The Princess and the Frog: Yuptoo’s Review

Hey guys, this review is written by author and good friend of filmtwats.com, Dave Ditchfield. You can check Ditch’s blog over at www.yuptoo.co.uk Check out his fantastic review of The Princess and the Frog and leave your comments!

As an owner of every Walt Disney Animated Classic on video from the old Disney studios, I have been waiting for the Princess and the Frog since rumors started years ago about this project.
I am a fan of Pixar but have missed the hand drawn cartoon Classic series that blokes my age remember in their youth. I’m so glad the disastrous Home on the Range wasn’t to be Disney’s last Classic cartoon.
Pixar characters try to be too perfect and for me. I thought Disney’s The Wild looked like they were on the right track, even with CGI, but we have been left with Pixar’s influence over the sculpting of recent Disney animation. Ironic that Pixar’s John Lassiter is the man that has brought back the much missed hand drawn animation to the Disney studios.
The people behind the Little Mermaid and Hercules had a hand in the crafting of this beautiful film. I found many similarities with the Hercules film but the film felt more a kin to the dark and Moody Snow White than the tone of Ariel and her story. The Princess and the Frog is probably Disney’s darkest film since they released The Incredibles.
The story is based (loosely) on the fable The Frog Princess but with many side stories to keep any viewer interested. The Belle of the film, Tiana, promises herself that she will have her own restaurant to fulfill the ideal of her father who died whilst she was young. She spends her life with an all work and no play life but is a popular waitress who works double shifts to try to realize her dream. The film is set in the twenties in New Orleans with the city bringing an edilic backdrop to the story.
One day Tiana finds a talking frog… she kisses him (at his insistence) and rather than turning it into a handsome prince, she is turned into a frog. And this is where the fun begins.
Without giving it all away, the story lifts from the screens and into your hearts. The evil character The Shadow Man brings the darkness to the film like The Queen brings to the Snow White film. There has to be a villain, could you imagine Peter Pan without Hook?
Along the way, many characters are brought to the screen and although a trumpet playing jazz loving crocodile has its charms, it the firefly Ray. who steals the show. The Princess and the Frog play second fiddle to Ray’s story whose moments fill the screen and asks for laughter when required and tears when needed.
Oprah Winfrey had a big hand in bringing this to screen and throws her hand in as the voice of Tiana’s mother. There were murmurings in the press over race issues from characters and should there be a black princess or should she date a none-white man. I just see a beautiful film made to be watched by those wanting to be sat on their mother’s knee and be read a story. I know it sounds soppy but as a Disney addict, this kind of film excites me. The deliberate loss of detail in each and every second is worth ten minutes of CGI. I’m not a cartoon snob but this film has reinvigorated my love for all things Walter Elias Disney dreamt of.

I can’t wait to add this to my collection. You can keep your future developments in digital imagery, because 2D is the future - no technology can ever replace a good fairy tale!

***** (5 out of 5)