Movie Review: The Princess and the Frog
June 14, 2010
THE GOOD
For the past several months, I’ve been eagerly anticipating The Princess and the Frog from Netflix. Last night, Roger and I watched it. At first, I loved it. I loved (most of) the characters, and that it was set in the bayou of New Orleans. I loved that it gave Disney a new princess, one who didn’t need to be rescued as much as she just need to grow and learn some. I loved that it showed how life doesn’t always turn out the way you think it might. I loved that it encouraged young girls to dream big, to reach high. I loved that it balanced dreaming and wishing with hard work to make that dream happen. Because that’s how life is: you have to sacrifice, you have to have solid work ethic, you have to be willing to work hard in order to succeed. And Disney nailed that.
THE BAD
But there was another side to The Princess and the Frog. A darker, sinister side. I hated the voodoo aspect, which was a much larger component to the cartoon than what was advertised. It was woven throughout the movie, constantly present. The way the voodoo was portrayed in the film was scary (not light-hearted and magical, how I had imagined it would be, considering it is a movie meant for children). It is frightening, and poisonous, and foreboding. Since voodoo is a part of the New Orleans culture, I wasn’t so surprised that it was included – but the way that it was done bothered me. A lot.
THE VERDICT
I was disappointed in this Disney movie, and definitely will NOT be buying it for my daughter. I genuinely believe it would give her nightmares, at least until she is much, much older. The good was really good, and the bad was really bad. There was such great opportunity to make this movie more than it was. Poorly done, Disney.
Comments
You know, some friends of ours were watching Anastasia with their little girl who is almost 2 years old and she said she actually has to fast forward through some of the scenes where the bad guy is so scary. I saw one of them and I did NOT remember it being so gross, but it is! Ack!
Posted by: Jenny B | June 14, 2010 07:14 PM
When I was a little kid, the witch in Disney's Sleeping Beauty gave me nightmares--and the evil spirits and voodoo scenes in this movie where 10x more scary. Of course, as an adult, I slept just fine after watching Disney's The Princess and the Frog, but now that I have a baby daughter, I can't imagine a child watching this without having the crap scared out of them with tears and nightmares for months to come.
Seriously Disney, what were you thinking? I'm all for making the bad guys bad and not push-overs, but do you have to give children nightmares to get your point across that the voodoo man was evil and in league with the forces of darkness? I thought Disney cartoons were suppose to be for children. I think any child below the age of 8 or 10 would be terrified during parts of this movie. IMO, any responsible parent will definitely watch this movie first, before deciding if your child is mature enough to enjoy watching it.
Posted by: Roger | June 14, 2010 08:11 PM
I COMPLETELY agree! I'm from south Louisiana, so I had high expectations for this movie. I loved the little cajun lightning bug. He was spot-on. But I was horrified at the constant presence of the voo doo villain. It's not just one part that you can fast forward through - like you said - it's throughout the entire movie. What's nuts is that the evil presence is so scary that even the "bad guy" gets scared in the end!
Personally, I didn't like the feminist turn this Disney movie took. At all. The "prince" was vile. His sudden turn around hardly justified the happy ending. It played out more like most romantic comedies for adults than it did an idyllic childrens movie.
Posted by: Bekah | June 15, 2010 08:04 AM