A New Orleans twist on the fairy tale, The Princess and the Frog is a blast that grows on you with every viewing. If your aren't craving beignets and etouffe by the end of this movie, there's something wrong with you.
Princess Tiana is a nice twist on a Disney Princess, and Prince Naveen is a wonderfully charming rogue. They have nice parallel story arcs that bring them together; Tiana learns to let people in, and Naveen learns to be responsible. The Shadow Man is wonderfully played by Keith David. That man's voice is built to terrify, but Disney does a nice job of playing up his weaknesses too. He does have quite an upsetting demise, what with getting dragged to hell by demons and all, but I suppose that's what you get for playing with Voodoo. I loved all the southern touches to this movie, the food, the voodoo, the music, and the different cultures. They do a nice job of showing the racial inequality of the deep south without belaboring the point. You can see the second class status of Tiana and the other black characters without turning the movie into "ROOTS: for Kids!" I also loved the inclusion of the cajun culture. Ray the firefly is one of my favorite characters, and his death is one the cruelest in all of Disney. He is literally the light of this movie, and I'll admit it got a little dusty when he passed on, and even dustier when he was united with Evangeline.
Lastly, the Trumpet is my favorite instrument, and having a aligator who is also a trumpet virtuoso is a nice touch. For those who don't know, this movie is the reason we are staying at the Port Orleans resort in Walt Disney World.
9/10
Up next, Up!
No comments:
Post a Comment