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Overview
Disney celebrates a modern-day classic from the directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Discover what really happened after the princess kissed the frog in an inspired twist on the world’s most famous kiss. This hilarious adventure leaps off the screen with stunning animation, irresistible music and an unforgettable cast of characters. Enter Princess Tiana’s world of talking frogs, singing alligators and lovesick fireflies as she embarks on an incredible journey through the mystical bayous of Louisiana. Spurred on by a little bit of courage and a great big dream, these new friends come to realize what’s truly important in life…love, family and friendship. Overflowing with humor and heart, The Princess and the Frog is an incredible motion picture experience your whole family will want to enjoy again and again!
Bonus Content Includes: Deleted Scenes, The Princess Portraits Game, Audio Commentary By Filmmakers, Music Video By Ne-YoAfter the visual bombast of many contemporary CG and motion-capture features, the drawn characters in The Princess and the Frog, the Walt Disney Studio’s eagerly awaited return to traditional animation, feel doubly welcome. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), The Princess and the Frog moves the classic fairy tale to a snazzy version of 1920s New Orleans. Tiana (voice by Anika Noni Rose), the first African-American Disney heroine, is not a princess, but a young woman who hopes to fulfill her father’s dream of opening a restaurant to serve food that will bring together people from all walks of life. Tiana may wish upon a star, but she believes that hard work is the way to fulfill your aspirations. Her dedication clashes with the cheerful idleness of the visiting prince Naveen (Bruno Campos). A voodoo spell cast by Dr. Facilier (Keith David) in a showstopping number by composer Randy Newman initiates the events that will bring the mismatched hero and heroine together. However, the animation of three supporting characters–Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a jazz-playing alligator; Ray (Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly; and 197-year-old voodoo priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis)–is so outstanding, it nearly steals the film. Alternately funny, touching, and dramatic, The Princess and the Frog is an all-too-rare example of a holiday entertainment a family can enjoy together, with the most and least sophisticated members appreciating different elements. The film is also a welcome sign that the beleaguered Disney Feature Animation Studio has turned away from such disasters as Home on the Range, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons and is once again moving in the right direction. Rated G: General Audiences, suitable for ages 6 and older: violence, some scary imagery, tobacco use) –Charles Solomon
Stills from Princess and the Frog (Click for larger image)
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April 17th, 2011 on 11:04 am
Wish upon a star. Then get to work!,
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Bam! It’s appropriate that Emeril Lagasse plays a (bit) character in The Princess and the Frog, voicing Marlon the `gator. This film proves that Disney’s once-vaunted hand-drawn animation is back with a vengeance.
The film has gorgeous visuals, engaging characters, a palpably evil villain and gags galore. Randy Newman’s New Orleans-influenced score perfectly complements the story. It is laugh-out-loud funny. The romance between leads Tiana and Prince Naveen is touching and believable. The film’s strong, down-to-earth message: You can’t just wish upon a star for your dreams to come true. You’ll have to work. Hard.
Folks looking for a quality, old-school Disney film will not be disappointed. Like all the best Disney classics, The Princess and the Frog adapts a classic fairy tale and adds twists and wit. This story of hardworking Tiana, aspiring New Orleans restauranteur, and her froggy adventures will engage children and charm their parents. It’s a movie that both kids and adults will enjoy.
The supporting characters nearly steal the show. Tiana’s friend Charlotte is a hoot: “I’m sweating like a sinner in church!” as she sops up the armpits of her Cinderella-esque ballgown. A trumpet-playing alligator, a jowly old lady steeped in hoo-doo, and, especially, a cajun firefly named Ray are originals. Ray’s fantasy girlfriend: Evangeline, the evening star.
The visuals have such power. One shot of dandelions covered with droplets of dew is as sumptuous as anything in Disney’s Fantasia from 1940. Psychedelic scenes with villain Dr. Facilier rival the bizarre scenes in 1944′s The Three Caballeros or 1941′s Dumbo. A silent funeral in a swamp has a misty, magical beauty.
As the first major Disney movie with African-American lead characters since 1946′s The Song of the South, the film doesn’t sidestep the race and class issue. At the beginning of the movie, young Tiana and her seamstress mother leave the opulent home of Big Daddy La Bouff to travel to their tiny tract home. Tiana’s daddy has to work multiple jobs to support his family; as does the grown-up Tiana, trying to save up enough money to realize her dream of opening a restaurant. Later bankers tell Tiana that a girl of her “background” may be better off not having such a dream.
