I love talking animals as much as the next guy, but does Steve Buscemi always have to play some kind of toothy rodent? Actually, it's possible he only did that once, for Charlotte's Web (I'm not sure what kind of animal he is in Home on the Range). But wasn't that enough? Sure, he kinda looks rodent-like, but I'm sure he has the range when we're not looking at his mug. Anyway, according to The Hollywood Reporter, this time around it's a hamster named Bucky, who Buscemi will provide his voice for in the Disney movie G-Force. As we told you a few months back, G-Force is a Jerry Bruckheimer production that mixes live-action and computer animation and is about a group of genetically enhanced commando guinea pigs who have to stop an evil billionaire with world-domination dreams. Other voices will be provided by Nicolas Cage, as a mole named Speckles, and Tracy Morgan, as a guinea pig named Blaster.

As for the live-action roles, new to the cast are Bill Nighy, as an industrialist, and Will Arnett, as an FBI agent. And thank goodness for them, because the actors previously brought on to appear in the movie were too obscure for me to handle. They included Gabriel Casseus (Black Hawk Down) , Zach Galifianakis (Into the Wild), Kelli Garner (The Aviator) and Jack Conley (Fun With Dick and Jane). I know in a movie like this it's all about the talking animals, but with Nighy we've got ourselves a real movie. And with Arnett we have a funnier movie. Bruckheimer told THR that this will be another movie to be enjoyed by everyone "from the smallest kid to the oldest grandparent." He also pointed out that the movie's director, Oscar-winning visual effects master Hoyt Yeatman, came up with the idea with his son. From there it was apparently passed on to National Treasure screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley (aka The Wibberleys). G-Force is currently in production and expects a May 2009 release (Just a hint to Bruckheimer: it might make sense to add an extra dimension to this movie, since I think everything else animated coming out that month is going to be in 3D).

Before anyone gets too excited, I should clarify: Jerry Bruckheimer will not be remaking the classic anime Battle of The Planets. Variety reports that Gabriel Casseus (Black Hawk Down) has joined the cast of G-Force, a mix of live action and CGI about "a group of genetically enhanced animal commandos trying to prevent an evil billionaire from taking over the world. Casseus will play an NSA agent who is trying to track down the commandos". The actor has also already sold his script for the action film, Bone Deep, which he will produce and, additionally will take a stab at directing the horror-comedy Boyz in the Wood (and it might just be me, but that sounds awfully similar to the 'urban horror' flick Tales from The Hood released back in 1995).

Bruckheimer has been working on the family-friendly action flick since 2004, but his previous engagements -- mainly Pirates of The Caribbean sequels -- have kept the mega-producer bus for the last few years. Now it looks like G-Force is getting the green light for a Summer 2009 release (previous reports even had Disney putting the brakes on the third installment of Narnia to focus on the action flick instead). Already signed to direct G-Force is Hoyt Yeatman, a Visual Effects Supervisor, who will make his directorial debut. Yeatman is an Oscar winner who has worked on everything from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension to the Underdog update released back in August. G-Force is scheduled for release on May 1st, 2009.

*Correction: Image has been updated.