The Princess and the Frog Reviewed by Moving Pictures Magazine
| Reviewed by Eric Kohn (December 2009) Directed/Written by: Ron Clements and John Musker Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” makes history by featuring the first African American heroine in one of its animated productions but, in its old-school charm and casual pilfering of folk motifs, it offers nothing new. Instead, it offers a classic formula and makes it work: catchy songs, exotic fantasy and happy endings. The story centers on |
Of course, that may have something to do with its protagonists going green. By the second act, Tiana has smooched a croaking amphibian named Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), who’s actually a down-on-his-luck French emigré transformed into his current state by the scheming voodoo meddler Dr. Facilier (Keith David). Here, Disney mildly subverts the original parable, as Tiana’s lip-lock with Prince Naveen turns her into a frog as well. The bulk of the remaining running time morphs into an amusing road trip as the two transformed humans join forces with a trumpet-blowing gator (Michael-Leon Wooley) and a spirited lightning bug (Jim Cummings) to journey across the swamp in search of an elderly priestess with the capacity to set things right. Strung together and mainly reliant on the comic interplay between the eventual match-made-in-heaven coupling of Tiana and her prince-to-be, “The Princess and the Frog” is likable for its familiar Disney tropes. Tiana’s personal longings provide an underlying emotional arc, and the romance holds a fundamental appeal. In general, however, the plot functions as a way station for some decent musical numbers – and a few quite remarkable ones. The setting provides the excuse for lyricist Randy Newman to let the funky rhythms flow. Dr. Facilier’s solo, “Friends from the Other Side,” offers one stand-out, but none of the tracks are hard on the ears. |
Nor do they raise any truly problematic racial issues. I counted one or two vaguely troubling stereotypes, but nothing on the infuriating level of the lyrics from the opening sequence of “Aladdin” (“They’ll cut off your ear if they don’t like your face” sounds about as hateful as things can get), which was also directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. Their sins in this case seem far more superficial. The potential dangers are undone by the anchoring presence of two credible black protagonists (Tiana and the prince), whose ethnic nature remains safely unconnected from the fairy tale backdrop (with the exception of the voodoo element, although it could be argued that this has become more of a Southern stereotype than one specifically related to black traditions). In his landmark 1968 tome, “The Disney Version,” Richard Schickel wrote of a “cultural neutrality” in Disney narratives that makes it difficult to take its stereotypes too seriously. And so it goes with “The Princess and the Frog.” Rather than turning nostalgia into something more progressive, the studio has turned progressiveness into nostalgia. It’s the wildest coup d’état since Obama aped the style of JFK. http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com/reviews/movies/the-princess-and-the-frog |