Where have these gifted Disney animators been all these years? It seems they’ve picked up right where they left off, adding another thoroughbred to the stable of modern-day Disney classics such as 1989′s The Little Mermaid, 1991′s Beauty and the Beast and 1994′s The Lion King. Maybe it’s producer John Lasseter’s influence, with his insistence on excellence, especially with story and visuals. Whatever the reason, Walt Disney himself must be smiling in the heavens. Right next to Evangeline.
– Julie Neal, author of The Complete Walt Disney World 2010.
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|April 17th, 2011 on 11:29 am
The Disney Magic is Back!,
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I don’t understand why people complain about the lack of good family fair and then shy away from going to see “The Princess and the Frog”, the new traditionally animated film from Disney. This is a good film and the lack of business it is creating may cause Disney to rethink their current change in course.
A few years ago, John Lasseter, the force behind all of the Pixar hits, was promoted to oversee many different aspects of Disney. He did something I don’t think a lot of people expected. He restarted production of traditionally animated, hand drawn feature films, a type of filmmaking all but abandoned (due to cost; computer animation is a lot cheaper) at a studio now making digital animation. He hired the team behind “The Little Mermaid” and they chose to make “The Princess and the Frog”, the first Disney film featuring an African American heroine.
New Orleans, the 20s. Tiana (Anika Nani Rose, “Dreamgirls”, “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”) is a practical girl. As a child, she accompanies her mom (Oprah Winfrey) when she goes to Big Daddy’s House (John Goodman) to make a dress for his daughter, Charlotte. Tiana and Charlotte are best friends and listen enraptured as Tiana’s mom tells them the story of “The Frog Prince”. Charlotte immediately announces she will kiss every frog and find her prince, but Tiana can’t stomach the thought of kissing a frog. Tiana also shares her hard working dad’s (Terrence Howard) dream of opening a restaurant. Flash forward ten years and we rejoin Tiana as she works multiple jobs trying to save enough money to open her first restaurant. She wants to keep her dad’s dream alive and has found a spot she knows will be perfect, an abandoned waterfront warehouse. Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos, lots of parts on TV shows), the prince of Moldavia, arrives in town with his aide, Lawrence. Naveen wants to play jazz and has all but given up his ties to the throne of his country. A witch doctor, Dr. Facilier (Keith David) spots an opportunity. If he gets Charlotte to marry a fake Prince Naveen, he can take over Big Daddy’s fortune. But first, he has to turn the prince into a frog and find a replacement to play Prince Naveen. Charlotte hears of the prince’s arrival and gets her dad to throw a costume ball during Mardi Gras. Big Daddy is only too happy to oblige for two reasons; he has been chosen the King of Mardi Gras again and anything his Charlotte wants, she gets. Throw in Louis, an alligator who also wants to play jazz and Ray, a wise Cajun firefly and everything starts to get complicated.
Written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, the team behind “The Little Mermaid”, “The Princess and the Frog” bnngs the same sort of magic and beauty back to the silver screen.
There are a lot of things to like and celebrate about “The Princess and the Frog”. The animation style seems almost romantic, in a way, perhaps because it has been so long since we have seen this type of animation used to any great extent. It also allows the film to look softer, almost as though it is glowing, which helps evoke the rose colored portrait of New Orleans the film puts forth. Everything about the film helps to give a romanticized vision of the great city and it is nice to see this celebrated.
One of the best and most consistent things about Disney animation is the music. In a time when there were virtually no other musicals being created, Disney Animated features continued the legacy, allowing some of the best and brightest performers, composers and writers to work, to continue their craft. In the last few years, live action musicals have started to enjoy a small renaissance at a time when animated features began to cycle away from using music. In “Princess”, each song seems to celebrate a different kind of music which is fitting and a great idea as New Orleans is also a melting pot of music. In this way, the filmmakers celebrate and pay tribute to all of the different musical influences of this city, zydeco, ragtime, jazz, Cajun and more.
