chowder “The Heavy Sleeper” – Cartoon Network Studios
* Raymond Zibach “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

* Alessandro Carloni – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Ronnie Del Carmen – “Wall•E” – Pixar Animation Studios
* Joe Mateo “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Jen Yuh Nelson – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Rob Stevenhagen – “The Tale Of Despereaux” – Universal Pictures

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Butch Hartman – Fairly OddParents “Mission: Responsible” – Nickelodeon
* Andy Kelly – Ni Hao, Kai-Lan “Twirly Whirly Flyers” – Nickelodeon Productions/Nelvana
* Andy Schuler – “Secret of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
* Eddie Trigueros “The Mighty B! “Name Shame”– Nickelodeon
* Chris Williams “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

* Ben Burtt – Voice of Wall•E – “Wall•E” – Pixar Animation Studios
* Dustin Hoffman – Voice of Shifu – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* James Hong – Voice of Mr. Ping – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Ian McShane – Voice of Tai Lung – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Mark Walton – Voice of Rhino – “Bolt” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Ahmed Best – Voice of Jar Jar Binks – “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine
* Seth MacFarlane – Voice of Peter Griffin – Family Guy “I Dream of Jesus” – Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions
* Dwight Schultz – Voice of Mung Daal – Chowder “Apprentice Games” – Cartoon Network Studios

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

* Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger – “Kung Fu Panda” – DreamWorks Animation
* Etan Cohen and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath – “Madagascar:Escape 2 Africa” – DreamWorks Animation
* Ari Folman – “Waltz With Bashir” – Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
* Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio – “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who” – Blue Sky Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form

* Joel H. Cohen – The Simpsons “The Debarted” – Gracie Films/Fox TV
* Scott Kreamer – El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “Mustache Love” – Nickelodeon
* Paul McEvoy and Todd Berger – “Secrets of the Furious Five” – DreamWorks Animation
* Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells – “Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II” – ShadowMachine
* Chris Williams – “Glago’s Guest” – Walt Disney Animation Studios

JURIED AWARDS

* Winsor McCay recipients – Mike Judge, John Lasseter and Nick Park for career contributions to the art of animation
* June Foray award – Bill Turner for significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation
* Certificate of Merit award – Amir Avini, Mike Fontanelli, Kathy Turner, Alex Vassilev