Movie Review: The Princess and the Frog

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Balanced message, fun songs, good story, great artwork

Cons: Maybe too many songs and not enough character development?

The Bottom Line:

Princess and magic

Disney goes back to its roots

Close to perfection

"There's No Way I'm Kissing a Frog and Eating a Bug on the Same Day."

Remember that shout of joy you heard when Disney announced they were returning to 2D animation?  That was me.  Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed many of the computer animated movies being produced these days, but I find hand drawn animation to be a wonderful art form.  There is something about it that is just magic.  So you'd better believe I planned my schedule to go see The Princess and The Frog on opening night.

Our story is set in jazz era New Orleans.  Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) has inherited her father's dream of opening a restaurant.  She's taken two jobs to not only pay the bills but save up enough money to buy the property she needs.  And just when it looks like her dreams will come true, they are horribly dashed.

Tiana finds herself at a masquerade ball to welcome the visiting Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos).  Alone on a balcony, she is horrified to find a frog talking to her.  The frog claims he is the prince but transformed through voodoo by Dr. Facilier (Keith David).  Tiana overcomes her revulsion to frogs to kiss him, only to find herself transformed into a frog instead of Naveen freed from his cursed form.  Then, the two find themselves in the bayou.  Can they find a way to undo the curse and return to New Orleans?

One of the things that excited me most about this story was that it was a fresh twist on the traditional fairy tale.  I mean, this isn't how the story is supposed to end.  The twist did allow us to see some of the usual Disney notes like the crazy talking animal sidekicks, but they really added to the story.  And speaking of twists, I was surprised by a few turns of the plot.

The traditional fairy tale, even as encompassed by Disney, teaches that dreams come true.  This one goes a step beyond that.  The moral here is that you must work to see our dream come true.  In fact, Tiana is contrast with a friend who spends her whole life wishing and reading fairy tales.

The other half, however, is to enjoy life.  As such, Naveen and Tiana make a great balance.  He is all fun all the time while she is all work and no play.  As you can imagine, they do have something to teach each other here, but we get the benefit of both without any preachiness.

More than any previous Disney film, I felt like I was transported to another time and place.  This was New Orleans during the 20's.  While it occasionally came through in the dialogue, it was most noticeable in the costumes and the look of the film.  The background artwork was truly beautiful.

On a related note, there were several money shots in this film.  At times I found myself sitting back and enjoying how scenes were constructed.  One moment in the swamps took my breath away.  The animators weren't just going through the motions.  They truly put their heart and soul into their work.

The Jazz Age influence also comes through in the music.  There are quite a few new songs, all of them with a definite jazz feel that makes you want to get up and dance, or tap your foot at the very least.

The voice actors are perfectly cast.  To be honest, I wasn't too familiar with many of the leads.  But the important thing is how they do, and for that it is perfect.  I got caught up in the characters, and that's the most important thing.  They do have some big names like Oprah, Terrence Howard, and John Goodman in supporting roles, and they are all great.

Considering that voodoo played a large part of the plot and the shots I had seen of the villain, I was a little concerned he might turn out to be scary.  I don't think he was that bad.  Jafar from Aladdin or Ursula from The Little Mermaid are actually scarier than he is.  Not that he's not effective as the villain.  He's just not as likely as some to give your kids nightmares.

So with all this praise, I must admit I was slightly disappointed by the film.  I'm sure part of it is because I was expecting too much from it.  I'm not sure any film could have met my overblown fan boy expectations.  And the others might have been caused by the three-year-old girl sitting next to me who insisted on talking the entire way through the film (and yet somehow I was the bad guy for being annoyed).

As much as I enjoyed the songs, there were just too many of them.  Just about every character got their own song.  While none of them were bad by themselves, they added up to too much of the movie for me.

Secondly, the predictable character transformations came too quickly.  It seemed like in one scene Tiana and Naveen were one way and the next thing you know they had changed.  While I liked how they ended the story, spending a little more time developing their changes would have made it better.

Again, I was probably expecting too much from the film.  It was certainly enjoyable, and I will add it to my collection without hesitation.

The Princess and The Frog will become a Disney classic.  And with its realistic and balanced approach to making your dreams come true, that's certainly a great thing.  I just wish a couple of things had been smoothed out before it was released.