The Princess and the Frog

The first of reviews I plan to do, just to give me something to blog about since nothing really happens in my life (all that has happened since the last post is that my dad's side of the family all got together at one of my aunts' house for New Years and classes started again today).

Reviews entertain me. I don't plan to do any research for these reviews, just give my opinion and all that junk. And give away the plot, I guess.

SPOILERS!-SPOILERS!-SPOILERS!

The Princess and the Frog is the first ever Disney movie to feature a black princess. That's one of the reasons to why it was supposed to be a great thing. I don't know. Another reason why it was supposed to be worth watching was that it was the first movie in a while to be animated in the original Disney 2D style. None of that 3D crap. I liked that.

The movie's story was entertaining. I don't know for sure, but it seems to be based off of the original Princess and the Frog fairy tail (they referenced it in the movie), but with a twist. The princess in this movie is not a princess at all, instead she's a young woman, who is working two jobs so she can get enough money to open her own restaurant. I like her.


She's also black, which really has nothing to do with anything.

The frog is Prince Navine from... Meldonia, I think, can't remember, not important. Prince Navine is a douchbag, but I like him 'cause he's funny.


The story begins in New Orleans when young Tiana (the 'princess') and her friend Charlotte (who is rich) are listening to Tiana's mother reading them the story of The Princess and the Frog while she makes a dress for Charlotte (I'm guessing that Tiana's mother is a seamstress, or a tailor, or whatever). The next scene features Tiana's family making gumbo and we learn that Tiana is really good at cooking and that her and her father's dream is to open a restaurant.

After a time jump, we see Tiana as a young woman working two waitress jobs so she can raise money for a down payment on an old sugar mill she wants to turn into a restaurant. While she is busy interacting with her customers and Lottie (Charlotte), Prince Navine is arriving at the harbor with his manservant-think Lawrence (I think that's his name), who is an asshole.

We see that Prince Navine is a fun guy and a ladies man and plays a mean ukulele. We also find out that he's poor. Him and Larry (Lawrence) run into the Shadow Man, who is a voodoo witch doctor guy who's been lurking around for a while. A bunch of dialogue and one song later, Navine is a frog and Larry is Navine. I like it.

Sometime after this, Lottie holds a party at her mansion/castle thing where Tiana is catering, or something. Anyway, there is a kerfuffle (Navine shows up at one point) and Tiana's outfit gets ruined. Lottie takes her upstairs to change her outfit and Tiana shows up in a princess outfit (it's a costume ball). She is left alone in the room when Frog!Navine shows up and scares the hell out of her. He mistakes her for a princess and gets her to kiss him to turn him back into a prince.

In a weird twist of events, Navine remains a frog and Tiana is now a frog too! Yeah, how 'bout that.

So she's pissed (at him) and they argue and end back up at the ball where they are almost killed. They escape via a bunch of balloons and float over to the bayou, where their balloons are popped and they fall into the water/swamp/whatever.

While in the bayou they meet Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator who is just made of awesome. He wants to play jazz with the 'big boys', but he can't because he's an alligator and everyone's afraid of him, because he's a huge alligator. He makes friends with Navine and Tiana and learns their story. He tells them that there's a voodoo lady that lives deep in the bayou named Mama Odie that might be able to help them. Then he tells them that he also wants to be human so they head on to Mama Odie's place, while singing. Whatever, it was catchy.

Back with Larry (remember him?) and the Shadow Man, I'm not exactly sure when this took place (before or after Louis), we learn that Larry, impersonating Navine, plans to marry Lottie, because she's rich and he isn't. After the marriage, Shadow Man plans to voodoo-kill Lottie's father so that Larry and Lottie will get all his money and Larry will split it with Shadow Man so that he can pay off his debts (to his friends on the other side).

This plan is eeevil, quite. Lottie accepts Larry's proposal, still thinking it's Navine. But, there's a problem. The voodoo necklace thing that disguises Larry as Navine is losing it's power and Navine's blood is needed to recharge its batteries, so to speak. Since Navine is missing, Larry and Shadow Man have to go find the little frigger.

Meanwhile, on the way to Mama Odie's, Louis, Navine and Tiana find out that they're lost. Apparently, you're not supposed to ask alligators for directions. They meet a lightning bug named Ray, who has a funny accent because he's 'an Acadian born and raised on the bayou' (holy shit! My culture's in this movie! :D). Ray is as awesome and Louis and calls his whole family together to light the way to Mama Odie's for our three friends.

