Genre: Animation | Family | Fantasy | Musical | Romance
Release Date: December 11, 2009 (US)
Company: Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Plot
THE hand-drawn animated Disney film set in jazz-soaked 1920s New Orleans is a refreshing, lively version of the classic fairy tale. It features a beautiful girl named Tiana, a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.
Review
THERE are several reasons to celebrate The Princess and the Frog. Certainly the most gratifying element is Tiana herself, who is refreshing and even revolutionary not only because she embodies a much-needed alternative to the blond, blue-eyed Disney ideal, but because she evinces an ethic of hard work and perseverance that takes the classic princess trope out of passivity and helplessness and into competence and self-determination.
The Princess and the Frog sets in New Orleans, that delicious, cosmopolitan melting pot of tribes and cultures, languages and hues. No particular race is acknowledged in The Princess and the Frog, which features characters of a multitude of shades and dialects. In this very ambiguity, it reflects the world as it is, a hodgepodge of skin tones and accents that somehow coalesce into a lively, fractious community.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
THE Princess and the Frog really marks Disney’s rediscovery of a strong narrative loaded with vibrant characters and mind-bending, hilarious situations. Under the direction of veterans Ron Clements and John Musker and the watchful eye of Pixar guru John Lasseter, now chief creative officer of Disney Animation, The Princess and the Frog celebrates old and new: It’s a musical fairy tale that dates back to the days when Walt Disney was a person, not a brand. Yet it deftly mingles with the new sensibilities in animation where fairy tales must get fractured, settings must be fresh and humor pitched to many age levels.
Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
THE filmmakers trust in story over special effects, and character over celebrity voices. They steep the movie in colloquial American culture. They offer a sophisticated musical experience accessible even to the youngest ears. And in doing so, the creative team behind The Princess and the Frog upholds the great tradition of classic Disney animation.
