Over two decades after “The Proud Family” wrapped up its initial run on Disney Channel, creator Bruce W. Smith is breathing new life into the beloved characters with a stop-motion Christmas special, titled “A Proud Family Wizmas.”
In an exclusive video from TheWrap, Smith and EP Ralph Farquhar take viewers behind the scenes of bringing the Proud family to stop-motion for the special, which drops Nov. 14 on Disney+.
Described as a song-filled, stop-motion holiday special, “A Proud Family Wizmas” marks one of the first times the time-held tradition of a stop-motion holiday special has been brought to the Black community.
“Some of the best projects made for the holiday are always stop motion, so it just felt natural that our characters could fit into this world, ’cause we haven’t had that,” Smith said. “We haven’t had an African American animated stop-mo Christmas special, so I think once that idea kind of popped in our head, we thought it was just kind of a great automatic fit.”
The special follows Penny Proud after she inadvertently destroys Christmas as we know it and then reluctantly agrees to make things right and save Christmas for the children of Emilyville and the world, per the official logline.
“‘The Proud Family’ special is our Wizmas Carol to the culture that we hope will live year after year right next to ‘Miracle on 34th Street,’ ‘Elf’ and ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,’” Farquhar said.
“We feel our culture has been waiting for and deserves our own nostalgic holiday animated classic,” Smith added.
Kyla Pratt returns to voice Penny Proud, alongside cast members Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud, Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud, JoMarie Payton as Suga Mama, Cedric the Entertainer as Uncle Bobby, Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones, Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer, Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez, Carlos Mencia as Felix Boulevardez, Alvaro Gutierrez as Papi, Raquel Lee Bolleau as Nubia Gross and Melissa De Sousa as Sunset Boulevardez.
Guest stars for the special include Anderson .Paak, Lil Rel Howery, JB Smoove, Karlous Miller, Tone Loc, Earthquake, Luenell and Affion Crockett. Gabrielle Union also returns as a guest star to voice Talia Rogue.
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