Kingdom Hearts II gets English voice cast

The first Kingdom Hearts game was notable not just as a gaming crossover between characters from the Disney and Square Enix universes, but also as a cultural crossover with an abundance of talent from the world of film coming together to work on a game. While that particular brand of crossover is becoming more and more common these days, Disney and Square Enix are looking to assemble a silver screen-worthy voice cast for its small screen PlayStation 2 game, Kingdom Hearts II.

Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, The Country Bears), David Gallagher (7th Heaven, Angels in the Endzone), and Hayden Panettiere (Racing Stripes, Bring It On 3) will reprise the main roles of Sora, Riku, and Kairi, respectively. Backing up the three main characters of the original game is a diverse cast, including Christopher Lee (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Dracula: Prince of Darkness), Rachael Leigh Cook (Josie and the Pussycats, The House of Yes), Mena Suvari (American Beauty, American Pie), and pop singer Jesse McCartney, who was twice nominated for a Daytime Emmy for his acting work on All My Children.

A handful of Hollywood heavy hitters will also be taking up the roles of Disney characters they helped make famous. James Woods (Ghosts of Mississippi, Videodrome) will once again become Hercules' nemesis, Hades, while Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State) provides the voice of Chicken Little.

As with the first Kingdom Hearts, Japanese pop star Utada Hikaru will sing the game's theme song. Hikaru's "Sanctuary," an English version of the Japanese game's theme song "Passion," was written specifically for Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts II is set for a March 28 release in North America and will retail for $49.99. For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.