AngieBelle
<font color=#FF0066>Future Belle on Broadway<br><f
- Joined
- Aug 30, 1999
- Messages
- 2,165
So Friday after work, I finally saw the movie I'd been waiting all year for...The Princess and the Frog. And the census is...LOVED IT! While I have too much bias towards the big 3 (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin) to rank it quite that high, it's certainly just below it and the best thing Disney has done in years. Now *this* is the Disney I fell in love with!
The songs, while not up to Menken's best, are great fun. My favorite, per usual, is Tiana's anthem, "Almost There." I will be teaching myself to sing that one.
I was worried I had spoiled too much of the film for myself because I've watched every clip I could find online beforehand, but there were several things that caught me off guard which I won't go into as to keep this a no spoiler review. I love how the story is resolved- very clever!
Oddly enough, the movie that it reminded me the most of was Fox's Anastasia which I also adore. Although stylistically different due to very different locations, both films involve a couple who go on a journey together and initially drive each other crazy but later fall in love. Both male leads are cads who later have a change of heart. (Prince Naveen even pulls the exact same manipulation stunt as Demitri.) Both villains have essentially sold their souls and meet their end in very similar ways.
A few minor quibbles...Tiana at times almost made me agree with Naveen that she was a stick in the mud! I thought the relationship between Tiana and Naveen wasn't developed enough- the change of heart happened almost too fast. Some of the background characters were a bit goofy looking, and there was at least one segment that got too ridiculous for my taste plus a couple gross out bits I could have done without.
It's interesting that in this film, the main protagonist gets to have a mother- yay! That seems to be relatively rare in Disney animated films. It's also interesting to note that there were absolutely no references to the racism that existed in that place and time, but that's all right. It wasn't a story about race and didn't need to be made into one.
Go see this movie! I wish it every ounce of success it can muster!
The songs, while not up to Menken's best, are great fun. My favorite, per usual, is Tiana's anthem, "Almost There." I will be teaching myself to sing that one.
I was worried I had spoiled too much of the film for myself because I've watched every clip I could find online beforehand, but there were several things that caught me off guard which I won't go into as to keep this a no spoiler review. I love how the story is resolved- very clever!
Oddly enough, the movie that it reminded me the most of was Fox's Anastasia which I also adore. Although stylistically different due to very different locations, both films involve a couple who go on a journey together and initially drive each other crazy but later fall in love. Both male leads are cads who later have a change of heart. (Prince Naveen even pulls the exact same manipulation stunt as Demitri.) Both villains have essentially sold their souls and meet their end in very similar ways.
A few minor quibbles...Tiana at times almost made me agree with Naveen that she was a stick in the mud! I thought the relationship between Tiana and Naveen wasn't developed enough- the change of heart happened almost too fast. Some of the background characters were a bit goofy looking, and there was at least one segment that got too ridiculous for my taste plus a couple gross out bits I could have done without.
It's interesting that in this film, the main protagonist gets to have a mother- yay! That seems to be relatively rare in Disney animated films. It's also interesting to note that there were absolutely no references to the racism that existed in that place and time, but that's all right. It wasn't a story about race and didn't need to be made into one.
Go see this movie! I wish it every ounce of success it can muster!
