For a while, the Disney 2D animation studio was shut down
This is because the last few movies that were made were not huge financial successes
Half of them weren't even critical successes
So after a long time away, Disney decided to finally return to its roots
Go back to the fairytales, go back to the happily ever afters, go back to the magical stuff
This is where the Princess and the Frog comes in
Let me tell you, I was excited to see an animated 2D Disney film on the big screen again
and not just a satire one, I mean a real one
And personally, in my opinion, it didn't disappoint
Okay, story: You got a young woman named Tiana
She has a dream of opening her own restaurant
After her father passes away- I guess some Disney traditions never do truly die,
She works her butt off to save as much money as she can
While that's going on, a prince from a faraway land named Prince Naveen comes into town
His parents cut off his finances because he's too much of a party animal
But then he comes across the Shadowman
He tricks Naveen into having him agree to have his soul be put into a frog
While his assistant would take on the appearence of the prince, and also work for the Shadowman
At a costume party, Naveen confuses Tiana for a princess and asks her to kiss him
She agrees, hoping that his riches will help keep her restaurant open
But, seeing how she wasn't a true princess, she gets turned into a frog too
And the rest of the movie is them trying to figure out how to lift the curse and how to stop the evil Shadowman
Let's look at our characters
Tiana is probably the best female lead since Belle
She's a fast thinker, she's positive, and she's a workaholic
God, never thought you'd see that in a Disney princess, would ya?
The prince is also a lot of fun
He's full of himself but he's also got a lot of innocence to him
Tiana's best friend is fucking hilarious
I haven't seen a Disney character this funny in a long time
"Prince Naveen" "Prince Naveen, of Meldonia, is coming to New Orleans!"
[Screams] "Ohh, isn't it the bee's knes? Ooh, tell her what you did, big daddy, tell her!"
Every second she is onscreen she just cracks me up
The villain is also a lot of fun. The fact that he's into voodoo allows for a lot of great visuals and a lot of great possibilities, and they take advantage of them all
And the rest of the side characters are also very memorable
You got Alligator who wants to be a musician
A redneck firefly who thinks he's in love with a star in the sky
And a witch doctor who always has the answer to every question
So, okay, this film sounds about as good as the classic, traditional, great Disney movies. What could possibly go wrong with it?
Well, there's only one problem with the movie, and sadly, it's kind of a big one: The story
It's not that it's bad, it's just... a little too complicated
I mean, okay, I told you the basics, but I didn't even tell you about the fact that, what, the Shadowman has a deal with the Underworld so that he can take control of the town
But in order to take control of the town, he has to have the guy who looks like the prince marry the daughter of the mayor of the town
But in order to do that they constantly need the blood of the frog prince to constantly give to that guy or else his disguise will fade away
But it turns out the prince has to be kissed by the daughter of the mayor because the mayor always appoints himself the king of the parade
Which technically makes her a princess, but that has to be done before midnight on this certain day
But on top of that you also need the two main characters to fall in love with each other
While they're discovering how to fix their own faults, as well as each other's
Oh and did I mention there's also a totally unnecessary death and a totally goofy silly funeral scene
that'll either make you laugh or cry or both- oh my god, it's too much
I always said this should be called "Loophole: the Movie" because that's what it always seems like
Every second they're trying to look for a new loophole to get around something
Now, is it a major problem? I guess not, because you're constantly guessing what's gonna happen
But one of the charms of movies like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and so forth
is that the stories were always very flowing
They knew exactly how much to give to the characters and exactly how much to give to the details
This movie has way too many details going on
But like I said, it's not that bad, it's just not as good as the other Disney flicks had it put together
Yes the songs are Randy Newman songs, and to be fair, two of them are pretty good
Friends on the Other Side is a great villain song
And Almost There actually has a very memorable, nice beat to it
The others- I don't remember 'em
And again, I guess that is a problem with the movie
But again, to the movie's credit, it does take place in New Orleans and at least the musical style does match, even if it's not all memorable.
I guess before I wrap up I should talk about some of the controversy that surrounded this movie
Of course Tiana was the first black princess, and there was a lot of talk about the fact that originally she was supposed to be a chambermaid
They changed it and made her a waitress, but that caused a lot of uproar too
"Oh, it's changing history, oh, it's changing the way things were back then."
Well, you know what? There's a fucking talking frog. I think we'll live
Yeah, it's changing things, but you know what? We're always gonna have reminders of how things really were
This is a fairytale. Let the kids have their fairytale
On top of that, there's also controversy about why the film didn't do as well as Disney was hoping
Now, it didn't bomb, let me clarify that
But it wasn't the gigantic hit they were hoping for
Was it racism? Was the world just not ready for a black princess yet?
I guess it could be, but I have my own theory
I think it is a predudice, but it's not against black people, it's against hand-drawn films
It's been a while since one has been marketed to both adults and kids, and, let's be honest, this is still a family picture
And the majority of family pictures coming out nowadays are either live action or 3D
Personally, I think a lot of adults still see hand-drawn films as kid's stuff
Now, it could get people in the seats if it was really doing something new like The Little Mermaid
Or just did it spectacularly like Beauty and the Beast
And to be fair, even though I like this film, it really didn't
It updated the fairytale very nicely and very cleverly, but the problems with the story do hold it back from being anything spectacular
And like I said before, only a few of the Randy Newman songs are memorable, there's no Be Our Guest in there
So that's my theory. To be honest, it still made money, I'd be more concerned if nobody saw it
But you know what? People did! Was it a ton of them? No, but at the same time a lot of the past Disney 2D animated films didn't have a ton of people looking at them
and nobody screamed racism at that
But, I don't know all the people in the world, so that's anybody's guess. It's just a theory
On the whole, though, I really enjoyed this one. I felt just like I was seeing The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast again
It was great to see it on the big screen, it was great to see these characters, and I had a lot of fun watching it
The animation's great, the colors are great, the characters are great, I enjoyed watching it and I know I'll be seeing it a few more times in the future