Jared Hess to Direct Disney's THE PET

Coming off of the success of the Napoleon Dynamite animated series on FOX, writer/director Jared Hess is planning a return to the silver screen, teaming for the first time with Walt Disney Pictures. Hess' next project will be the sci-fi family comedy adventure The Pet.

The film is centered on an ordinary man who is abducted by aliens and made the "family pet." Apparently, the film has been a "pet project" (no pun intended) for Academy Award-winning producer Scott Rudin and director David Silverman (The Simpsons Movie, Monsters, Inc.). Previous writers include Matt Lieberman (Short Circuit) and Tim Downing (This Means War), though Hess is expected to take over writing duties as well as to direct the film. I know this idea is nothing new because I read this same story as a book. I tried looking for the name of it, but I can't find it. All I know is that it wasn't a man, it was a boy, and the aliens were giant dogs. That's all I remember.

However, I am glad to see that Disney is now starting to hire talented directors for their projects - Sam Raimi (Oz: The Great and Powerful), Shane Black (Iron Man 3), Edgar Wright (The Night Stalker), Jon Favreau (Magic Kingdom), and Guillermo del Toro (The Haunted Mansion). I know that a Jungle Cruise movie is in the works with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen to star, and I think it would be cool to get John Lasseter to direct it because nobody knows the ride better than he does (and he's worked with both actors already). Will Hess be able to keep this movie on a leash or should this Pet be put down?