NY1 Movie Review: "The Princess And The Frog"
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Set in 1920s New Orleans, Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" is a throwback to the golden era of animation that's sure to entertain kids and adults alike. NY1's Neil Rosen filed the following review.Lately, when it comes to feature length cartoons, the trend has been towards all CGI. But with its latest movie, "The Princess and The Frog," Disney goes a bit old school and returns to the look of hand drawn animation.
Based on that age old classic, the setting is New Orleans during the jazz age. The movie features Disney's first African-American heroine and her name is Tiana.
As a grown up gal, she scrimps and saves, by working in a restaurant, so that one day she might be able to open up a fancy place of her own. In a dazzling number that's both stylistically retro and musically superb, she envisions her dream coming true.
As far as the story that most of us are familiar with, well let's just say this -- this time there's a bit of a twist. A handsome prince gets turned into a frog as does Tiana. They spend some time on the bayou looking for a way to become human again and along the way a love story develops.
There's a couple of endearing sidekick characters on hand as well, which is typical Disney fare and they include a musically inclined gator and a firefly.
By setting the basic elements of this age old tale in 1920s New Orleans, the filmmakers have a field day as they create a visual palate that beautifully evokes both the time and place.
The score by Randy Newman is on the mark as it nicely captures the sounds of that period.
The movie has many formulaic elements that can be found in countless other Disney features. Where it falters is that it just doesn't grab your heart the way, let's say "Beauty and The Beast" does. It's not as emotionally complex or wondrous as "The Lion King" and it's nowhere near as funny as "Aladdin." But "The Princess and The Frog" still has it's own charms even if it's not on the level of those other films. It will still manage to delight kids and adults will also be somewhat entertained. Basically, it's a good movie, just not a great one.
Neil Rosen's Big Apple Rating: 3 Apples