The Princess and the Frog

Disney tries it's hand again at making classic stories and fairy tales into cartoons. That is in fact what made Disney where it is today, starting with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and moving on to numerous others such as "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Jungle Book". As if Disney could not find another book to make a movie of, they made sequel after sequel of movies such as these, in my opinion most of them having less quality than the last.

Now it seems that Disney is again heading towards the right direction. The original story of the Princess and the Frog that most people know goes something like this. The prince gets put under a spell by a witch, he turns into a frog, the princess kisses him and he is human again as they live hoppily ever after. Like they always do, Disney puts their own twist to this story and actually makes it much better than it could have been.

In this rendition, the prince is put under a spell then turned into a frog. When he does finally does get a kiss from Tiana it does not turn him human again but instead turns Tiana into a frog also. From here the two set off to find a cure to become normal again. There is also no witch in this movie to cast spells. As it is set in New Orleans, the culture of that area is also shown and the villain of the movie is actually voodoo doctor.

Normally Disney would just create a villain with some dark magical power but they have never gone as far as to use voodoo, which is an actual practice today. Along with that, the doctor petitions help (in song of course!)from "his friends on the other side". There are also shadowed ghosts who aid him in his evil devious plot.

Another voodoo doctor plays a big part in this movie but is put as a sort of a fairy Godmother. She is in fact a blind old lady, Mama Odie, who brings some laughter to the screen but still has all of the same "powers" of one who practices voodoo. Little kids might not know what voodoo is so it is probable that the idea may just go straight over their heads and be put as a mysterious magical power.


That is just about all that was wrong with the movie along with the fact of kissing a frog which is just gross. I would consider this a musical and fits well with all of other Disney movies, while still having a catchy style of its own thanks to composer Randy Newman. If you keep your eye out in the film you can also spot a few items from other Disney movies such as the magical flying carpet of "Aladdin".


Although most of the characters in this movie are relatively "unknowns", it does feature a few parts played by famous TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey, the voice actor of Winnie the Pooh and many others Jim Cummings and also the unmistakable voice of John Goodman. It may not be targeted directly towards my demographic but it seemed to do the job of the majority of the rest of the people that were in the theater. Little "princesses" and their mothers all gave the film an applause as the credits rolled. Very seldom do ever hear that sound of approval, and that is what really matters. My little sister was also very pleased and now adds princess "Tiana" to her favorites. She also said that she now wants some Gumbo.....