The Princess and the Frog (2009)

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

8/10

 Starring the voices of

Anika Noni Rose

Bruno Campos

Keith David

Michael-Leon Wooley

Jim Cummings

Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker

I have to say, I enjoyed this animation more than I expected to and what I did recall when I saw it when it was released was how much I did not like it, but I must have been biased. My bias must have been towards wanting CGI instead of the traditional animation. That said this is one of the good animations which I will be seeing a second time. Their spin on the The Frog Princess story is beautiful. Another thing wonderful about this flick is the setting, this is set in New Orleans in America and we have numerous black folks everywhere.

This animated musical fantasy romantic comedy is Disney's 49th animated feature film. The film is loosely based on the novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker (which in turn is based of Brothers Grimm’s The Frog Prince). When the voodoo man sings, you will listen, because it is so good. It has been a long time since I have seen a Disney music have my attention and this one did with its, "I got friends from the other side." The movie has beautiful voice casting with singer actress Anika Noni Rose being the voice of Tiana and the movie is set in New Orleans with a lot of black casting.

The plot here has many people involved, we have the Prince who has been cut off by his parents because of his reckless living. He comes to New Orleans and there he meets the shadow man who promises to help him get what he wants, which is more money. The Shadow man on the other hand makes a deal with the Prince’s butler who wants to be a prince with money and influence. The Shadow man and the butler’s deal had the Prince turned to a frog, and they use his blood to turn the butler into an image of the Prince so he can marry a lady with money.

The lady with money in question Lottie, is a friend to Tiana and they have known each other since they were children. Tiana has a dream of opening her own restaurant and she has been working her butts off to raise money for it. It so happens Lottie’s father invited the prince to their home with Lottie’s plan was to woe and marry the Prince (who is the butler). The real prince who is a frog escapes his capture and finds his way to Tiana, she was freaked out by a talking frog, but he was able to get her to believe he was the prince and if she kisses him, he will become a prince back. She kisses him and she turns into a frog too. Now the duo must find a way to get themselves back to be humans. While the Shadow man is looking for the prince to capture him, as they need more of his blood to keep the butler’s transformation going.

The movie has some stolen elements from All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989) which is very obvious. Remember in All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989) when Charlie and the little girl Anne-Marie were to be eaten by a crocodile, but were saved when Charlie hit a high note? The crocodile could not bear to eat anything that could sing like Charlie. Well, they stole that.

The movie is written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. These two have been working in Disney for years and they both worked on Disney classics like, The Fox and the Hound (1981), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Bolt (2008), Zootopia (2016) and many more.

The movie was a critical success and a mild box office hit, but it would have turned a profit with the home video sales. It is worth seeing and having the children by your side when you do.