*** Official THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

Well, it was nice to see the return of a traditional cel style animated feature. Unfortunately, I don't see this film as being the renaissance of handdrawn animated features. It wasn't a bad film. In fact, it had some good business but, overall, it seemed rather uninspired. The musical numbers were ok, but none of them felt like "A" material. A lot of them them felt like the composer showed up with his B game: as if he had some bean counter hanging over his shoulder telling him to watch the budget. For example, there is a scene in the film that is similar in structure to the "Kiss the Girl" scene in "The Little Mermaid"; however, the music backing Tiana's and Naveen's dance just didn't grab a person, unlike "Kiss the Girl" which was memorable. As a result, the scene never really pulls a person in. Musically, the whole film feels like that. The music supports the show, but never really reaches the level where a person feels like they have just heard and watched something special.

The animation was nicely done;however, I still left the theater feeling that people were being told to keep the budget in mind, instead of being told to make a great movie. In fact, judging by the credits, it looked like they actually had contract animation houses working on this film, rather than doing it all in-house.

All in all, I found it was entertaining enough, but rather generic in terms of story and music. It was a good effort, but never reaches the level of films such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King. I'm giving this one a B-.

 

[Chris Atkins]

I mostly agree with Edwin. I thought it was a very solid effort, and though overall it didn't achieve the greatness of Disney's classic 2D animated features, there were some very inspired moments in the film.

I thought the Lassiter influence was particularly strong, and the emphasis of the film was on story and not style. Furthermore, I loved the fact that one of the film's themes was to work hard and your dreams will come true; appreciated that since my 6 year old daughter loves these films so much.

I saw this in a sold out theater at 11:30am on a Saturday, so it will likely do quite well I think. Buzzed seemed good after the movie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now the Official Review Thread for "The Princess and the Frog". Please post all HTF member reviews in this thread.

Any other comments, links to other reviews, or discussion items will be deleted from this thread without warning!

If you need to discuss those type of issues then I have designated an [COLOR= #44708c]Official Discussion Thread[/COLOR].




Crawdaddy

 

[Abby_B]

I also agree for the most part....It was definitely a solid effort on Disney's part that kinda brought me back to the good ole days of Disney animation. I thought the animation was gorgeous!! I enjoyed the music - it was catchy and it was fun, and I especially loved the animated sequence of 'Almost There.' But as Chris said, the story was really strong and I think that's why I loved it so much - I really loved Tiana's personality. She was a very strong, hard-working and independent - a great addition to Disney's princesses!

 

[Jerome Grate]

Enjoyed the movie definetly one to own. Pretty solid movie and it did take me back to the good ole days of Disney animation. The story was good and the characters I thought could be easily added to the world of memorable characters in the world of Disney. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5 easy.

 

[Mediajunkie3]

Although “The Princess and the Frog” probably can’t compare to some of the original classics , it was definitely great to see the return of the traditional 2D animated feature. I for one, having grown up on the classic princess movies, have sorely missed them! The story line was great and the musical numbers entertaining (although I do agree, none of them stuck out to me as an instant hit).

What I loved most was the character of Tiana. She was strong-willed, hard-working and independent. A girl with her own dreams, and not afraid to go after them. She is sure to be a great role model for all the young girls watching this film.