For those of you who haven't seen the movie, a brief summary:
(spoilers!)
Set in New Orleans in the roaring 20's, The Princess and the Frog is the story of a young woman working at least three jobs to try to realize her late father's dream of opening a restaurant on the river and of a young prince with an ambiguous accent who has been cut off by his family for being a good-for-nothing.
Happy-go-lucky as the prince is, he has no qualms about walking down a dark and deserted alley with a questionable stranger. Said stranger, the shadowman, uses his incredible charisma to strike a deal with the prince's serving man and his mad voodoo powers to change the prince into a frog and the serving man into a copy of the prince, in human form.
The serving man woos the rich girl to help the shadowman gain control of New Orleans for his "friends on the other side." They never really explain how this works.
The prince mistakes our heroine, Tiana, for a princess during a costume party. He convinces her to kiss him, in hopes that voodoo works the same way as fairy tales. Since Tiana isn't really a princess, the spell backfires and they both end up frogs.
Mad shenanigans ensue as the two of them try to dodge the shadowman's minions, encounter an alligator with a severe case of human envy, and try to find Mama Odie.
Mama Odie does pretty much nothing for them, except to send them off in search of their one last hope--Tiana's Best Friend, Charlotte, is the Mardi Gras princess until midnight.
They miss the midnight deadline and resign themselves to being frogs for the rest of their lives. After defeating the villain, of course.
The prince and Tiana marry, and since that makes Tiana a princess, they transform into humans. They return to New Orleans, have an official wedding, and convince the real estate dealers to take Tiana's bid on the building through the influence of Tiana and the prince's friend, the alligator.
And happily ever after yadda yadda yadda.
Okay, let's start with the alligator friend. His very existence is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment. He comes straight out of nowhere, he makes no sense, and he should never be mentioned again. That's three for three.
Next: "It is not slime! It is mucus!"
One and the same, friend. Read you a book.
Okay, for serious now.
I had heard a lot of good things about this movie, and I enjoyed the book that inspired it. I wasn't expecting an instant classic when I went in to this movie, but I was expecting a bit more.
We'll start with the positive.
The villain is pretty cool. He has a legit motive and pretty spiffy magic skillz. What's more, his evil plan actually makes sense.
Most of the characters have real depth. The animation is colorful and fun, especially with the shadows. The heroine's back story is well established and she has bigger ambitions than just to get married.
Don't get me wrong--marriage is a wonderful thing. I just think that a person should have more goals than just marriage. Finding someone to spend the rest of your life with is something that a person has little control over. Also, marriage is just the starting point on a new phase of life, not a destination. Having marriage as your only life goal is like saying, "For my walk today, I'm going out the front door of my house!"
Anyway, moving on.
The songs are fun, but kind of forgettable. Also, they don't seem nearly as great when taken outside the context of the movie. It's like they're only awesome by comparison to their setting, which is sad.
Speaking of setting, I wouldn't have known this movie was set in the roaring 20's if not for wikipedia. The setting seemed like it was just painted on over the movie like cheap varnish. It just didn't feel like New Orleans in the 20's. And it seemed like the creators were aware of that, too, because the movie kept practically screaming, "Hey! I'm in the SOUTH!"
The depth of Tiana's character is wasted when she inexplicably falls in love with Prince Naveen. (Yeah, he does have a name. I guess Disney is making progress.) Tiana and Naveen have nothing in common and are only together for a few hours before they're both ready to tie the knot. What?! Explain, movie! Explain!
Mostly, this movie ranks along the lines of 'okay.' The tipping point for me, though, is the whole bit with the evening star. Disney's been backtracking a lot recently with the whole wish upon a star thing. The way it's handled in The Princess and the Frog takes the cake.
Remember kids, it's not enough just to wish on a star!
You should rely on extortion, too!
The Princess and the Frog rating: borrow it
