The Princess and the Frog

"The Princess and the Frog" is directed by Ron Clements and John Musker ("The Little Mermaid and "Aladdin.") It stars the voices of Anika Noni Rose ("Dreamgirls"), Oprah Winfrey, John Goodman, and others...these are just the most famous and/or recognizable people in the cast.

The movie is semi-based off of the book, "The Frog Prince." In this version we have Tiana, the ninth Disney princess and the first black Disney princess...in the Walt Disney Company's defense, it only took 72 years for this to occur. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana and works as a waitress trying to raise money to open up the restaurant that her late father dreamed of. Through completely unforeseeable circumstances she becomes a frog and goes through a heck of a lot to become an actual person again. This, of course, would involve a prince, some voodoo and other magical occurrences. Yes, there is slightly more to the plot, but it would be tiring for me to explain it all in minute detail...and Disney's movies really aren't all that complicated.

First of all, and for me most importantly, "The Princess and the Frog" is animated in the traditional, hand-drawn, 2-D style. I'm not sure everyone can even comprehend how amazing this is. Walt Disney Pictures for whatever reason decided that it would be a good idea to stop making hand drawn, animated movies. The last one was 5 years ago when "Home on the Range" came out which really wasn't that good, but back then I wasn't smart enough to realize it. Luckily someone over there realized that was a really awful idea to stop using that type of animation. Disney's newest hand-drawn animated outing looks fantastic. It is basically what most people expect from a Disney movie and fits right in with the likes of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," "Cinderella," "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," etc.

The voice cast is great. Anika Noni Rose was a really good choice for the lead character. This probably is going to sound strange, but she sounds like a Disney princess. And she has a great singing voice, which she proved in "Dreamgirls." I'm glad that Disney likes to use John Goodman in their movies occasionally, because I love listening to him. He has a distinctive voice that works out so well in animated movies. Throwing Oprah Winfrey into the mix really doesn't hurt...her voice is not as distinctive....but trust me, she is in this movie and gets the job done.

Randy Newman composed the score and the songs for this movie. He has previously worked on several Pixar movies, such as "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc." True, the songs that he has written and performed in Pixar movies are more memorable than what is in "The Princess and the Frog." But, I happen to love Randy Newman and he does have some very catchy songs in this movie and they just fit the overall tone and energy of the movie so well. Music is often a key part in Disney movies and this one is no exception.

"The Princess and the Frog" is more or less the same as all the other princess/fairy tale movies that Disney has released over the past 7 decades. No new ground is really covered, which is fine because these are family movies and Disney can get away with those sort of things. Something tells me this movie didn't require a whole lot of thought that hadn't already been used elsewhere in a Disney movie.

There also are some drawn-out scenes, like most movies. And a couple unnecessary and/or just kind of annoying scenes. It's really not worth going into them...just trust me...they are there... But then again I'm probably not the target audience for this type of movie...so I'm assuming most people wouldn't be bothered by this and sometimes I just enjoy complaining about things.

Finally, a Disney movie (not made my Pixar) that is worthy of the Walt Disney name. The animation is great and I'm glad Disney went back to their roots, for at least one more time. The songs are catchy (Randy Newman has done better) and the voice cast is great. Not an original approach to or type of movie, but thoroughly enjoyable, nonetheless. 3 out of 4 stars.

-Joseph Sbrilli