Movie Review: The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog is a Disney's latest animation feature, and marks a return to classic hand drawn animation that Disney had supposedly forsworn in favor of 3D computer animation. The story is a more modern variation of the Prince and the Frog fairy tale, and references the classic tale directly as the character's read it early on. The time setting is not clearly stated, but appears to be New Orleans in the 1950's. The heroine, Tiana, is a waitress but wants to start a restaurant. The hero, Prince Naveen, is a wastrel who wants to party. Naveen is turned into a frog by a Dark Voodoo master in a scheme to get money by replacing him with an impostor and having the impostor marry the richest girl in town, who also happens to be Tiana's best friend. You would think  a magician who could accomplish this could find safer ways to make money. Tiana is turned into a frog because she tries to reverse the magic by kissing the frog prince. The logic in this is never explained. It is of course necessary or there would be no movie.

From the point that the frog prince arrives on the scene, The Princess and the Frog is as good as just about any Disney animation. The story from that point is lively and humorous. The main characters are far more entertaining as frogs than they were as humans. The supporting animal characters, Louis the horn playing alligator and Ray the love-sick lightning bug, are humorously written and entertainingly voiced. There are some genuinely creepy voodoo shadow monsters. There was a happy ending for nearly everyone. One character dies, which surprised me and I thought was well handled.

Unfortunately, the beginning section and to a lesser extent the ending drag the whole movie down from classic status. The animation in the beginning made me think Disney would regret reviving hand-drawn. The characters especially looked no better than the flat, rushed looking things you see on Saturday morning cartoons. There is one segment that is animated to look like Tiana's dream drawing of her ideal restaurant. It's a great idea, but unfortunately the execution just emphasized the whole flat look of the overall animation. The characters were depressing and/or annoying. The best friend character was especially annoying, and seemed more like Cinderella's step-sisters than someone you might care about. The music  in this section is particularly dull and unmemorable. The music overall in no way compares to the great Disney musical scores of the past. This is likely due not to a lack of talent in Randy Newman, who I like, but to using strongly jazz-inflected tunes throughout (appropriate to the New Orleans setting) rather than the more typical Broadway show-tune style.