Film Review #45: The Princess and the Frog

Wait.  2D Animation is back?  "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" screamed SimbaKing94, fanboying out like crazy.

Yes, The Princess and the Frog was more than just a return to the fairy tale form Disney was known best for, but also a return to 2D animation, the first since 2004.  Not only that, but it was also a return to the musical.  While I'm not a big fan of Randy Newman, his voice isn't in this movie.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's go over the plot.

Plot: Down on the streets of New Orleans, a young woman named Tiana waitresses tables on the way to her dream of owning a restaurant.  Meanwhile, a Prince from a foreign country arrives supposedly seeking a wife, but wanting to party.  He gets conned by an evil shadow man and is transformed into a frog.

At a friend's ball, the prince arrives and convinces Tiana that if she kisses him, he would return to human form and help finance Tiana's dream.  But when she kisses the frog, she transforms into one herself.  Now, the two must seek the help of the voodoo witch Mama Odie and return to their human selves, while the shadow man plots to become the King of Mardis Gras.

What's Bad?: Perhaps the plot of this movie becomes a little too deep too fast.  I won't give anything away, but let's just say that there is a strong chance you will get as confused as Charlotte does when Naveen explains it to her.

What's Good?: The songs are back to being Disney Songs and not just pop songs Disney threw in to make money.  My personal favorite is the evil shadow man's song "Friends on the Other Side", which is the first major villain song since "Hellfire"

Tiana, like Ariel did before her, updated the Disney Princess motif, making her as much a hard worker as a dreamer.  In fact, Tiana gives up on magic side and focuses entirely on working hard for her goal, like her father did.  And while the side characters are perhaps overly developed, they are still likable, particularly Charlotte, who is hands down the funniest character in a Disney movie since Yzma and Kronk.

Overall: The first film since Lilo and Stitch to be considered a Walt Disney Classic, The Princess and the Frog is a sheer delight from start to finish.  But audiences were not yet convinced that a new age of animation was back.  It would take a few more years for audiences to fully come back and embrace Disney, but a new bright era had just begun.

Report Card:

Hero:                          84
Heroine:                     96
Villain:                       100
Side Characters:        86
Songs:                         90
Musical Score:           82
Animation:                  100
Special Effects:          100
Story:                          80
Themes:                     94

Final Grade:              91