Review of The Princess and the Frog (2009) by Heidi B — 19 Jun 2011

I'm glad that 2D is coming back to Disney, because as I said: I grew up with the 2D Classics and I'll always love them for years to come. I mean 3D's great and all, but it's artistically beautiful as 2D. I think the animation is beautifully done; the music is awesome. After seeing it, the film instantly became one of my favorite new millennium Disney animated features, along with Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear and Home on The Range. The film retells the age-old "Frog Prince" story - with a slight twist.

This story starts in New Orleans in the 1920s. A young lady named Tiana works two jobs...Yes she works two waitress jobs: one at night and one in the day. She works to earn money to own a restaurant, because it was her and departed dad's dream of owning their very own restaurant. One day, during her day-shift, her rich best friend Charlotte LeBouff is excited because Prince Naveen of Maldonia is coming to New Orleans, and is invited to her family estate for a masquerade party. Then Charlotte pays Tiana for catering at party. Excited by the amount of dollars Charlotte had given her, Tiana was sure she got money to the buy the old sugar mill to transform it into her dream restaurant.

For the next part of the story, yes, Prince Naveen did arrive in New Orleans. But not just for an invite to a masquerade party, but to marry Charlotte LeBouff for her dad's fortune. You see, his royal parents cut him off for his spoiled, play-boy, jazzy lifestyle. While on the streets with his butler Lawrence, they come across a voodoo magician Dr. Facilier referred as "The Shadowman." Facilier invites the men into his emporium, and cuts a deal with the Voodoo gods for the special powers that will enable him to turn Naveen into a frog; use a voodoo talisman to fill Naveen's blood with to make Lawrence look like Naveen to marry Charlotte. But really, The Shadowman plans to murder Lawrence and LeBouff, seize the fortune for himself, and turn the city over to the evil Voodoo gods, who will feed on the souls of the citizens.

Meanwhile while working at the LeBouff's grand masquerade party, Tiana learns that someone else put down a higher offer on the old sugar mill, and is now left with nothing unless she can top him after Mardi Gras - now that is just bull-s**t! Having given up hope, she desperately wishes on the evening star, when Naveen-the-frog appears. Thinking that she is a princess, for she is costumed as one, he convinces her to kiss him in order to break the curse and turn him back into a human again, but the spell backfires (because Tiana is not really a princess) and Tiana becomes a frog as well. And then, the two are chased out and head for the bayou, as Lawrence impersonates Naveen. But the talisman, filled with Naveen's blood, slowly starts to drain away. So Doctor Facilier sends out his shadows to retrieve the prince. In the bayou, Tiana and Naveen encounter Louis, an alligator who wants to become human so he can be a jazz musician and Ray, a Cajun firefly who is in love with the evening star (whom he has named Evangeline), which he thinks is another firefly. They take them to see Mama Odie, the good but eccentric voodoo priestess of the swamp. That's all I could tell you folks, you will have to see the film for yourself how it ends.

This is Disney's best film! And I think Dr. Facilier should join other great Disney villains like Chernabog (Fantasia), Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) and Judge Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame). To me the Dr. is like someone out of a story to scare kids into being good, like: "Don't stay up late, or the Shadowman will get you." "Eat your vegetables, or the Shadowman will get you." Or..."Come inside now! or I will tell the Shadowman." So my last word is that this film is awesome!