As a long-standing addict of Disney's traditional hand-drawn animated musicals, I was excited for THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG. While there's no denying that Pixar has hit a home run (or at least a double) with everything it's done since ditching traditional animation for computers, the songs (dominated by Randy Newman, who coincidentally composes here) were used in traditional film form (read: not sung by the characters as part of the plot) and the computer animation lacked the familiar warmth of the movies I grew up loving.
And that's what THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG feels like - for better or worse; it's familiar. In just about every way possible, it tucks itself into the classic Disney canon. I suppose I intend this to be both a compliment and a criticism, because I thoroughly enjoyed the film but was not blown away by it. To some extent, it felt like I was watching a DVD from my collection that I didn't remember owning.
And that's what THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG feels like - for better or worse; it's familiar. In just about every way possible, it tucks itself into the classic Disney canon. I suppose I intend this to be both a compliment and a criticism, because I thoroughly enjoyed the film but was not blown away by it. To some extent, it felt like I was watching a DVD from my collection that I didn't remember owning.
One thing I do like about THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG is its strong sense of time and place. Having just visited New Orleans for the first time this past summer, I could recognize how well this film captures the flavor (if not the socio-economic hardships) of the Crescent City. The beignets served up by the film's heroine, Tiana, wouldn't have meant much to me had I seen the film before ever visiting Cafe Du Monde in the heart of the city. Since I had, many moments in THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG made my mouth water for those cajun flavors so frequently spoke about in the film.
Disney has made a big deal out of the fact that Tiana (wonderfully sung by Anika Noni Rose) is their first-ever African-American princess. This is of little consequence, however, when she spends the majority of the film green instead of black after being turned into a frog when a voodoo-cursed prince expects her kiss to reverse his curse. It's a fun twist on a classic fable, Disney's stock in trade. Oddly enough, the prince and princess in the film are some of its least interesting characters, though the film's co-directors, having once helmed "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" respectively, slyly address the cultural criticisms of the Disney princess phenomenon by making Tiana a girl who does not expect -or need - a prince to come. Rather, she reiterates that only her hard work will help her realize her dreams. Quite humorously, one of the film's few white characters fills the classic role of the girl who goes out of her way to get a prince to fall in love with her so that all of her dreams will come true. And, quite honestly, they play her to be something of an idiot.
Ray the firefly and Louis the trumped playing gator are excellent additions to the stable of Disney sidekick animals, and witch doctor Facilier is adequately Jafar-ish. Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard have brief voiceover roles as Tiana's earnest and hard-working parents, and Jenifer Lewis is a hoot as Mama Odie, the blind conjur woman sought out by the two frogs in the hopes of returning to human form.
As for the music, well, it's Randy Newman on cruise control. "Almost There," which tells us of Tiana's dream to one day open her own restaurant through her hard work and savings, is probably the best song of the bunch. "When We're Human" covers the same ground as "Human Again," cut from "Beauty and the Beast," and there's a bit of "You've Got a Friend in Me" that creeps in to the mix here...rehashed stuff. All told, the songs aren't as memorable as those in past Disney musicals, though I would still argue that the New Orleans/jazz vibe Newman authentically brings to the tunes makes him a better choice to score the film than Disney's other go-to composers Alan Menken and Steven Schwartz.
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG is nowhere near the revelation of Pixar's "Up," but it's nice to see that the folks who draw cartoons by hand still know what they're doing and can put a story together that is charming and cohesive. And while this film is largely paint-by-numbers Disney with maybe just a touch of modern sass, it's a better film than other recent traditional attempts like "Home on the Range." Not amazing, but completely respectable.
3.0 out of 4
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