"The Princess and the Frog" - Disney animated film review

The Disney animated movie that I watched for the first time last week was "The Princess and the Frog".

I had a general idea of what the film would be about since I'm familiar with the classic story of the princess and the frog (and not just from Peter Gabriel's "Kiss That Frog", which I happen to love), but I didn't know much about the details of this particular version of the story.

About half an hour into the film, I wondered to myself why someone hadn't forced me to watch this movie earlier. (A friend expressed the sentiment that she liked that I thought any of my friends could "force" me to watch a movie. Yeah, she's right. "Convince me to watch" is probably a better description.) I didn't quite love it as much by the time the movie was over, but I did like it more than not.

I loved the opening scene with Tiana and Charlotte as little girls, as Tiana's mother read them the story. I laughed at Tiana's reaction to the idea of kissing a frog.  I laughed quite loudly when she soon after saw a frog and screamed.  It made me think of little Moana's scream in "Ralph Breaks the Internet".

So, this was bugging me throughout this entire section of the film.  Tiana's little bit of curly hair that hangs down from the middle of her forehead reminds me of someone else, but I can't think of who.  I think it's another animated character, and it might be a child as well.  It triggered a familiarity for me, and I can almost picture it in my head, but for the life of me, I can't figure out who I'm thinking of.

Tiana and Charlotte grow up, and Charlotte's father is so rich and important that a visiting prince is going to stay in his palace, and Charlotte is determined to bag him as a husband.

Said visiting royalty, Prince Naveen, finds himself led astray by Dr. Facilier and ends up being turned into a frog.  Oh, green, get it?  He thinks that Tiana is a princess because she's wearing a gown and tiara borrowed from Charlotte, and he persuades Tiana to kiss him to turn him back into a human, lying to her that he can help her fulfill her dream of owning a restaurant, even though he's flat broke because he's been cut off by his parents.

But holy plot twist, Batman, kissing him instead turns Tiana into a frog as well.  Well, that's a fine pickle (green, get it?) she's gotten into.

Tiana and Naveen as their frog selves have an adventure in the bayou and along the way meet Louis, the gator who plays a trumpet.  So, I knew there was an instrument-playing gator in this movie because I've seen him in parades and such at Disneyland, and I figured he was a human who'd gotten turned into an alligator.  Nope, actual gator.  Ok then.

They encounter more bayou folk, like Ray the firefly, who's obsessed with Evangeline (no, not Freckles from "Lost"), who turns out to be a star (planet?) in the sky.

Mama Odie was kind of interesting, though I was not a fan of her helper because ... well, you know.  She was kind of like the wizard of Oz, granting people's wishes, but she was a lot nicer.

So then there's this whole story wherein Tiana and Naveen think that Charlotte counts as a princess because her father is the reigning king of Mardi Gras (yeah, I wasn't keen on that particular line of thinking), so there's a mad rush to get to her so she can break the spell.  That doesn't end up working out, and even though Naveen has grown to love Tiana (and she loves him back), he agrees to marry Charlotte if she will kiss him to turn him back into a human, but she has to promise to give Tiana the funds to purchase the restaurant space she wants.  Charlotte later relieves him of his obligation to marry her, and Tiana and Naveen are reunited in their love and decide to get married in their frog forms.

You may kiss the bride."  And they're both turned back into human form.  How, when the way to break the spell is for Naveen to be kissed by a princess?  Tiana's not a princess!  Ah, but she married PRINCE Naveen, so she is indeed now a princess!  I loved that plot point.  So clever.

Because Facilier fails in his bid to get his hands on Charlotte's money, the Shadow People that he's been bargaining with are not happy with him.  His whole pleading with them and explanation of why he failed and his demise reminded me a lot of Scar in "The Lion King" trying to explain himself to the hyenas before they descend on him.

Ray the firefly ends up being killed in the final melee, but he is re-born as a star (planet?) near his beloved Evangeline.  I know that was supposed to elicit FEELINGS but it actually didn't do anything for me.  Maybe because I didn't connect to Ray at all.  Or because I thought it was kind of a cheesy end to his story.

