Two-time Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor John Dykstra is set to make his directorial debut on "Tortoise and Hippo" for Walden Media and Relevant Entertainment.

"It's a dream come true," Dykstra said. "The biggest thing to me is that having waited this long (to direct a feature) has provided me with an understanding of how films are made, and the critical component is collaboration. I'm really looking forward to telling this tale in the company of such a great team."

"Tortoise and Hippo" is based on a real-life event scripted by "Shrek" co-writer Roger S.H. Schulman. Relevant Entertainment partner Mike Menchel is producing the film based on a wire-service photo discovered by his children in a newspaper. The widely circulated photo documented a baby hippo and 100-year-old tortoise comforting each other at a wildlife sanctuary in 2004 after being rescued from the Indian Ocean in the wake of the Asian tsunami.

"The actual event that inspired the movie captured the imagination of the world," Walden Media executive vp production Alex Schwartz said. "We're going to create a movie inspired by it that we hope can tell a story everyone can relate to, which is that you can be different but still belong to the same family."

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the With & the Wardrobe" director Andrew Adamson is in final negotiations to produce the live-action and photo-real computer-animated film, which like "Narnia" will present stylized animals existing in a human world.

"John Dykstra is the wizard behind some of the best special effects magic we've seen in the past 20 years," Schwartz said. "What singled him out beyond that was that he has a tremendous sense of character and story."

Producers are aiming for a 2007 release.

Dykstra's cinema-technology prowess dates back to 1977 on George Lucas' "Star Wars," for which he built the first computer-operated motion-control camera system and won an Oscar for best visual effects. He since has been nominated three times and won best visual effects last year for "Spider-Man 2."

"It's funny because I've gone through a long career that started in '75," Dykstra said. "I've had the opportunity to direct a couple of movies, and I've directed lots of commercials. But I'd say since '85, directing a feature is something that I wanted to do; I just haven't understood the movies offered to me, or it was a case where the visual effects came before the story, which never interested me."

Dykstra said Adamson's success on "Narnia" helped open the door for Dykstra to consider better scripts. Adamson also has a storied background in computer animation and visual effects and went on to successfully direct a live-action feature.

"I guess I'm a little more marketable now," Dykstra said. "From my point of view, (Adamson) is someone who is a friend and a respected colleague whom I will be able to really collaborate with on this movie."

One of the director's main challenges will be depicting the tsunami onscreen, which brings with it computer-graphic and storytelling challenges.

"The tsunami is a critical component in the telling of this story," Dykstra said. "It's a sensitive storytelling issue."

Menchel will oversee the pic with Walden execs Schwartz, Jackie Levine and Jared Mass.

Relevant has a publishing deal for a tie-in book with the children's division of Penguin Books.

Jim Meenaghan and Tommy Finkelstein negotiated on behalf of Walden.

Dykstra is repped by the Gersh Agency.