While Close wobbled in stilettos, Lima had precarious shoes to fill, too. He'd never done live action before, but parlayed his success as codirector of Disney's ''Tarzan'' into this gig. ''Animated movies take four years of your life,'' Lima, 38, explains. ''That's when things go well. I realized that if I stayed in animation, I'd only get to make maybe two, three more movies in my lifetime.''
Despite leaving 'toons behind, Lima was determined to coax anthropomorphized expressions from his animal cast with minimal computer enhancements. ''There's a lot more dog acting in this one,'' he says. ''We're trying to get them to look more like they're thinking. Of course, all they really want to do is get to the food.'' GOOD SIGN Fabulous production values, plus sex appeal from romantic leads Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans. THEN AGAIN The finale, involving a giant cake making contraption, may seem like yesterday's pastry after the pie machine sequence in ''Chicken Run.''
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