It's been a good year for Disney animation, first we just had the magnificent UP for the summer, which has propelled Disney Pixar to the summit of the 3D animation movies (in term of quality, not the big bucks), and on the other hand, now we're having the classic Disney feature, the 2D animation with THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG.
Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Mulan, Tarzan, Cinderella, Snow White, etc. Ring a bell? I miss those kind of movies, with family value story telling, along with nice soundtracks. Back then, Disney could come up with something fresh for each year release. I guess, the last time I saw a good one was Lilo & Stitch. Afterwards, we were bombarded by the 3D, and the 2D was lost into the abyss. But, thanks to John Lasseter (Pixar's boss), who has a great vision of bringing the old 2D alive again, by opening the Disney Animation Studios again, with The Princess and the Frog as its first production. And beyond my expectation, Disney's back with its magical charm.
Back then, Disney went for multi-cultural Princess (Belle, Mulan, Jasmine, and Pocahontas), and I think the decision to go for a 'black' Princess is not just a bold decision, but it pays well in the end. In fact, the New Orleans Jazz-era settings is a different approach compared to previous fairy tales which took place in older era. It's kinda giving us something fresh about princess movie.
The story tells us about Tiana, a waitress and expert cook, who works in a small New Orleans cafe, where she works double shifts to earn enough money to open her own restaurants, in order to fulfill her late father's wish. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen just drops by to the city, where he will marry the local princess, Charlotte, who happens to be Tiana's best friends. Apparently, every fairy tale must have an antagonist. Dr. Facilier, part magician part voodoo expert, has his own agenda by using the Prince and his butler to fulfill his madness ego and rule New Orleans under his feet. In this case, he persuades the butler to become both the Prince and the his puppet, while the original Prince is transformed into a frog. After some strings of events at the welcoming party, Tiana met the frog princess up in the balcony, where she's making a wish upon a star to make her dream comes true. Well, surely becoming a frog is not part of the wish list, since this is not that particular story where the frog kisses the princess and he becomes human again. After the shocking incident, Tiana and Naveen has to find out the way to overcome their curses and save New Orleans from Facilier's madness.
Disney smartly twists the whole plot in order to make it an extraordinary fairy tale which sets in a more modern era, where Jazz is the main theme. Watching this movie successfully re-ignites my old memories of classic Disney's plot and soundtracks. With the trademark of introducing memorable characters, catchy songs, funny moments, and not to mention the 'live happily ever after' portion, I think THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG has met my expectations on how a Disney movie should be done. Disney just makes our dreams come true by return to its roots on animation film making and story telling. Other big addition is the Jazz, where Randy Newman perfectly provides the whole range of jazz music which are authentic to the locals, with a mixture of pop and catchy tunes.
It's amazing and a bold move by Disney, where most studios are producing the 3D movies, and suddenly they create something which a step backward in technology, but nonetheless, it's not step down in delivering the entertainment. Perhaps it is too premature to celebrate the 2D is coming back to the cinemas, but at least this is a huge first step from the grave. It is nice to see the fairy tales are in the big screen again, since I believe that these kind of movies are the best to be told not only for children, but also for people who still believe in hope, love story, dreams, happy ending, and wishing upon a star.
My Ratings : 9/10
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