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7 ways Princess and the Frog recalls Disney's 2-D glory
At the start of the D23 Disney fan expo on Thursday, president/chief executive Bob Iger introduced a screening of the first third of the studio's upcoming animated The Princess and the Frog, and the preview revealed that the movie bears the pedigree of its traditionally animated forebears from Snow White to Lilo & Stitch. Princess—from directors Ron Clements and John Musker—marks a return to 2-D animation for the studio that gave birth to the animated feature film.
The film stars Anika Noni Rose as the voice of Tiana, who seems unimpressed by Prince Naveen's (Bruno Campos) visit to New Orleans until she hears his voice coming from a frog. Turns out a trip to the old voodoo doctor didn't work out so well for Naveen. Following the old story, she kisses him, only to find herself turned into a frog.
As the footage screened, we remembered why we liked all those old cartoons in the first place. Here are seven reasons why The Princess and the Frog promises to breathe new life into the traditionally animated movie genre in this era of 3-D computer-generated toons. Iger asks that we return to see the whole film when it opens wide Dec. 11, after a limited release Nov. 25.
1) The rousing music. Disney's animated musicals all had a classic structure, and Princess is no exception: It begins with the song that sets up the town and the characters, followed by the heroine's song, in which we learn that she doesn't conform to society's standards (think Ariel, Belle, Pocahontas, Mulan ... ). That comes back as a slower, sad reprise a la Team America. Of course, the villainous Dr. Facilier (Keith David) gets a boisterous solo that explains why everyone should be afraid of him. This time around, the staple songs are jazzed up a la the New Orleans setting. After the screening, Rose sang the film's opening number live, her bronchitis be damned, and still rocked it.
2) It twists a familiar tale. The new, hip Genie gave Disney's Aladdin a new take on the Arabian Nights, while fairy tales got the Disney treatment in Snow White, Cinderella and Pinocchio. Similarly, The Princess and the Frog puts a reverse sping on the "kissing the amphibian" story. The film's characters even know the classic tale of the Frog Prince and reference it aplenty, and it's clear this version will play out differently.
3) Talking inanimate objects. Beauty and the Beast featured talking cookware and a candelabra. In Princess, Dr. Facilier's voodoo artifacts come to life and sing along with him. Maybe shrunken heads and voodoo dolls aren't as merchandisable as Mrs. Potts or the tree from Pocahontas, but that's what sings in the Crescent City.
4) R.I.P Daddy. What's a Disney movie without a dead parent? Tiana's father appears in the childhood prologue, dreaming of the restaurant he'll name after her and teaching her a solid work ethic. Even if she wishes on a star, he says, she still has to work hard. That dude's clearly gotta go. When Tiana grows up, she's still scrounging for the money to open up her dad's restaurant. Pops joins the ranks of Mufasa, Mrs. Geppetto and Bambi's mom.
5) Fat funny henchman. In his human form, Prince Naveen has a portly sidekick who gets all frazzled by Naveen's carefree attitude. That means when Naveen gets the dance in his pants from a local street band, he drags his servant/advisor back and forth, the underling lugging trunks and baggage all the while. It's unclear whether this character is indeed a hapless employee or actually the authority trying to keep Naveen in line. Either way, he gets his head stuck in a tuba, and it's funny.
6) The meager acquire wealth and royalty learns a lesson. Now here's where Princess has it both ways. Disney stories depict either the rise of a humble everyman (Aladdin, Belle, Quasimodo) or the education of a king/queen/prince/princess (Ariel, Simba, The Beast). Like Beauty, this one has both. Tiana will surely triumph over adversity (both poverty and the frog thing), and Naveen gets taken down a peg or two.
7) It's prettier than CG. The Princess and the Frog may use old-school techniques, but that's what makes it as bright and colorful as the classics. The bright pink bedroom of a wealthy neighbor explodes in pastel. A trip to Tiana's neighborhood shows the disparity of wealth. The backgrounds explode with detail that conveys age and experience through simple shading and textures. The skies glow lavender, transforming New Orleans into a fantasy realm of Disney lore. In a key fantasy sequence, Tiana's dream for her restaurant, the 2-D is more down to earth, but the colors are pure and the lines crisp. Animation never looked so good.
By KarlSten at 4:21 AM ON 09/11/09
I'm sorry. . . am I missing something? I thought this was SCI-FI wire. 'Sci-fi' being short for 'Science Fiction'. How does 'The Princess and the Frog' pertain to SCIENCE FICTION?!? Let's try to stay on message here, shall we?
By thunderstud at 4:32 AM ON 09/11/09
Fantasy and science fiction go hand in hand. It's on topic--at least this article wasn't about wrestling or some such thing.
By Cris at 4:49 AM ON 09/11/09
Re: KarlSten
Are you kidding me? What are you, the hall monitor?
Grow the hell up, you self-important douchebag.
By Dead Megatron at 5:29 AM ON 09/11/09
Hey, Karl Sten, let me ask you this: You probably saw the title of the article before reading ansd commenting it. Being it so obviously not-science fiction, why did you read it? I mean, how dare you read an article that is not scifi-related in a scifi site? I think you should be banned from the internet for this clear violation of genre-reading....
stupid ass...
By FresnoTimeLord at 5:37 AM ON 09/11/09
It's nice to see Disney getting back to 2-D Cartoons!
I've missed them!
