Disney is my all time favorite company. I don't care about all that stupid stuff like strikes and crap they have going on outside of Disneyland. I love Disney productions and Disney stuff! I grew up on the wonderful animation with my grandpa who also adored Disney. It became a family thing. I think I've seen about every Disney movie made (save for those horrible made-for-tv films). So of course when they announced the in-progress of a new animated feature, a classic fairy tale which is by far Disney's forte, I was well.... ESTATIC. Everyone is familar with the story of the Princess and the Frog. But when I looked more into the then rumors, I was even more excited when I found out what time period it was set in. The swinging ninteen twenties! Voodoo, New Orleans, gumbo! What wasn't to like?
Oh maybe because it WAS a very well known story. The Princess meets a frog and has to kiss him so he can be a prince, yet again. However it back fires because she doesn't really mean it, they go on an adventure, they fall in love, and finally the kiss means it! Yay! The end. Predictable. Couldn't Disney come up with it's own princess story? Oh well, I was still excited. A lot of my friends were excited for the simple fact that the herione was going to be a princess of color. I don't really look into that stuff, you know? It's lame. I like the stories, I like the animation, I like the acting. I don't judge Disney by how fair it is by switching up what it's princesses look like, or if they're bad guys aren't just evil step-moms in disguise. Call me easy, but I'm happily and easily entertained.
The Princess and the Frog finally came out, in November, and I dragged along all of my friends. I didn't know the actors in the film, I didn't really pay attention to the 'character spotlight' on websites or Disney Channel. I wanted to go in not knowing a damn thing about this movie. If you start to expect too much, you are going to be disappointed. So, this girl went in expecting FINALLY a cartoon musical from Disney. Something I have been telling anyone who listen that they should do during a time of CGI and computer talents. I wanted pure drawings. And that's exactly what I got.
The movie;
Beautifully drawn, a mix between Tarzan and Lilo and Stitch, along with the new styles of which we saw in the semi-cartoonish Enchanted. The girls were beautiful, cute, but they were also like every day girls. No extreme hair dos, or overly sensual clothing. It was very real New Orleans. Hats, knee length dresses with little to no shape, the Flapper style. The music was pretty true to time, the background music. The rest of it, the musical parts... I don't know. I felt like a lot of the songs had some sort of OOF, but not the oof that made them classical in my mind. Nothing like "Can't Wait to Be King" from the Lion King, or "Go The Distance" from Hercules. They didn't stick to my mind, they didn't get the chorus stuck or the sound humming in my throat. The Voodoo man's song was about the coolest song, and yet I still can't think of how it went to this day.
As for the story, like I said, very predictable. You knew the prince was going to fall in love with the hard working woman who was poor. And you knew that the woman would realize her dreams could include a man, as well. There was no way he would fall in love with the spoiled rich girl who only wanted a prince for titlement gain! Though, she was the comical relief, to tell the truth. In fact, let's delve into the wonderful world of characters.
Tiana is the main character, a stubborn girl set on making her dead-dad's (oh original!) final wish come true; to own a hip, swinging resturuant on the Lousiana rich side. Or something like that. In the first few scenes, we find out that Tiana was grown up to believe she didn't need any fairy tails to make her wishes come true, she just need some elbow grease! Which makes all of her friends annoyed, because you know, people don't like you unless you can go out dancing and have fun all the time.
Tiana's only friend, who sticks by her through thick and thin, seems to be the blonde, spoiled, little rich girl Charlotte, or Lotte for short. Really, they don't play into the fact that Lotte is loyal to Tiana and a means of a good friend. It's just the spoiled part they delve into! What Lotte wants, Lotte gets! Lotte wants a prince! So when prince Naveen comes, of course her daddy has to throw the biggest Mardi Gra party ever and the prince HAS to stay in their guest house. This is Lotte's only chance at happiness on the line, dangit! Of course, Lotte gets her daddy to hire Tianna for her delicious cooking skills for the party, thus being a benefactor in Tianna's big dream of that resturaunt in the sky.
Then there's Prince Naveen. How typical. He's come to America to marry into a rich family. Why? Because his royal family has disowned him for being a lazy playboy who took hard work for granted. Can anyone blame him? Yes, yes they can. His royal nanny (actually I'm not sure WHAT they called him) is very fed up of his boss slacking off on finding a new bride to replenish their money situation. So of course, this fat tubby guy (why is it always a tubster? sad!) strikes a deal with the local voodoo man!
Dr. Facilur... Haha, what a strange little character. He's the 'bad guy' and is suppose to teach kids not to make deals with the dark forces. Wait, whaaat? Dr. Facilur is the local voodoo man who is out on his last limb, he owes the dark shadows like no other and keeps getting lower and lower into debt in the soul factor. So, when he sees Prince Naveen and the sad butler-nanny, obviously his wheels start turning. Get the prince out of the picture, put the butler-nanny in the prince's spot and get him married, and somehow...that equals the voodoo man owning all of New Orleans and selling THOSE souls to the dark shadows... Wait...WHAT?
So anyways. The only one who can help the prince and Tiana is a blind old bayou GOOD voodoo granny. Though honestly, the only thing she could ever help me with is in building a freaking awesome treehouse fort like that. SERIOUSLY. Mama Odie goes down in history as owning the coolest house in Disney history for me. A ship up in a tree, with many different colored glass bottles tied in all the branches. How awesome is that? And what would a good god-mother-- I mean... Mama do without her faithful pet? A snake. And what does Mama Odie do for the two troubled frogs? Nothing but sing a song and tell them that only they can find what they really need. Okay, check off 'crazy' from the list.
The two main characters pick up some odd, really confusing friends along the way. A trumpet playing gator Louis (who gave him a trumpet?!) and a backwords hick firefly Ray with a family the size of any sort of bug colony in the world. Did I mention the bug is deranged and convinced him and the Northen Star are gonna be married someday? No? Well, there you go. You'd THINK those two creatures would make for a really funny moment whenever they are on screen... Eeeh, so so. I was more amused with Lotte screaming "CHEESE AND CRACKERS!" in the background, or smothering a poor little kitten, than in those two swamp things.
Oh wow, look how long this review got! And to think I had put it off for three months now? GEESH!
Long story short, I really liked the setting, the drawings, and some bits of the movie The Princess and The Frog. But let's face it, this movie wasn't as great as any other Disney princess tale and I wouldn't put Tiana in the 'princess' catorgary, personally. It was lacking in originality in the story department, and went overboard in the totally random, nonsensical side characters. I left the theater feeling hopeful... Hopeful that Disney would bounce back from their first step back into cartoons and try again with a little more organized planning. I'm really sick of CGI, but I don't know if I could handle another Princess and the Frog. Seriously. The only things that made me laugh out loud was the cleverly placed sexual jokes, which most parents frown upon. Come on folks! How else is Disney going to get a family to sit together and watch a movie like THAT?
So, this alexisXannastetic signing out and saying, watch this movie if you adore Disney. If you don't, I wouldn't waste my time with it, honestly. Not even John Goodman as Lotte's "Big Daddy" La Bouff could entertain you throughout the whole film.
6 out 10 star power
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