The Princess and the Frog
| The Princess and the Frog | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 She's almost there!
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 49th Disney animated feature film, the film is loosely based on the novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, which is in turn based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Frog Prince.
Plot
Tiana dreams of one day opening the finest restaurant in New Orleans. Her dream takes a slight detour when she meets Prince Naveen, who has been turned into an amphibian by evil Dr. Facilier. Mistaking her for a princess and hoping to break the spell, Naveen plants a kiss on poor Tiana, thereby turning her into a frog as well. The pair hop along on an adventure through the bayous to seek the help of a powerful voodoo priestess to reverse the curse.
Why It's Almost There
- It's marked as Disney's welcoming return to traditional animation, as it was the studio's first traditionally animated film since Home on the Range.
- The Disney animation has the right tools to create the modern-day fairy tale, like most Laugh-O-Grams cartoons of the 1920s.
- A throwback of Disney animated films of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and to some extent, even the Disney Renaissance films.
- The voice acting is well done, especially by Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, John Goodman, and even Keith David (who also portrayed Childs in The Thing, Thel 'Vadam in the Halo series, Streaming in Regular Show, President Curtis in Rick and Morty, Julius Little and the fictionalized version of his voice actor in the Saints Row series, King Andrias in Amphibia, and later, Husk in Hazbin Hotel).
- Tiana is known for being Disney’s first black Disney princess ever.
- The traditional animation is very beautiful and well-improved. It is the first (and so far, only) traditionally animated film in the Disney Animated Canon to be animated digitally using paperless animation techniques such as Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony software.
- Unlike most Disney animated films of the 1990s, which are composed by Alan Menken, Randy Newman does the jazzy, 1920s-like soundtrack with modern-day fashions.
- Smooth CGI effects.
- It stayed faithful to the 1920s setting.
- Catchy and unforgettable songs like, Almost There, Friends on the Other Side, When We're Human, and Dig a Little Deeper.
- For Dr. Facilier's death, Tiana breaks his talisman.
- Likable and entertaining characters Tiana, Naveen, Mama Odie, and the comic reliefs, Louis and Ray. Also, Dr. Facilier is an awesome villain.
- Ray's death is a very emotional scene, and Dr. Facilier's death is very chilling.
- Most of the jokes are funny.
- "They got guns!"
Bad Qualities
- It's pretty much formulaic and cliched being no different from other Disney films based on a fairy tale. That said, the story is set in modern New Orleans instead of the Renaissance era, but it still doesn't change the cliches.
- The story does get complicated at times.
- Some of the jokes are weak at best as most of the humor consists of butt jokes.
- Some racist and politically incorrect references and jokes from time to time.
- It can get dark at times.
Reception
The Princess and the Frog received largely positive reviews from critics and audiences, praising the animation (particularly the revival of the medium), characters, music, and themes. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has an 85% approval rating based on 200 reviews, with an average rating of 7.40/10. The site's consensus is that "The warmth of traditional Disney animation makes this occasionally lightweight fairy-tale update a lively and captivating confection for the holidays.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Trivia
- The story for The Princess and the Frog began development by merging two separate projects that were being developed at Disney and Pixar at the time, both based around the fairy tale of “The Frog Prince.”
- The film marked a return to a hand-drawn movie. Disney had originally announced that 2004’s Home on the Range would be their final traditionally animated film – but that decision was reversed when new leadership was brought in to run Disney Animation Studios. Many of the animators were brought back to help with the film.
- Contrary to popular belief, this wasn’t Disney’s last hand-drawn film. The last one is Winnie the Pooh (2011). Although they have thought of doing one again, such has yet to surface.
- Anika Noni Rose – the voice of Tiana – requested that the New Orleans-based heroine be left-handed, just like her.
- Directors Ron Clements and John Musker also directed Aladdin and The Little Mermaid for Disney, and both movies are referenced in this film. The magic carpet, genie’s lamp, and King Triton all make brief appearances in the movie. Also, Clements and Musker have cameos in the film as animated versions of themselves dressed as fish, throwing beads in the Mardi Gras parade.
- The character of Tiana was inspired in part by famed restaurateur Leah Chase, whom directors Ron Clements and John Musker met on a research trip to New Orleans. Chase was known as the Queen of Creole Cuisine and co-owned the historic New Orleans restaurant Dooky Chase.
- In addition to appearing as the mysterious and magical Mama Odie in The Princess and the Frog, Jennifer Lewis also provided the voice of Professor Granville in Big Hero 6: The Series and the voice of Flo in Pixar's Cars.
- Originally, the trumpet-playing alligator, Louis, was written as a human with a passion for music, who had gone to Dr. Facilier to gain the ability to play the trumpet – but when Dr. Facilier granted his wish, he also turned Louis into a gator. The story idea was dropped when the filmmakers decided the subplot would be too complicated.
- The film received three Academy Award nominations – one for Best Animated Feature and two for Best Original Song for “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans” – both written by Randy Newman.
- Bruce W. Smith, the creator of The Proud Family, worked on this film as mentioned in the Trivia in the now-closed Best Shows & Episodes Wiki.