In my humble view, it’s almost impossible to deny that 2011 was the biggest year in DreamWorks Animation’s history. Don’t believe me? Well, it happened to result in two of their films nabbing Best Animated Feature Oscar nominations — all while Kodak Theatre mainstay Pixar was passed over. They’re now moving forward with about 10 million other projects — that we don’t have the time to get into — and THR informs us of their latest endeavor.

As they say, the studio is starting development on Me and My Shadow, a new feature with Bill Hader, Kate Hudson, and Josh Gad all on board for How to Train Your Dragon story head Alessandro Carloni, who’s making his feature directing debut. The script — written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember — follows “Stan, a shadow (Hader) who yearns for a more exciting life than being attached to a timid human named Stanley Grubb (Gad). Following a crime in their world, one which puts “both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley, thrusting both of them into an adventure featuring a shadowy villain, who intends to lead a rebellion to take over the human world.” Hudson factors into all of this as “Grubb’s potential love interest in the real world.

That’s where the most interesting aspect of Me and My Shadow comes into play: the shadow world is hand-drawn (always a good sign), while the “human portions,” if you will, are set to be CG. To this extent, the ambitions of DreamWorks Animation are to “[pioneer] and create an experience not seen before.” The rest of Shadow — that is, the basic plot and character outlines — sounds like typical kid’s stuff, but even if they can’t overcome some standard script traits that may or may not seep in, I’m curious enough about the animation to look out for this one. And, hey, at least it isn’t a sequel.

Do you see any promise in Me and My Shadow, based on this early news?