I absolutely love the partnership between Disney and Pixar, which has yielded such masterpieces as the Toy Story series, Monsters, Inc., Cars and Up.
Nonetheless, for somebody who grew up on Disney, I couldn’t help
growing a bit wistful at the thought that traditionally animated - and
musical - Disney features seem to be falling by the wayside. I was
extremely pleased, then, to hear word of The Princess and the Frog,
Disney’s take on the story of a princess whose kiss restores a prince
to his rightful form after a wicked enchantment renders him amphibious. I
awaited it with great anticipation for well over a year. But somehow,
when it hit theaters, I missed it. Now, thanks to the magic of Netflix,
I’ve seen it and am ready to weigh in on it.
Written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, The Princess and the Frog
is set in New Orleans in the Jazz Age, a poignant choice in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina. We see the city as a vibrant place teeming with
music and ambitions. The Haves throw lavish parties, while the Have Nots
work diligently and indulge in a dream or two, following that great
Disney tradition of wishing on stars in hopes that they will eventually
come true.
Beautiful, industrious Tiana (Anika Noni Rose)
doesn’t have much use for such silliness as wishing on stars. Hard
experience has taught her that life doesn’t always give you everything
you want, and she spends every spare moment working to scrimp together
enough money for a down payment on the restaurant that her beloved late
father (Terrence Howard) dreamed of opening. Their scene together in her
childhood is the cornerstone of the movie, driving her determination,
which frustrates her mother (Oprah Winfrey), who fears that her daughter
is missing out on the greater joys of life.
Tiana nearly has
enough money saved up when the owners of the derelict building she
intends to buy inform her that someone else has made them a better
offer. So distraught is she at this point that she resorts to
star-wishing, and the answer to her plea seems to arrive in the form of a
seductive, heavily accented frog. Yes, he talks, for he is actually the
visiting Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), who has been hoodwinked into his
unfortunate position by the malevolent Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a
showy voodoo daddy who reminds me of both the blustering Doc Terminus
from Pete’s Dragon and the repulsive Rasputin from Don Bluth‘s Anastasia.
He’s a scheister, but a deeply unnerving one, and his scenes of
communion with wicked spirits are terrifying and troubling. I know that
some objected to the movie because of the voodoo element, and I can
certainly see why, though it does seem to fit very well with the
setting.
Naveen was a preening peacock of a man who never
worked a day in his life, and his transformation into a frog does little
to change his demeanor. The more significant change will come later,
after Tiana, cringing, agrees to kiss him if he will see to it that she
gets the money she needs to secure her restaurant. Instead of turning
him back into a prince, she morphs into a frog, and in their effort to
flee the dinner party where they have suddenly become very unwelcome
guests, they find themselves lost in the middle of the bayou. The
journey back to civilization - with a side trip to see the mystical
shamaness Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), who reminds me a bit of the gruff
Aughra in The Dark Crystal - forces Tiana and Naveen to work
together despite their constantly clashing personalities. In the
process, Naveen learns the value of honest labor and Tiana comes to
appreciate the joys of indulging in a little fun.
I’m again reminded of Anastasia
when I think of their relationship, since, like Dmitri and Anya, they
spend so much of their time squabbling but gradually fall for each
other. The dynamics of their relationship are very similar. By the same
token, jovial Creole firefly Ray (Jim Cummings), a sage romantic, is a
bit like Dmitri’s partner in swindling, the older Vladimir. Meanwhile,
exuberant alligator Louie (Michael-Leon Wooley) reminds me of Tiger, the
harmless cat who becomes the best friend of Fievel the mouse in Don
Bluth’s An American Tale. All Louie, a talented musician
presumably named after Louis Armstrong, wants is to play his brass and
have it properly appreciated.
While the main thrust of the
plot involves the journey that these characters take together, we
occasionally return to town to keep tabs on Dr. Facilier and his
henchman Lawrence (Peter Bartlett), a bumbling, pudgy gentleman in late
middle age who has adopted the guise of Naveen. The vile Facilier’s plot
involves Lawrence-as-Naveen marrying Charlotte LaBouff (Jennifer Cody),
Tiana’s well-to-do best friend, and murdering her father, a respected
local politician amusingly voiced by John Goodman. While her vapid
enthusiasm is rather exhausting, her devotion to Tiana never wavers.
Growing up pampered, Charlotte doesn’t understand the pressures at play
in Tiana’s life, and usually she isn’t paying close enough attention to
pick up on them. However, as she is drawn into this dark deception, her
life changes as well.
The movie’s animation is just as
glorious as I would have hoped, particularly in the bayou. One
especially artistic scene has a community of fireflies illuminating the
night as they lead the way to Mama Odie’s hut. The city, too, is
wonderfully realized, and we see both its grit and glory. The movie
truly becomes, in part, a tribute to a bustling city laid low by natural
disaster compounded with human error. The characters, particularly
Tiana, are lovely to behold; much was made of the fact that this would
be Disney’s first black princess, and she fits into the ranks
wonderfully. Indeed, I would rank her pretty high on my list of
favorites - though I don’t foresee anyone coming along to topple Belle
from Beauty and the Beast any time soon.
Another welcome element of the movie was the music. Randy Newman
composed the songs for the film, wonderfully capturing the flavor of the
era, particularly in Down in New Orleans. The voice actors who
furnish the characters’ speaking voices also perform the songs, with
Rose getting the biggest vocal workout. She sings all or part of four
songs, with her spirited Almost There, in which she expresses her
excitement at being close to the finish line with having the money to
open her restaurant, probably my favorite song of the movie. David’s Friends on the Other Side is peppy but creepy, sort of mixing the flavor of Aladdin’s Friend Like Me with The Lion King’s Be Prepared,
while Cummings gets two songs to himself, one tender and another
raucously jubilant. It’s a wonderful return to a format that I was
beginning to sorely miss.
I’m looking forward to Tangled,
Disney’s upcoming film that is set in a more traditional fairy tale
realm and tells the tale of Rapunzel. While the movie is CGI, it looks
as though it will at least have the feel of an old-school traditionally
animated movie, and I understand that it’s a musical as well. While I
fear that The Princess and the Frog may not have quite sparked
the 2D revival I was hoping for, it is a most excellent movie and
hopefully a sign of great things to come from Disney.
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