Skip to main contentAbout one hour into Disney's latest "animated classic," a Cajun-flavored spin on "The Frog Prince," Tiana, the film's waitress/princess lead, exclaims for the fifth or sixth time that only hard work, and not wishing upon stars, will make dreams come true. She's not just speaking for herself. Disney Animation as a whole seems to have come to the conclusion that, after nearly a decade of lazy, derivative flops and tepid successes (does anyone even remember Atlantis: The Lost Empire?), it's time to head back, literally, to the drawing board. The Princess and the Frog is the Mouse's first hand-animated feature since 2004's unbearably annoying Home on the Range, and it is a beaut. Directors Ron Clements and John Musker wield multiple visual styles: Jazz Age New Orleans and the bayou are illustrated with lush, hyperdetailed backgrounds, characters are drawn with Jungle Book-style clean lines, and voodoo dance numbers (of which there are a few) come with nightmarish splashes of color. Visually, it's every bit as lovely as The Lion King, if not nearly so charming.
The preachy protagonist, an industrious would-be restaurateur named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), finds her plans derailed by some sketchy real estate shenanigans and, in a moment of desperation, kisses a frog claiming to be Naveen, the ambiguously ethnic prince of Maldonia (the first prince to have a personality—he's a layabout dandy). Tiana is black. This is a first for Disney, and likely of great import to the studio's marketing department, but of none whatsoever to the film, which portrays New Orleans as a sort of prejudice-free dreamland where all you need to get ahead, no matter the color of your skin, is a little cash. As if to prove the point, Clements and Musker waste little time in turning Tiana green and slimy—the spell apparently works in reverse for non-royals—and sending her off on an hourlong chase through the bayou, pursued by white rednecks and black magic. The latter is conjured by Dr. Facilier, a stick-thin, fleet-fingered magus hell-bent on saving himself from another otherworldly magician. Voiced by Keith David, he's wickedly charismatic and really, really cool. His big solo, "I Have Friends on the Other Side," is the only catchy number in Randy Newman's lively but forgettable score, and he is in fact one of only two likable characters in the film (the other's a trumpet-playing alligator). A note to Disney: Nice effort, but give us more of the bad boy. G.
opens Friday at Cedar Hills, Eastport, Cinema 99, Bridgeport, City Center, Cornelius, Evergreen, Hilltop, LLoyd Mall, Movies on TV, Oak Grove, Pioneer Place, Sandy, Sherwdo, Tigard and Wilsonville.
WWeek 2015