By Manda at 7:33 AM ON 09/11/09
Karl-
GTFO. -_-
By ETo at 7:56 AM ON 09/11/09
This will not be one of Disney's more popular movies, the New Orleans location and voodoo subject matter will turn too many people off. They would have been better off to stick a little closer to the original.
By vjw at 8:53 AM ON 09/11/09
I'm glad Disney is going back to what it does best...
That being said...It's funny you should mention Lilo and Stitch in the same article because the heroine in this movie looks like an adult version of Lilo... and that shows a bit of unorginality on Disney's part. That's a shame.
By Mauller07 at 9:30 AM ON 09/11/09
thunderstud is right
fantasy and scifi do go hand in hand its just a different outlook, wheras in fantasy all of the metaphysical events are caused by magic etc and the metaphysical events in scifi are caused by machines some working with explainable theory and others a complete fantasy
both contain unexplainable metaphysical events the worst in scifi which border more towards fantasy are teleporters and replicators although the technology could be obtainable in whatever time period its no more obtainable then gaining magical or psychic powers
By bainsidhe at 9:43 AM ON 09/11/09
to add to that... one of the focal points was the merit of Disney's "getting back" to 2-D animation. To me, that screams tech... which is in fact part of the whole "science" bit
By B at 9:49 AM ON 09/11/09
Science fiction, fantasy, and supernatural-style horror (think: Jason Vorhees not Dr. Lectur) have, for YEARS, fallen under a common umbrella. Not just on this site, but on most SF-related sites. SCI FI WIRE covers the entirety of the genre, even tangetially related items. Yes, even stuff that you personally might not be interested in.
Wouldn't you rather have a site that covers every item/book/event/film/etc in the genre than one that omits everything except what's defined by your narrow view of what SF should be?
Most people who enjoy science fiction can't even agree on what science fiction is and what it isn't.
To paraphrase: Cover it all, let the internets sort it out.
By joshua sweet at 10:41 AM ON 09/11/09
Even more influential was the 1958 Disney film White Wilderness, which won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature, in which footage was shown that seems to show the mass suicide of lemmings.[10] A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Cruel Camera, found that the lemmings used for White Wilderness were flown from Hudson Bay to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where they did not jump off the cliff, but in fact were launched off the cliff using a turntable
I will not watch Disney
By joesocwork at 11:36 AM ON 09/11/09
Ahem...
...Anyway, I now have to memorize the names TEN Disney princesses for the sake of my 9 y.o. daughter! :P It's great that she is of color too! :) Our household will probably be seeing this one!
By Loki at 11:46 AM ON 09/11/09
Joshua, dude, some guy, who is probably dead by now did something bad back in 1958 and you STILL hold it against the company involved? Talk about holding a grudge. If you boycotted every entity or product that was made by a company that had done anything wrong in the last 50+ years, you woulld probably have to lock yourself in a dark room for the rest of your life.
By Squirrlie Gus at 12:30 PM ON 09/11/09
Well, that just goes to show you that you don't piss off Disney fans...Who says they are just a bunch of kids and cream puffs. LOL. And Joshua, dude, you couldn't even lock yourself in a dark room because the lock would probably be made by someone who did something bad at some point in time. Don't get me wrong, gotta remember the past, but don't live in it...Just a thought.
And on a personal note, I'm hopeful for this one. I really want Disney to bring their "A" game because it's been a long time since we've had anything as good as Lion King, Beauty & the Beast, or Aladin.
By suprememango at 1:32 PM ON 09/11/09
A pat on the back to Disney. I was tired of their mediorce straight to DVD psuedo-sequels to their time honoured classics.
By Tarc at 1:53 PM ON 09/11/09
Karl - it's not Sci-fi any more - it's Siffy! Yes, SyFy, and no longer just about sci-fi!
Ugh.
By cr0ft at 4:53 PM ON 09/11/09
This is good news, as long as the animation is up to the Disney quality of yore. I'm getting extremely tired of the sloppy japan-style animation that seems to be becoming the norm, or even worse the nasty stop-motion style employed by all superhero animations these days.
Classic Disney-style is classic for a reason though, looking forward to seeing it.
As for SyFy... it still makes me gag. Marketing by committee, uuuuurgh.
By Methos at 7:34 PM ON 09/11/09
DISNEY! FUCKING DISNEY RUINED MY MARVEL!!! lol just had to get that one out. I'm Glad John Lassner decided to get Disney back on there animation roots.
By justravis at 5:27 AM ON 09/13/09
we're entering an era where even the revolutionary computer animated movie, Toy Story, needs to be updated to 3-D
yes, it could be a great movie, but i just cant see people paying $10-$12 to watch a 2-d movie
By Mandy at 1:54 PM ON 09/13/09
KarlSten, if you knew anything about Scifi you would know this channel used to blanket the genres of Fantasy, Science fiction, and Gothic horror as were the subjects covered on the first Scifi channel original series, Scifi Buzz.
By Mandy at 2:03 PM ON 09/13/09
'i just cant see people paying $10-$12 to watch a 2-d movie'
One word in reply to this... Anime.
--------------------------------------
'it's not Sci-fi any more - it's Siffy! Yes, SyFy, and no longer just about sci-fi! '
Does no one remember the Scifi Channel of the nineties when a lot of the content WAS fantasy? The very first show the Scifi channel ever aired was a rerun of the Gothic soap about supernatural creatures, Dark Shadows.
Visit mobile.syfy.com/wire on your mobile device.
Mandy:
'i just cant see people paying $10-$12 to watch a 2-d movie' One word in reply to this... Anime. ----------------...More »