I really enjoyed the film when it involved Tiana and Naveen, though I really wanted to see more of Tiana in her human form.  I loved the scenes of her as a child, and I wanted to see more of that and of her as she grew up.  I loved her spunk and wanted to see how that developed further.  I also liked that she wasn't fixated on getting a man, which is all too common a theme with these kinds of films.  I mean, in the end, she does get a man, but she doesn't sacrifice her dream for him.  Instead, HE joins her in HER dream.  And she's actually the hero of the story, since she's the one who manages to destroy the amulet.

I liked Naveen, even though he could be a jerk at times.  I did really like that he was willing to sacrifice his own happiness by marrying Charlotte and letting Tiana go because it would guarantee that Tiana's dream of having a restaurant would come true.  It reminded me of Beast from "Beauty and the Beast", who let Belle go because it was the best thing for her, even though it caused pain for Beast.

Charlotte - I was a little irritated that she was so annoying throughout so much of the film because I'm quite partial to that name, but she ended up doing a good thing in the end, so ok.  For some reason, she reminded me of Glinda from "Wicked".

I laughed a lot during this film, which was nice.  I particularly enjoyed the bug scene, when both Naveen and Tiana are involuntarily controlled by their frog instincts and their tongues have a mind of their own, so to speak.

I want to visit Tiana's Place and try the gumbo that she and her dad created.

I liked the end song and was especially pleased that it was an actual song, rather than a pop version of a song from the film.

I noted one very subtle reference to the racism that Tiana was subject to, something that kids might not understand.  When the owners of the building she wants tell her that someone outbid her, they mention that given her history (or background, I can't remember which word they used), maybe it was for the best that she didn't have the restaurant because she wouldn't be able to handle it.  Wow, really?  You made a deal with her, jerks.

So, I had no idea that Oprah Winfrey voiced Tiana's mom until I saw the credit at the end.  I even went back to watch/listen to the scenes with Tiana and her mother.  She sounds very different from what I've normally heard of her.  Her tone sounded higher pitched than what I'm used to, and even knowing it was her, there were only moments when I could "hear" her in the voice.  I thought she did a good job.  I liked Tiana's mom.

I thought it was really interesting to see how they differentiated a female frog versus a male frog in the way they drew the characters without the obvious overused shortcuts, like lipstick, eyelashes or a bow on the head or some other frilly thing to make sure we know THIS IS A FEMALE.  Naveen looked to me more like what is normally expected to depict a frog, and then for Tiana, they drew her a bit smaller, a bit skinnier, with a smaller head and face and softer, smoother features.  I really liked that they went with just style and not accessories to differentiate male from female.

The things that I didn't really enjoy about the film were almost all of the supporting characters.  Ray the firefly, the frog hunters, and I forget who else, none of them did anything for me, and I have to admit I didn't pay much attention to them.

I thought Louis had a lot of potential, but then he kind of got lost in the shuffle, I thought.  I thought it was brilliant that he got to play with an actual band because they thought he was dressed up as an alligator for Mardi Gras.  I was very happy for him, and that in the end, he was able to continue playing with a human band.

I thought Facilier had a lot of potential too, but I also thought he got lost.  I didn't like that he didn't really have the power, that he basically answered to the Shadow People.

And the one thing that irritated me the most was in no way the fault of the movie.  Most if not all of the times that I've seen Tiana in some sort of entertainment at Disneyland, whether it was the Soundsational parade or the Mickey and the Magical Map show, she sings "Dig a Little Deeper".  Now that I've seen the movie, I now know that IT'S NOT TIANA'S SONG!!!!  It's Mama Odie's song.  Why is Tiana singing someone else's song as her signature song?  I really liked "Almost There", so why not that one?  It's even one of the songs that got an Oscar nomination!  But they don't use it because "Dig a Little Deeper" is catchier?  Or at least have some representation or reference to Mama Odie, that this is what Tiana has now learned from her.  It irritated me to make that discovery, like when I found out that Madonna had stolen the prostitute's song in the film version of "Evita".

I did like the movie enough that I'd like to see it again.  Maybe next time, I'll like the supporting cast more.