Review of The Princess and the Frog (2009) by Brandon R — 05 Dec 2011

An astounding return to Disney's glory days of the early '90's.

I loved seeing the House of Mouse valuing heart and character over flashy visuals for once.

The soundtrack is wonderfully catchy, especially anything involving the Ray the lightning bug.

I thought the little guy would be the epitome of cheesiness watching the trailers, but within seconds of his arrival in the film he became my favorite character.

I also loved seeing an apparent rarity in films made for young people in these the days of Twilight: a strong female protagonist who stays true to herself and doesn't let anyone else define her. Tiana dreams big like most "Disney princesses," but unlike most of her forerunners Tiana actually has a JOB, multiple jobs in fact, and treats hard work and self-discipline as the means to achieve her dreams.

Take note, parents of teenage girls!

Setting a Disney movie in the most flamboyant city on Earth felt so natural I started wondering halfway through why they had never done it before.

The Shadow Man is one of the scariest villains since Hades, and I was very happy to see him die in some other way than Disney's stereotypical fall-off-a-cliff.

Dude reaps what he sows (oh look, another great lesson for kids!).