There is a lot to love about Disney’s new Princess Tiana from the animated movie “The Princess and the Frog.†Tiana is stunning as she demonstrates courage, self-determination, and black beauty. But in plot and personality, the movie falls short of Disney’s animated endeavors from the 1990s.
The movie opens with Tiana, played by Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose, as a young girl fascinated by the fairytales her mother, Eudora, played by Oprah Winfrey, reads to her and her friend Charlotte. Tiana is giddy about the idea that wishing on a star can provide immediate gratification, but her father (Terrence Howard) reminds her that it’s okay to dream, but without hard work, the dream isn’t worth much.
Fast-forward about 15 years and you find Tiana, a waitress laboring through two shifts a day as she saves money to fulfill her dream of opening a swanky restaurant. Her friend Charlotte, on the other hand, has her sights set on winning the heart of a prince.
Meanwhile, hard-partying Prince Naveen, who is visiting from a faraway land, wants to marry into a prosperous family because his parents disowned him due to his undisciplined behavior. Everyone’s plans get derailed when Dr. Facilier (Keith David)–for reasons not explained clearly– turns the prince into a frog.
What happens next are the typical tribulations and revelations that lead to a happy ending. The story, written by Ron Clements and John Musker, the same directing team behind “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid,” along with black screenwriter Rob Edwards, is full of commendable teachable moments that, at times, are too heavy and prevent the audience from getting lost in the story.
Aside from an array of dainty yet daring damsels, Disney’s animated classics are best known for magical plots and fabulous musical scores. Given its reputation for eerie phenomenon and a history steeped in jazz, Louisiana was the perfect setting for Disney’s debut foray
into the telling of an American fairy tale. For Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation after 11 years, the animators, writers, and actors did a fine job of bringing New Orleans and all of its sights and sounds to life.What Disney did not bring to life was the racism that permeated every nook and cranny of the 1920s deep South. The lack of historical or cultural context hasn’t stopped audiences from flocking to other Disney animated films — “Pocahontas†has been criticized as being historically inaccurate and Jasmine’s outfit in “Aladdin†was criticized as indecent — and the erasure of racial discord likely won’t keep droves of children from loving Tiana’s story either. (Parents can use Tiana’s story as a platform to provide background on the U.S.’s racial disharmony.)
Tiana definitely holds her own in the ranks of Disney’s princesses, who, unlike her, are usually being rescued. She becomes the ring leader for a misfit band of fauna out of the Louisiana bayou, including the frog prince; a loquacious Cajun firefly; a trumpet-playing alligator; and a 197-year-old voodoo priestess.
A black Prince Naveen would have been nice to see because little black boys should get a little help imagining themselves as royalty too — but Tiana’s father represents the perfect example of a hardworking black man that is a thoughtful and loving parent.
Unfortunately, the attraction between Tiana and Naveen seems forced. The romance was more intense between the two robots in Pixar’s “Wall-E.†The cadence of Ray, the firefly, can be off-putting at first, but it is in context with 1920s Louisiana, where the Cajun dialect was prevalent. It is Keith David, however, whose acting takes the prize for the cartoon’s second most mesmerizing character (after Tiana, of course) and the soundtrack’s most memorable song, “Friends on the Other Side.â€
The rest of the music is great, but none of the songs by academy-award winning composer Randy
Newman are hits that can compare with songs like “Mermaid’s†“Kiss the Girl,†or “The Lion King’s†“Hakuna Matata,†which were all created by Tim Rice.Despite the film’s flaws, “The Princess and the Frog†is a fairytale that children will relish. Kids will not only be in awe of its fantastical elements but they will also learn lessons on the importance of saving and investing, entrepreneurship, developing a work ethic, and that love doesn’t see color — even when its black, brown or green.
“The Princess and the Frog”
— Opens Friday nationwide; Rated G
— Starring: Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Terrence Howard (James), John Goodman (Big Daddy), Keith David (Dr. Facilier), Jenifer Lewis (Mama Odie), Oprah Winfrey (Eudora), Michael-Leon Wooley (Louis), and Elizabeth Dampier (Young Tiana)
— Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes
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