DVD - The Princess and the Frog

 ☻☻☻☻☻


(five smiley faces out of five)


Living in a college town has its advantages. The University of Kansas plays Saturday night movies in the Woodruff auditorium in the Student Union that students may see for the bargain basement price of $1, and the general public may see for just $3. A couple of Saturdays ago, the Union was showing Disney’s newest ‘princess’ movie, The Princess and the Frog.



Luckily, the movie started at 8 p.m. So, I bundled my kid up in her jammies and slippers, bought some sugar free Sprite and candy at the Union convenience store and settled in with the students (and several other families with kids also in their jammies) to take in a fun night-time treat.


And what a treat it was! The Princess and the Frog stars Tiana, a hard working girl from New Orleans who is fighting poverty and racism to open her own restaurant. She happens across Prince Naveen, a fun-loving, lazy royal who’s been cut off from his family fortune for being too much of a playboy. I won’t spoil your fun by talking about the plot.


Before you write this movie off as a downer, or too political for little kids, let me assure you that Disney has, in my humble opinion (yeah right), handled the social implications of 1920s New Orleans in a manner that's digestible for today's kids. More on that later.


Right now, I want to focus on what I think makes this movie one of Disney’s best. First off, the musical numbers are as good as (if not better than) any song from Disney’s most celebrated musical princess movie, The Little Mermaid. Tiana, who’s speaking and singing voice is handled by Anika Noni Rose, has a set of singing pipes that will knock you back in your chair.


Scene after scene of this movie is pure eye candy. Hopefully for you, you can still catch it on the big screen somewhere or maybe on a big screen TV, because the larger the screen, the prettier this film is. It makes me want to visit New Orleans something awful.


The villain is hands down my new all-time Disney favorite. The Shadow Man, Dr. Facilier, is a snake-like, silky voiced charmer who oozes charisma and evil all at the same time and is voiced by the extremely talented Keith David.


This movie is genuinely funny and I laughed out loud several times. All of the characters are well-written and fun to listen to and watch. The scenery of New Orleans is gorgeous. The plot is pretty much fluff, but that’s okay, because it’s a fun bit of genuine escapism.


Now to the negative stuff: this movie has generated a lot of controversy. I’m not going to weigh in on most of it ’cause I’m a white lady (if you hadn’t noticed from my photo) and I would never condescend to try to tell other people when they should or should not feel slighted.


There has been criticism ranging from Tiana’s relaxed hair, to “Why is Disney’s first black princess a frog for most of the movie?” to Prince Naveen’s “strange” light colored skin. Whether or not these issues offend you is, ultimately, up to you. Personally, I am extremely offended that it has taken Disney this long to have a black lead character and a mostly black cast.


But there are definitely social issues that Disney chooses to ignore or gloss over in this movie. This is 1920s New Orleans we’re talking about. The film definitely depicts racial disparity—none of the black people in this story line, save Prince Naveen who’s come from a long way away—is rich. That privilege is reserved for white people. Still, somehow, there’s no segregation in this version of New Orleans. Black and white folk eat together in the same restaurants, which is certainly not going to look strange to the children of 2009-10, but will definitely be noticed by their parents and grandparents. And Tiana’s upwardly mobile, spoiled white friend Charlotte is actively trying to marry Prince Naveen, who is of some racially vague but definitively brown descent. That’s pretty far-fetched for 1920s America, prince or no prince.


Finally, there are apparently some white people who are offended that most of the white characters in this movie are goofy, dumb and silly, which they most certainly are. To that I say: Oh please.


As for me, “The Princess and the Frog” is now my favorite Disney princess movie ... and I’ve never really cared for any of the princess movies, for several reasons that I won't go into here. I would definitely recommend this movie for a bit of Disney fun.