In following up Rio — and, more importantly, moving a little bit away from the never-ceasing Ice Age franchise — Blue Sky Studios have started to lock talent for an animated adventure with the (seemingly, hopefully) appropriate title of Epic. We had first heard of this film about ten months ago, when it was known as Leafmen — one I prefer, but who cares — though, now, the title has been changed, the cast has been signed, and the plot has been filled out.

The voice talent and character lineup will consist of, in no particular order, Colin Farrell (Ronin), Josh Hutcherson (Nod), Beyonce Knowles (Queen Tara), Amanda Seyfried (Mary Katherine), Aziz Ansari (Mub), Jason Sudeikis (Bomba), Johnny Knoxville (Mandrake), Pitbull (Bufo), Steven Tyler (Nim Galuu), Judah Friedlander, and Blake Anderson. Save for people who contributed songs to Men in Black III, that’s a fairly decent collection at play.

Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Robots) will direct the film, which revolves around “a teenaged girl [who] finds herself magically transported into [a] secret universe” that holds “a battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and evil.” Being an outsider with some new perspective — or something like that; I’m guessing — it’s required that she join forces with “a rag-tag team of fun and whimsical characters to save that world, which in turn saves the real world.”

You can detect the DNA of many, many fantasy films in those few sentences alone, and the typically… let’s say, baseline reaction Blue Sky Films inspire with has me anticipating something totally innocuous. Yet I suppose that, sometimes, innocuous can bring entertainment value.

Epic will open on May 24th, 2013.

Are you impressed with this cast, or where Epic is going with its story?