The characters are all funny, memorable and interesting. A few years ago, someone in the Disney Marketing Machine came up with the idea of marketing all of the “Princesses” from the different films plastering their pictures on every conceivable piece of merchandise. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Belle, Snow White and the Little Mermaid are extremely popular so putting them all together is an even bigger draw for the millions of little girls who snap up their merchandise. So, any new animated film with a Princess is going to be considered a boon to the ongoing marketing machine that is Disney. Add Tiana to the group and everything can be redesigned, remade and resold. But Tiana is also the first African-American princess providing even more attractive marketing possibilities. She is a great marketing tool. When you become a fan of Disney, you quickly realize that everything in the…
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|April 17th, 2011 on 12:24 pm
Disney’s first American classic fairytale,
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The Disney Studio has made a return to its hand-drawn roots (with the aid of some computer technology of course) with its first hand-drawn animated fairy tale in many years. It is also the first time the studio has set one of their fairytales in America. Tiana (voiced expertly by Anika Noni Rose of Dreamgirls[Blu-ray]) is a young girl in 1920′s New Orleans. She is focused on making her late father’s dream come true of opening her own restaurant; this leaves no time for love or fun. Enter Naveen of Maldonia, a handsome prince who has been disinherited by his family for his laziness. Tiana and Naveen are brought together even though they are polar opposites because of the black voodoo magic of the evil Doctor Facilier. The two are forced to journey together to get what they both think they want…which naturally changes along the way. No plot spoilers here…this rich movie needs to be experienced personally. Although I am generally not a Randy Newman fan, his music here is memorable and toe-tapping. New Orleans provides the perfect atmosphere for the music showcased here: love songs, blues, jazz, and more. You will end up singing more than a few of the wonderful tunes you hear. My very favorite number is “Almost There,” which is sung by Anika’s Tiana as she helps her mother (voiced by Oprah Winfrey) envision her dream restaurant. This sequence is done in an art deco poster style and just blew me away.
The hand animation is also memorable; the frogs come to life and you believe the emotion that they express; the eyes…the smiles…the movements, all delicately rendered with time and love by the Disney animation team. New characters also join the classic library of Disney: Mama Odie (the blind voodoo priestess), Charlotte (a rich girl looking for her prince voiced by Jennifer Cody), Ray (a firefly in love with Evangeline the Evening Star), and Louis (trumpet-playing alligator). A trumpet playing alligator? Sure sounds stupid, but the animation team pulls off every unbelieveable thing you could imagine with their talents. On Blu-ray, the lush painted backgrounds bounce off the screen, and the music will make your speakers rock. Note of caution; as with almost every Disney movie, there are some dark and very sad elements. Parents should definitely be nearby for the young ones.
Specs:
Bluray is 1080p High Definition/1:78:1 with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (48kHz/24-bit) * French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital * English SDH and English 2.0 DVS, French and Spanish Subtitles. Bonus features on bluray are 1080p High Definition/1:78:1 with English 5.1 Dolby Digital * English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles.
Bonus Features: Quite a few here shown in high definition on blu-ray; interestingly enough though, the clips from the older Disney library are still in low pixelized quality.
-Deleted/Alternate Scenes: with introductions by co-writers/directors Ron Clements & John Musker. These are shown in rough storyboard form with “scratch dialogue” (not voiced by the actors in the movie). 4 scenes are shown: “Advice from Mama,” alternative version of Louis’ introduction, “Stop and smell the roses,” and “Naveen confides in Ray.” The last one is the only one that I would say is missed; it is a different version of what is scene on screen of how Naveen reveals his feelings to Ray (and the audience) about Tiana. It is more touching and tender than the final version. The other deletions were made wisely!
-Music and More: “Never Knew I Needed” music video by Ne-Yo. Shot in New Orleans, this really has very little if anything to do with the movie. Ne-Yo is shown romancing a girl, and other than them eating beignets and seeing the evening star at the end, there is not much of a connection to the film. This is the one musical number that really doesn’t fit stylistically; mercifully it is shown over the credits at the end.
-Bringing Life to Animation: live action reference footage is shown and introduced by Clements & Musker. They stress that this footage was not traced, but used as an aid and point of departure especially for the dance numbers. See the live footage for “Dig a little Deeper” (Mama Odie’s showstopping number) and Charlotte’s proposal scene. Very interesting to see how the movements of the live dancers and actors inspired nuances that translated to the animation. Sherry Butler, in her 20′s, takes on the role of dancing Mama Odie the voodoo priestess.
-Audio Commentary by Musker, Clements, and producer Peter Del Vecho
-Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess (22:11): Excellent featurette! Executive Producer John Lasseter tells of how he wanted to bring back hand-drawn animation to the Disney Studio, and accomplished this by bringing back Musker &…
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