I went to Disneyland for the first time last fall. It was my birthday, and one of Disney’s perks is they give you a free ticket on your birthday. My girlfriend is a Disney fiend and she convinced me instead to get a season pass. So, like with most things, when your girlfriend suggests you do something, you do it. I was reluctant. All I really knew about Disneyland was that it was for children. I was turning 29, well above what I considered to be the appropriate age, but I bought the season pass. I got a ridiculous picture taken and I’ve used the it about 15 times already this year and the reason is simple: I love Disneyland.
I’m not going to lie and I know this is affecting my ranking as the most badass of the Beards on the site, but whatever, I don’t care. I love Disneyland. There, I said it.
I’m still not as big a nut about it as my lady but she’s trying her hardest to make me into a crazy, nutso Disney convert like her. So obviously we were excited to see The Princess and the Frog. I know a lot of movies came out this week and I do plan on seeing them but I am doing Disney a disservice by not reviewing a movie that has been out for over a month, a movie that all of the people who want to see it have already seen it. So I’m probably wasting space. But whatever, I do what I want.
The Princess and the Frog is about a broke waitress who has finally saved enough money to open her own restaurant and the day she pays the down payment on the space she runs into a prince who has been changed into a frog by an evil voodoo man. She and the frog are convinced that the situation is a lot like the story of The Frog Prince and so they kiss. But instead of him becoming a prince again, she turns into a frog. Lots of hijinks and musical numbers follow.
Two things made this a big news animated film. The first was that it was Disney’s return to traditional animation. Pixar and other computer generated animation studios have been dominating the industry for so long that most companies have turned their backs on the animation techniques of The Little Mermaid and The Jungle Book.
The second big thing was that the lead character, Tiana, would be Disney’s first African American princess. Sadly though, they weren’t able to give her an African American prince, as Prince Naveen is Middle Eastern, I believe. He’s definitely not African American. But it is unclear his exact ethnicity because he came from the made up country of Maldonia. Which, neither of these decisions really makes sense to me. Why make up a country and why not make him African? I mean literally, African? I met tons of kings when I was in Africa. I’m sure they have sons.
Aside from that, the film itself didn’t stand out much from the glory days of Beauty and the Beast. It had the generic animated Disney plot: Protagonist is in trouble with some sort of magical person. This trouble accidentally involves someone of the opposite gender. They then must join forces to beat the magical antagonist to solve their own problems and get away from each other, because they hate each other. But then they fall in love and turns out that love was the solution to their problem all along.
The songs were fun. The New Orleans setting was okay but the bad voodoo man, Doctor Facilier is almost exactly like Baron Samedi from Live and Let Die. In fact they are so much alike that I hope Disney is paying Live and Let Die screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz royalties.
Bottom line, the movie is fun, kids will love it and it was a decent return to traditional animation but is it too much to ask for an original story for the first African American princess or at least an African American prince? Disney should really let the Song of the South days go.
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