The Princess and the Frog (2009)

A fairy tale set in Jazz Age-era New Orleans and centered on a young girl named Tiana and her fateful kiss with a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again. 

      Promoted as a return to old-school Disney, this movie features the first African-American princess ever and the first hand-drawn Disney in five years, the previous being Home on the Range. This was a very good movie. It has a lot of elements of classic Disney moments but also updates the formula by having our princess' (though she's actually a working girl) dream being operating an upscale eatery and the unique setting of New Orleans. 

     The voice acting was excellent. The highlight for me was Jenifer Cody, who plays Tiana's rich best friend. She takes the role of a ditzy side character to a whole new level with voice inflections to rival Scarlet O'Hara and a speaking speed so quick it can make your head spin. She's hilarious. I also liked that, as in Beauty and the Beast, all the voice actors did their own singing. 

     The animation was very pretty. I felt it was a bit over the top in some places (a scene featuring three swamp-men hitting each other for what seemed like way too long), but one song sequence in particular where Tiana sings about her dream to her mother was very unique and well-done. 

     The key difference in this film was the villain. As a voodoo man, known by other characters as The Shadow Man, our villain is incredibly evil. All of his song sequences are extremely dark (singing masks, voodoo dolls complete with pins dancing and beating drums, shadow demons chasing our heroes) would disturb many parents and young children. Towards the end of the movie, the level of frightening images seemed too high and unnecessary. 

    The music was good. Again, Randy Newman composed it, but thankfully, I don't recall him singing. The highlights were "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans," two of the Best Song nominees for this past year's Oscars. Tiana has a superior voice to most Disney princesses, and the character singing of her co-stars gave a different flavor to the score. All in all, a very well-done, albeit darker, Disney princess movie.