A “The Princess and the Frog” review.
The Princess and the Frog is Disney’s first traditionally animated feature film since 2004 and, for that reason alone, I’ve been keeping a close eye on it through its development ups and downs. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, this movie has big shoes to fill as it attempts to resuscitate a dying breed of animation: the traditionally animated Disney musical. Though in more than capable hands, I was wary when going into the theater as I wasn’t sure what to expect and I didn’t know if Walt Disney Pictures still had it in them.
More after the break.
I had two major concerns going in:
1) Quality is obviously a concern with any film but it was even more so an issue with this movie because I really want traditional animation up there again. It’s tragically assumed that traditional animation died out just because it’s not CGI and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s always about quality and a critically and comercially acclaimed traditionally animated movie could ignite that one little spark that could eventually bring another animation renaissance along the lines of what happened in the 90’s.
2) It’s been a long time since I watched a Disney musical in theaters and a lot has happened regarding my views on animation since. I started to hate American animation as I fell in love with anime, I gained appreciation and utmost admiration for Disney in college, I discovered independent short films, I then started to hate anime as I fell in love with American cartoons again and so on and so forth. Needless to say, I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this movie like I did the old ones or if I had become too jaded for this kind of movie.
I’m happy to report that this movie more than succeeds on both accounts and that it’s an excellent addition to Disney’s repertoire of classics.
The story in The Princess and the Frog works in the way the best Disney films do: it gets to you. This is a story not of blind wishing but of hard work and sacrifice. It’s an alternate take on the story of The Frog Prince and that’s refreshing in and of itself. Disney has, understandably, been criticized numerous times in the past for taking a fable or a story and “dumbing” it down for kids in their film adaptations. I think that taking a story and giving it that twist and turning it into something else as was done in this movie both leads to a much more interesting product and gets rid of potential criticism in one fell swoop. So Prince Naveen, for example, is a womanizer that has been cut off from his parents due to his carefree lifestyle. Far from Prince Charming, I’d say. It’s this kind of honesty towards its characters that simultaneously makes the story seem both contemporary and timeless. I do have complaints about the story though. It takes a while for the real conflict of the story to be set up and, as a major villain, I think Dr. Facilier’s motives are never truly fleshed out enough to make him seem like a real, breathing character.
On the subject of Facilier, who is voiced by the inimitable Keith David and despite my earlier criticisms of the character, I have say that lead animator Bruce Smith did an amazing job with him and that he’s easily my favorite character in the movie. I am generally drawn to the Disney villains but Facilier is quite amazing and a sight to behold regardless. In all honesty, I don’t think there’s a bad character in the film. Even Louis, who serves no real purpose other than comedic relief, is charming and hard to dislike. The film also does a good job at throwing new characters at you every 20 minutes or so and still give each of one them enough character and depth so as to not make them feel like throwaways which is quite a feat.
I have to admit that I’ve never been a fan of the musical pieces in Disney movies (characters suddenly breaking into dance makes little sense to me) but I understand why they’re there and what they accomplish. I think most of the musical segments found in this movie work well and do a good job at advancing the story or exploring character motivations with flair. That being said, I absolutely loved Facilier’s “Friends on the Other Side” and wanted to clap after that song was finished (and I would have done so too were I not so self-conscious). I’ll watch this movie again for that segment alone.
The animation is what truly brings these characters to life, of course, and it’s this that’s perhaps most surprising about this movie. Charlotte, Louis, Mama Odie and the aforementioned Facilier in particular are just exquisitely animated. For a studio that basically threw away their entire traditional animation framework out the window about 4 or 5 years ago, this movie doesn’t miss a beat. I know most of the lead animators from previous Disney films have kept busy in the hiatus before this movie went into production but it really feels as if Disney had never stopped making these kind of films. It’s as if this were a direct continuation of what was being done before, with the flourishes that modern technology permits, of course. It’s clear that every single detail in this movie was handled with utmost care and this absolutely shows in the final product.
In short, The Princess and the Frog is a fantastic film and a fine return to form of an animation genre that many thought long dead. It’s an extremely well-put together movie by a number of talented individuals and a great showcase of how good story and characters is what ultimately dictates whether a movie is good or bad, not the medium in which these characters interact. It’s missing the epic, hero vs. villain finale of movies like Aladdin or The Lion King that my fondness of violent entertainment demands but I’ll live.
I’ve been waiting a long time for a good traditionally animated feature film and this is it.
Here’s to the potential start of a new animation renaissance.
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