The Princess and the Frog

[sophinisba]

rubynye, your card arrived yesterday, thank you so much. I love that you put so much creativity and care into your gifts. ♥

I went to see the new Disney movie The Princess and the Frog on Tuesday! I'm not usually a big fan of kids' movies or cartoons but I enjoyed this. The heroine is Tiana, a black woman in 1920s New Orleans who dreams of owning her own restaurant. She is tough and hardworking and smart and loves her family. She reminded me a little of Monica, one of my favorite Heroes characters, who unfortunately never got to be a protagonist like Tiana is. I liked her and most of the other characters a lot. The songs literally had me tapping my feet and some of the jokes made me laugh out loud. Maybe next year I'll request Tiana/Charlotte for Yuletide!

kialio posted a great review at deadbrowalking aimed at people of color (and other people who like to avoid racist movies) with minor spoilers and a few bigger ones you have to highlight to read.

There is some voodoo magic that turns both Tiana and the Prince into frogs. They have the same voices and personalities and even mannerisms, but they are frogs. Kia's review says that the consistent characterization "doesn't make up for the loveliest animated black woman to date being hidden behind a frog for most of the movie, but it makes it makes it bearable at least." I agree that it was bearable, but I did get somewhat bored by the frog stuff and wish it hadn't gone on so long, in addition to wanting to see more of Tiana in human form. I thought the frogs looked kind of silly, especially when they were standing up.

I liked the other animal characters more than Kia did though - I thought Louis the trumpet-playing alligator was hilarious, even though he didn't really look like an alligator. Ray was also funny and I loved the animation of the scenes with all his firefly friends and relations. My other favorite part of the animation was the closing credits with really pretty, stylized images of old New Orleans.

ETA: Nnedi Okorafor's review is a lot more spoilery but also interesting and insightful. It's just the kind of review I like to read after watching a good movie.

Comments

[lavendertook]

It sounds like one Disney princess film I might like to see.

[sophinisba]

Yeah, I usually skip them but I figured the first black Disney princess was something special, and I'm glad I saw it on the big screen.

[trascendenza]

You have totally sold me on this film! It also seems like it's worth supporting in hopes of getting more of them in the future.

[sophinisba]

That was my thought also! I want Disney to keep doing this kind of thing so it stops being unusual to have a princess who isn't white, not to mention a heroine whose only dream in life isn't to marry a prince. OMG Sheera, there's this other character in the movie, Charlotte, who's rich and white and her only dream is to marry a prince and she's just so old-fashioned Disney heroine but she's the comic relief and Tiana is the star. It's such a relief (even though the movie is not perfect).

[trascendenza]

Oh, how awesome. I love that it's getting to the point where the archetypal Disney princess is becoming a parody rather than a perpetuated ideal.

I'm taking my Little Sis to see it on Thursday, yay!

[msilverstar]

thanks for the reviews, I will be much happier to let girlchild see it