The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog concept art 2
Originally uploaded by windstorm2009

Tiana is not a princess. She’s just a New Orleans girl who works hard for everything she has, and what she wants more than anything is to fulfill the dream she started with her father and open her very own restaurant in New Orleans. Just when it seems like Tiana will get her restaurant visiting Prince Naveen is turned into a frog and in a desperate hope of financial reward Tiana agrees to kiss him and turn him back into a human. However, the kiss does the opposite and when Tiana kisses Naveen she turns into a frog as well and together the two get lost in the bayou trying to outwit that Shadow Man and find a way to turn human again.

The Princess and the Frog is the first hand drawn Disney animation film in years and I personally was thrilled to see the beautiful images on screen. I think that Disney is hoping this film will do for their animation division what The Little Mermaid did for it years before, but even though The Princess & the Frog is stunning, I don’t think it’s the caliber of the Disney films from my childhood.

Besides the animation, what makes The Princess and the Frog unique is that it is a Disney film entirely affected by feminism. Tiana is a strong woman, independent and not looking for love – she’s a career woman. She works hard to get her restaurant and doesn’t like that Naveen hasn’t had to work for a thing and would rather kick back than put effort into something. What really works about Tianna is that she has to realize, like the modern feminist, that she needs to work hard, but she also needs to find time for the rest of the life she’s been ignoring. This is a feminist character that’s post-yuppie yet somehow ended up as an animated character in New Orleans in the early part of the twentieth century.

I have to say that my favorite character has to be Charlotte. She’s a spoiled little rich girl, but she is hysterical and as if her spunky yet spoiled attitude weren’t enough, her father is voiced by John Goodman and he is a fabulous doting father. I feel like I should be offended for white southerners because of Charlotte, but I just find her too adorable.

It was nice to see Disney return to hand drawn animation again and the visuals and music in The Princess & the Frog are stunning, but I don’t see Pixar or Dreamworks as being threatened. Those films are an entirely different form of animation from hand-drawn and just like stop-motion still exists, there will always be room for hand-drawn along with computer animation.

Directors: Ron Clements & John Musker
Writers: Ron Clements, John Musker & Rob Edwards
Tiana: Anika Noni Rose
Prince Naceen: Bruno Campos
Dr. Facilier: Keith David
Eudora: Oprah Winfrey
James: Terrence Howard
Big Daddy La Bouff: John Goodman

The Little Mermaid

Ariel is the youngest daughter of the sea King, Triton, who micromanages Ariel to keep her away from the water’s surface and the human world. However, adventurous and rebellious Ariel goes to the surface one night and falls in love with Prince Eric, a human she rescues from drowning. When Triton finds out he forbids Ariel from ever seeing him again and destroys her collection of human possessions. This devastates Ariel and she goes to Ursula the sea witch, and makes a deal to give Ursula her voice for three days as a human where she will have to get Eric to fall in love with her or return to the sea as part of Ursula’s possessions.

I am slightly geeky about The Little Mermaid. This movie came out around the time I was in second grade and my friends and I fell in love with it. We wanted to live in Ariel’s world, and I think subconsciously most of the women in my generation are attracted to men with dark hair and blue eyes because of Eric. More significantly, this is the film that started the Disney comeback that I remember as a child. After the wild success of The Little Mermaid you had Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin & The Lion King. These films revitalized Disney in the marketplace and took back the title of creators of ageless tales.

This film is pretty much a flawless masterpiece. It may be a fairy tale tweaked in the Disney way, but there is nothing wrong with that. The brother’s Grimm did not invent the fairy tale; most of the stories they wrote down existed in many different forms before they ever rewrote them in their depressing, typically tragic style. Disney’s version is simply another in a long line of versions of these stories and I love the way this one ends. Frankly, even now I hate to see the prince fall in love with another woman and make Ariel so upset she commits suicide by jumping back into the sea and becoming seafoam – seriously, if you don’t believe me go read the Grimm version and stop complaining that this version ends happy.

The hands down best thing about The Little Mermaid is of course the music. Having Sebastian the crab be the leader of an undersea orchestra, and Ariel’s special gift be her voice was a beautiful and brilliant move. It made the music and the characters more vibrant because it gave them a context within the film. To this day I can hear this music and still be delighted.

Directors & Writers: Ron Clements & John Musker

Ariel: If I become human, I'll never be with my father or sisters again.
Ursula: That's right. But - you'll have your man. Life's full of tough choices, innit?