"The Princess and the Frog", Disney's highly anticipated animated feature, is something rare as a hand-drawn motion picture, which is unusual nowadays. If you've turned back time five or six years ago, this would have been a normal event, but after 2D animation was declared dead in 2004 and Hollywood Companies began to milk CGI films, it has been rarely made hand-drawn movies (with the exception of the animated sections of Disney's "Enchanted"). These five years of absence of 2D has given the audience (included myself) the space to miss and yearn for a new 2D feature from Disney. During these years, I've rediscovered Disney and started to enjoy their animated features again. And it was about time they released a new hand-drawn one.
The crew of this film, including John Lasseter, has claimed in interviews that they've gone back to the roots of Disney (the Princess fairy tales) and made a hand-drawn Disney movie with heart and soul equal to the "classics". So the question is, does "The Princess and the Frog" live up to them? The answer is yes. "The Princess and the Frog" is, more or less, just like watching a Disney flick from the 90's and it's great. However, there have been comments about that some of the artwork and character designs are reminiscent of a Don Bluth flick, which is somehow true, especially in the sections on the Bayou (and remember, Don Bluth used to work for Disney once). But fortunately this film feels more like Disney than Don Bluth.
The animation, with the exception of some bad drawn townspeople, is wonderful. It's not up to Disney's very best, but it's still lush, colorful and detailed.
When it comes to the characters, the lovebirds Tiana and (especially) Naveen are likable and witty, but Dr. Facilier is undoubtedly the one who steals the show. It has become a clichè to declare the villain as the best character of a Disney film, but Facilier really is the most memorable of the cast. Both charming and cruel at the same time, he's certainly the best male Disney villain since Hades from "Hercules".
After seeing some previews, I got the impression that the secondary characters (Charlotte, Louis, Ray and Mama Odie) were way over the top. Fortunately, they are less annoying in the movie (and I actually liked Ray's firefly family). While they're still goofy and far from Disney's best characters, they have a good interaction throughout the movie, which is nice to see. Especially the love progression of Tiana and Naveen is well done.
This film is directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, which has made good Disney movies in the past. You know what you can expect from them, also script-wise, which does have resemblances to "The Little Mermaid". Fortunately, the script is tight and doesn't have many story-holes. It is certainly a new and fresh take on "The Frog Prince" tale. And for the music; There has been lot of whining about Randy Newman doing the songs and score. I shall confess that I was concerned myself, but the songs are absolutely catchy. Not as the same league as Alan Menken's work, but still good. And his score is alright as well.
If there's anything to complain in "The Princess and the Frog", from subjective standards, it must be that I personally felt there were some parts between the climax and the ending who could have been done differently or better. If so, this could have been a 8 or 9-stars movie in my point of view.
Otherwise, "The Princess and the Frog" is a good Disney film. I don't dare to call it a Disney classic, but it certainly one of Disney's finest work, actually and deserves to be at the same league as the films from the early 90's. This film will certainly make up for Disney's recent mistakes like "High School Musical", "Hannah Montana The Movie" (seriously, the creators could just left the show alone and not milking the product for all it's worth) and their milking of their teen stars. And one thing is for certain; I want more hand-drawn animation from Disney! And soon, please!
The crew of this film, including John Lasseter, has claimed in interviews that they've gone back to the roots of Disney (the Princess fairy tales) and made a hand-drawn Disney movie with heart and soul equal to the "classics". So the question is, does "The Princess and the Frog" live up to them? The answer is yes. "The Princess and the Frog" is, more or less, just like watching a Disney flick from the 90's and it's great. However, there have been comments about that some of the artwork and character designs are reminiscent of a Don Bluth flick, which is somehow true, especially in the sections on the Bayou (and remember, Don Bluth used to work for Disney once). But fortunately this film feels more like Disney than Don Bluth.
The animation, with the exception of some bad drawn townspeople, is wonderful. It's not up to Disney's very best, but it's still lush, colorful and detailed.
When it comes to the characters, the lovebirds Tiana and (especially) Naveen are likable and witty, but Dr. Facilier is undoubtedly the one who steals the show. It has become a clichè to declare the villain as the best character of a Disney film, but Facilier really is the most memorable of the cast. Both charming and cruel at the same time, he's certainly the best male Disney villain since Hades from "Hercules".
After seeing some previews, I got the impression that the secondary characters (Charlotte, Louis, Ray and Mama Odie) were way over the top. Fortunately, they are less annoying in the movie (and I actually liked Ray's firefly family). While they're still goofy and far from Disney's best characters, they have a good interaction throughout the movie, which is nice to see. Especially the love progression of Tiana and Naveen is well done.
This film is directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, which has made good Disney movies in the past. You know what you can expect from them, also script-wise, which does have resemblances to "The Little Mermaid". Fortunately, the script is tight and doesn't have many story-holes. It is certainly a new and fresh take on "The Frog Prince" tale. And for the music; There has been lot of whining about Randy Newman doing the songs and score. I shall confess that I was concerned myself, but the songs are absolutely catchy. Not as the same league as Alan Menken's work, but still good. And his score is alright as well.
If there's anything to complain in "The Princess and the Frog", from subjective standards, it must be that I personally felt there were some parts between the climax and the ending who could have been done differently or better. If so, this could have been a 8 or 9-stars movie in my point of view.
Otherwise, "The Princess and the Frog" is a good Disney film. I don't dare to call it a Disney classic, but it certainly one of Disney's finest work, actually and deserves to be at the same league as the films from the early 90's. This film will certainly make up for Disney's recent mistakes like "High School Musical", "Hannah Montana The Movie" (seriously, the creators could just left the show alone and not milking the product for all it's worth) and their milking of their teen stars. And one thing is for certain; I want more hand-drawn animation from Disney! And soon, please!