The Princess and the Frog

 

I finally watched the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog, the latest classic animated movie from the studio in the typical fairy tale set up that Disney likes to bring out from time to time. Critically acclaimed at the time of release, but not a smash hit by the audiences. It did decent enough, but if you look at the Disney movies of the 90's, not as well. Well, animation was nice, music worked and I really liked the voodoo themes, but that might more be due to me enjoying occult themes and games like Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers. Interestingly enough both takes place in New Orleans. Really, the shadow figures and the shadow man (the main villain) was interesting ideas, but I wish they would have taken it further. Some gritty Don Bluth darkness and Ralph Bakshi gore would have made it really awesome occult voodoo movie. Of course, that wouldn't have been Disney.

To be honest I can appreciate it for being a "hand drawn" animated movie, but something don't click with me. I'm probably not the target demographic, but shouldn't great movies pull you in even though you aren't the target demographic? Or is it acquired test? Really, compared to Disney's 90's movies will this movie be remembered as fondly or is it nostalgia standing in the way? Hell, even older Disney movies can still be enjoyable on different levels. Maybe not in pacing. Snow White is pretty boring at times when the story slows down (I'm thinking about when she sings about the prince for the dwarfs, it gives nothing to the story and just breaks of the story), but you can enjoy the fantastic animation, music and the story can suck you in. The Queen is scary at times and the transformation scene is terrifying for a child (again, my nostalgia might be in the way since I actually watched this in theaters... no I'm not that old, they re-released them in theaters in 1993 so mom took me and my sisters to see it). 

The story of this movie then. A poor African-American girl dreams of owning her own restaurant and works all the time making her seem to boring and stuck up for her friends. Her best friend is a daughter to some landowner that wants to marry this prince from... Maldona since he's a prince. The prince (is he African, or African-European, or African-Asian?) is a free-loathing leech who wants to marry this rich white girl to get money again. Meanwhile this shadow man voodoo priest wants to kill of the landowner and take over New Orleans using the white servant of the prince as a doppelganger to gain access to the money of the landowner. It's here my suspension of disbelief starts to malfunction. This is the 1920's. An interracial wedding with an African (?) prince who has a white servant in the southern states of America? I might not know that much about the times in this place, but through American entertainment I assume this is a pretty racist and segregated place. I know it's a fairy tale, but at least the french peasant did what french peasant do from the 16-17th century in Europe in Beauty and the Beast. This might be my misconception of the American South in the early 20th century. The voodoo plot? I buy it, seems fairly logical if accept the possible occult themes. Also, I like the small throwbacks to other Disney movies. You have Triton from the Little Mermaid showing up, a couple dressed as Aladdin and Jasmine at a costume ball, a line from Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast and a dance sequence directly taken from Sleeping Beauty. The last thing to mention, and this is a huge spoiler for the movie. The death of the firefly. Crushed by the foot of the bad guy and permanently dies (resurrected as a star... might be a Lion King reference). It doesn't happen often, bad guys die fairly often, but good guys? Bambi's mother and the Atlantean king (though he was what 3000 years old?) are the closest, we also got Cinderellas father and such, but that is back story and often attributed to sickness or old age. This... straight up murder.