DISNEY GOES OLD SCHOOL WITH ‘PRINCESS AND THE FROG’

By Gary McPherson

Since Pixar hit it big with Toy Story in 1995, computer generated animation has taken off. While studios such as Dreamworks and Nickolodeon still produced traditional animated films, Disney seemed content to focus all its intentions on the Pixar way.

And that always made me cringe a little, for two reasons.

First, Disney was on a major roll in the ‘90’s with great animated features such as ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Mulan’. Why just abandon what was really working?
Second, it seemed like there was a conscious effort to put all the good writers on computer generated films. You have to admit that ‘Wall-E’ and ‘Cars’ are some of the most well written cartoons ever made.

It’s like they assigned Ernest Hemingway to write the computer generated movies and then hired Carrot Top to pen the likes of ‘Treasure Planet’ or ‘Bolt’.

But I have to say my faith in Disney animation has been fully restored with ‘The Princess and the Frog’, a terrific film with a clever story, entertaining songs and a touchy, feely ending.

The movie takes place in New Orleans and the city is as much a star as any of the characters.

Mardi Gras, the French Quarter, voodoo and the blues all play prominent roles in telling the tale of Tiana, a waitress working two jobs, trying to save up to purchase her own restaurant.

It’s been nearly a decade since Disney released an animated film this good and it shouldn’t surprise that it was written and directed by Ron Clements, the man responsible for gems such as ‘Aladdin’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’.

Clements takes the traditional tale of the frog prince and turns it on its head. When Prince Naveen gets turned into a hopper, he mistakes Tiana for a princess and asks for a kiss. But since she really isn’t royalty, the voodoo curse turns them both into a couple of croakers.

As they struggle to avoid being eaten by crocodiles and some ‘Deliverance’-esque bayou folk, the duo find what truly matters in life. The Prince learns that there is more to life than being a lounge about playboy and Tiana comes to realize that while a restaurant would be nice, a life would be even nicer.

With memorable characters such as Ray the hillbilly lightning bug and Mama Odie, the voodoo priestess of the bayou, ‘The Princess and the Frog’ delivers and reminds me of possibly my favorite animated movie of all time, ‘Beauty and the Beast.’

While my wife would probably cause me bodily harm if I said ‘Frog’ was better than ‘Beauty’, let’s just say it’s one notch below. Which still makes it an excellent movie for everyone.

Grade: A