THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
From 1937 to 2009, you think that Walt Disney Pictures had ran out of fairy tales to adapt. But before the 2000s concluded, they had more in store for the audience.
PLOT
Based on The Frog Prince by ED Baker, The Princess and the Frog takes place in 1920s New Orleans and follows a young African woman named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), who dreams of starting her own restaurant, a dream she had since childhood and shared with her father. Prince Naveen (Bruno Campus) of Maldonia has been financially cut off from his parents and must marry into a wealthy family to regain fortune. He hopes to impress Tiana'a friend Charlotte (Jennifer Cody) who dreams of marrying a prince. When she and her father 'Big Daddy' La Bouff (John Goodman) discover his arrival, they invite him to their house as a guest. Charlotte pays Tiana an immense quantity of money to cook beignets, in order to impress him at a welcome party. Tiana is in awe of the payment because she now believes she has enough money for down payment on an old factory and turn it into her restaurant. Naveen and his butler Lawrence (Peter Bartlett) encounter Doctor Facilier, a voodoo dokor who offers to make their dreams come true but not exactly what they expect. Naveen is turned into a frog and Lawrence is given a talisman to be disguised as Naveen himself. The intention is to have Lawrence marry Charlotte and split the family fortune after killing her father. At the welcome party, Tiana is given bad news by the factory's brokers that she got outbid and has only three days to get the money or her dream will crumble. She even encounters Frog Naveen who explains his condition. Believing she is a princess because of her dress, he thinks she can break the curse if they kiss. She does so but it backfires because she becomes a frog too. They flee to a bayou after they cause a ruckus at the party. They befriend with an alligator named Louis who loves playing the trumpet and desires to play with a human band. This sounds unlikely to happen due to his ferocious appearance. When they explain that they want to find someone to break their spell, he mentions the voodoo queen Mama Odie. He accidentally takes them the wrong way but a firefly named Raymond shows them the right path after defending themselves against a trio of hillbillies that wanted to eat them. Running out of time, Facilier makes an deal with voodoo spirits: He offers the souls of all in New Orleans and in exchange, he is granted aid with shadow demons to find Naveen. They do find him and his friends but are stopped by the blind Mama Odie. When meeting her, she does try to explain to both frogs that what they need is more important than what they want, which is love. While it seems that Naveen understands, Tiana doesn't yet. Odie explains that Charlotte is a princess until midnight for the Mardi Gras parade and if Naveen can kiss her before midnight, the curse is broken. As they board a boat back to the city, the prince's feelings for Tiana has become intimately stronger. With the intent to propose to her, he instead plans to marry Charlotte to help her with the restaurant. Before he could do that, he is captured by other shadow demons. Tiana's feelings for him burst out when she mistakes him for the disguised Lawrence. When Ray figures out what happened to the real prince, he breaks him out of captivity and run away from the shadow demons, causing a scene at the parade. He even takes the talisman from Lawrence, resulting him to run away. The firefly finds Tiana at the graveyard and has her promise to keep it away from the shadow man. He defends himself against as much shadow demons but is overpowered by Facilier himself after stepping on him. He encounters Tiana and offers her a deal to give her everything she wanted in exchange for the talisman. Seeing through his lies, she destroys it anyway. Since his debt can no longer be paid, the voodoo spirits imprison in the spirit world, dragging him away in the process. The real Naveen finds Charlotte and explains the ordeal but it is too late as she only kisses him just after midnight. He and Tiana accept their new life due to their newfound love. After Ray's funeral, they get married to each other. Little did they know that once the prince's wife would become a princess, they would return to human after their kiss. Once they go back to New Orleans, they live their happily ever after as Tiana finally makes her restaurant.
THOUGHTS
Looking back, it surprises me that I didn't see this immediately during it's 2009 theatrical release. But when I finally got around it during the 2010s, it gives great joy to say that I liked this movie. Ron Clements and John Musker have been the perfect directing duo when making animated films and it was no exception when doing the last animated film traditionally drawn by hand, before the iconic studio became solely reliant on computer animation. Over a decade later as of writing this, and the animation continues to hold up. This is a movie that is so funny and exciting, along with heart throughout as expected. These films always impress me because you always learn something important and that only works through the memorable characters. Tiana has been a standout for many reasons besides being the first African princess in Walt Disney's history, which is a respected landmark that was long overdue. Her hard working attitude can be a good thing but in her case, she worked so much that she forgot to enjoy life when she could. Of course she gets what she wants, but it is her insane adventure where she realizes that there is more to life than making her dream come true. Even though she gets her wake up call, her song 'Almost There' is nice to listen to because it is a clever message that only hard work can help you reach your goals. Naveen is a good character because he has his own epiphany as well. He is someone who was spoiled and lazy but gained maturity once realizing that having fun is good as long you are grateful with what you have. He and Tiana fall for each other because it is during their time together that they realize what they need is more important than what they want, and it's not the same at all. Charlotte always made me laugh in her given time because she is the polar opposite of her friend. She is someone who wants to live the fairy tale and I can't have a straight face when she gets hyped over Naveen's arrival. Louis put a smile on my face because of the dynamic that he is a giant that may look ferocious but has a heart of gold. The first time we see him, he is more concerned of sharing his love of music than eating anybody. While it can look odd how everyone in New Orleans gets used to a gator playing a trumpet, what mattered is that he is living his dream too and no one is stopping him, whether or not they're afraid of him. Getting into the voice cast, I truly enjoyed Mama Odie because Jenifer Lewis succeeded in expressing her nurturing presence. She may be blind but she is always a force to be reckoned with and is smarter than others would think. Jim Cummings is a man with range when providing the array roles and he is great with Raymond because he pulls off making this character as eccentric and loving as possible. A lot of respect is given to this character because of how he died protecting a friend. Seeing him become reincarnated into a star is the most beautiful moment of the whole movie due to the fact that he can light the nightly sky with the love his life, Evangeline. While the other characters believe her to just another star, I am one to believe that she was an actual firefly that reincarnated like Ray would. Last but not least, Keith David was a scene stealer for making Doctor Facilier because he was great at making him one who is clearly greedy but has enough charm to fool anyone to make a deal. His song 'Friends on the Other Side' showed how easy it can be for him. While he wasn't as powerful as one would expect, he still remained intimidating as he had no remorse on his actions. Since his plans backfired, you know he had it coming after all the sins he made. While I find this movie fun to watch every time, there are still a few things that bother me throughout. First off, it is cute how Charlotte gets a puppy from her dad, but how the hell did that animal not make a noise when being stuffed in his pocket? I know animated films bend reality a whole lot but that makes no damn sense. Speaking of Charlotte, how come it took her so long to offer a job to Tiana and pay her a good amount of money, when she needed it for a long time? If they really are friends, she should've helped her out with the restaurant a long time ago and shouldn't have to wait for a frog to plea for it. I mean there is no way she worked for only one catering event for the La Bouffs. I know that Tiana is smart but how the hell did she make a frog size boat as a frog? If you want to remind us how smart she is, it ain't gonna hurt seeing how she does it. And lastly, it is nice that Ray's firefly colony help the protagonists lead the way to Mama Odie after Louis gets them lost, but they only take them midway. Why can't they take them all the way to her? I don't see the reason on why not doing so. Other than that, I still have a good time with this movie once I ignore these flaws. In short, The Princess and the Frog is a good movie for not only ending a respected era of animation but also has enough heart to learn an important life lesson. So if you love traditional animation, see this one now.
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