We also learn that Ray is in love with a star, who he thinks is a lightning bug, named Evangeline. I didn't find that weird at all, I thought it was kinda cute.

Anyway, they reach Mama Odie's and Ray's family leaves, leaving Ray with our wannabe humans. They meet Mama Odie, who is old, blind, and beyond awesome. Crazy old lady who uses a snake as a blind walking stick and yells a lot. Awesome.

Navine, Tiana and Louis tell her that they want to be human and a song ensues! Everyone saw that coming, but the song was cool so we'll let it slide. The message of the song is that getting what you need is more important than getting what you want. And Navine discovers that he's in love with Tiana (d'awwwww).

But Tiana totally misses the point and insists that Mama Odie tell her how to become human. Mama Odie tells her that, in order for her to become human, Navine has to kiss a princess and that'll turn them both back. The closest princess around happens to be Tiana's friend Lottie. See, Lottie's father has been crowned king of the Mardi Gras parade, or something, and that technically makes Lottie a princess, until midnight.

So Navine, Tiana, Louis and Ray board a river boat back to New Orleans to find Lottie. Navine tries to propose to Tiana while Louis finally gets to play jazz with the big boys, who at the moment are dressed up in animal costumes, so they somehow don't catch on that Louis is a real alligator. I love Disney.

Anyway, Navine makes a total fool of himself and ends up not proposing to Tiana, but he promises her that he'll kiss Lottie so that they'll both become human again. They reach New Orleans and Navine is kidnapped by the Shadow Man's shadowy minions. Tiana doesn't notice this and goes to look for him. She then discovers the Mardi Gras King's float, featuring Lottie, her father and... PRINCE NAVINE! Since Tiana doesn't know about Larry, she assumes that Navine somehow turned back into a human already and decided to ditch her to be with Lottie.

But, as it turns out, the real Navine is still a frog and is being held captive in a chest by Larry!Navine's foot. Navine manages to escape and steals the voodoo necklace thing from Larry. Eventually, Ray and Tiana are involved in the chase and Ray gets his ass handed to him, then he gets smished by the Shadow Man, who is a real putz.

Tiana somehow ends up with the voodoo necklace and Shadow Man tries to get her to give it to him by promising to give her the restaurant she always wanted. She contemplates this for a moment (in a magic-like genjutsu daydream thing) but realizes that Navine is not there. She realizes that, even though she wants the restaurant, she can't have it now because it is not as important as what she needs (which is Prince Navine, I guess). Mama Odie's message! So she smashes the voodoo necklace and the Shadow Man gets eaten by his friends on the other side. Haha, sucker.

So Tiana and Navine are reunited and Lottie shows up. Tiana, who is still a frog, explains the whole situation to her and how she must now kiss Navine. Lottie does not question any of this (...) and kisses Navine so that he can be with Tiana. But it's too late! It's after midnight and Lottie is no longer a princess. So Tiana and Navine come to terms with the fact that they must remain as frogs, and they're fine with that because they have each other (diabetes time).

Then Louis shows up with Ray (and Lottie disappears). Ray is dying. Seriously. Serious business there, Disney. Anyway, Ray dies and goes to be with Evangeline. There is a funeral for him with all his lightning bug family and Tiana, Navine and Louis, and a second bright star joins Evangeline in the sky.

Next, cut to Navine and Tiana's wedding, because frogs can get married. It is held in the bayou and all their bayou friends are there. So they are married and they kiss and they TURN BACK INTO HUMANS!! And for some reason they are dressed up in fancy ass clothes... whatever.

Logic is, when Tiana married Navine, who is a prince, she became a princess, therefore reversing the spell. It's all good now. Then Navine and Tiana buy the old sugar mill (with some help from Louis, who has really sharp teeth) and fix it up into a restaurant, where Louis is playing the trumpet with the band. Everyone lives happily ever after, and is cool.

Wow, that was long. Anyway, I thought the movie was awesome and my horrible recap does not do it justice. The characters were awesome, the songs were catchy and the art was amazing and non-3D. It was a neat twist on an old tale, and it worked and was cool. I recommend it.