Review of The Princess and the Frog

Like most of the other reviewers here, I am a massive Disney fan at 17. Not only growing up on movies like Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, which are not only two of my favourite Disney movies but two of my favourite movies ever, but also watching shows like Darkwing Duck, Talespin, DuckTales and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and singing along to their theme tunes. From my earliest memories as a child, I remembered wanting to be a mermaid with Ariel, being spellbound by The Circle of Life, wanting to fly on a magic carpet with Aladdin, wanting to stay in Neverland with Peter Pan, getting all nostalgic whenever I heard When You Wish Upon a Star, singing The Bare Neccessities at the top of my lungs(still do it actually), wanting to hug Quasimodo as he cried over Esmeralda, crying at Bambi's mother's death, being scared to death by Ursula's laugh and laughing at the witty banter between Prince John and Sir Hiss. The Princess and the Frog mayn't be the best Disney movie of the lot, but it is for me the best Disney film of the last decade. This is coming from someone who loved Emperor's New Groove, Lilo and Stitch and Fantasia 2000, but was disappointed in Home on the Range and save a few exceptions(ie. Bambi 2) most of the sequels.

One thing that springs to mind is the quality of the animation. I know some have complained of it being Saturday morning cartoon standard or direct to video sequel quality, but I found it absolutely stunning. The bayou scenes especially were exquisitely rendered and gave the film a warm richness, reminding me slightly of the Kiss The Girl scene from The Little Mermaid, and the backgrounds and landscapes reminded me of the splendour of the animation in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a very underrated Disney film. The characters were also very well drawn, Tiana looking like a traditional princess and Dr Facilier looking as suave and charismatic as he sounds. The animation here is better than that of Titanic:The Animated Movie(which I am mentioning because that ripped off Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, all but to name a few) and The Return of Jafar, both of which had in my opinion sloppy art direction. I know parents may complain of the voodoo scenes being inappropriate perhaps, but they were for me very vibrantly animated, intoxicating and both fun and scary.

Another complaint I read was the songs being generic and forgettable. Can I disagree here? I am not trying to say people who say that are wrong, no, no, no, what I am saying is that I liked them. I do admit I am not a Randy Newman fan but I loved his songs for Cats Don't Dance and thought I will give Newman a chance. The tunes here are appropriately jazzy and upbeat, maybe not as memorable as the beautiful music of Beauty and the Beast, the rousing Lion King numbers, the lyrical melodies of Sleeping Beauty or the haunting and almost operatic ones of Hunchback(Hellfire never fails to give me goosebumps), but goodness aren't they an improvement on Home on the Range? The only song I remember from that film, which I found disappointingly average despite the voice cast and Alan Menken, was Slim's yodel song and that was for the use of William Tell and Ode To Joy. I loved the sinister yet upbeat tone of Friends on the Other Side, the tenderness of Ma Belle Evangeline, the fun of Dig a Little Deeper and the celebratory mood of Down in New Orleans. I also feel Anika Noni Rose has a strong, powerful, beautiful singing voice that I felt could've been used even more.

The story is obviously enhanced and modernised to a New Orleans setting, I do agree there are some moments in the film that drag, but the film took a simple fairytale, enhanced it and on the whole made a charming and likable film out of it, and that isn't easy to do. The scripting isn't bad either, there are no lame pop culture references like there were in Doogal, and look how awful that was, and while maybe not as intelligent as films like Watership Down, there are some funny and moving moments. And I loved the characters. Both Tiana and Naveen have flaws(Tiana being ambitious and Naveen being spoilt), but they also have their charm and avoided being completely clichéd thanks to how they were animated, their motives in the film and the enthusiasm of Anika Noni Rose and Bruno Campos. Dr Facilier is a great villain, suave, charismatic yet menacing, he mayn't be the best of the lot, not being as complex as Frollo, as calculating as Maleficent, as funny as Ratigan or as scary as Ursula, he definitely leaves an impression, and Keith David's melodious and malevolent voice was perfect. Louis, the trumpet-playing alligator is a fun character, same with Charlotte who could have been clichéd but had some depth to her, while Ray the Cajun firefly is one of the better characters of the movie, being both funny and charming. It also helps he is voiced with real exuberance and sensitivity by the legendary Jim Cummings. His death I think is shocking and heart-rending, and Dr Facilier being dragged to the graveyard was suitably creepy.

Overall, not the best Disney movie out there, but it is great, one of the better films of theirs to come out in recent years. 9/10 Bethany Cox