| The Princess and the Frog | |
|---|---|
| Theatrical one-sheet poster for "The Princess and the Frog". Cartoon image of a woman kneeling in the Louisiana bayou in a princess costume with a talking frog in her hand, as a voodoo priestess, a witchdoctor, and an alligator look on Theatrical poster for The Princess and the Frog | |
| Directed by | Ron Clements John Musker |
| Screenplay by | Ron Clements John Musker Rob Edwards |
| Story by | Ron Clements John Musker Greg Erb Jason Oremland Don Hall E. D. Baker (novel) |
| Produced by | Peter Del Vecho John Lasseter (Executive producer) |
| Starring | Anika Noni Rose Bruno Campos Keith David Michael-Leon Wooley Jennifer Cody Jim Cummings Peter Bartlett Jenifer Lewis Oprah Winfrey Terrence Howard John Goodman |
| Edited by | Jeff Draheim |
| Music by | Randy Newman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $105 million[1] |
| Box office | $267,039,315[2] |
The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated family film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, inspired in part [3][4] by E. D. Baker's novel The Frog Princess, which was in turn inspired by the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "The Frog Prince".[5] The film opened in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009, and with a wide release by Walt Disney Pictures on December 11, 2009. It is the 49th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics line, and the first of these films to be traditionally (2D) animated since 2004's Home on the Range. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, with songs and score composed by Randy Newman and featuring the voices of Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jennifer Cody, Jim Cummings, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey,[6] Terrence Howard, and John Goodman. Tiana, the main character, is also notable as Disney's first black princess.[7]
The film's plot concerns a prince named Naveen (Bruno Campos) from the land of Maldonia, who is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier (Keith David). The frog prince mistakes a girl named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell. The kiss does not break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo queen of the deepest, darkest part of the Bayou, Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley) and a hopelessly romantic Cajun firefly named Ray (Jim Cummings) along the way.
The Princess and the Frog, which began production under the working title The Frog Princess, is an American fairy tale; a Broadway-style musical set in, and around, New Orleans, Louisiana at the height of the Roaring Twenties. The film received three 2010 Academy Award nominations: one for Best Animated Feature and two for Best Original Song.[8]
The film follows waitress and aspiring restaurant owner Tiana as she tries to fulfill her late father's dream in 1926 New Orleans. Despite her mother's worries, Tiana remains single minded in opening "Tiana's Place," working two jobs to save enough money to secure the ideal building for her restaurant.
Meanwhile, Prince Naveen of Maldonia has arrived in New Orleans determined to better his financial situation. After being cut off by his parents, Naveen is forced to marry a rich southern belle to maintain his lifestyle. It soon becomes obvious that Tiana's best friend and the rich sugar baron's daughter, Charlotte LaBouff, is the perfect candidate.
Lurking in the shadows is the voodoo witchdoctor Dr. Facilier. Angry at the neglect he receives from the rich and powerful, Facilier cons the money-hungry Naveen and his emotionally abused butler, Lawrence, into thinking he can make their dreams come true. However, Facilier turns Naveen into a frog, with Lawrence, through the use of a voodoo talisman, adopting the prince's likeness. Lawrence, as Naveen, sets out to marry Charlotte with plans to split the money with Facilier, who has some shady plans of his own.
That night, at Charlotte's Masquerade ball, Naveen convinces Tiana to kiss him in an effort to lift the curse. She does kiss Naveen, but instead is changed into a frog herself. The pair escape into the bayou, where they meet Louis, a neurotic trumpet-playing alligator, and Ray, a Cajun firefly who is in love with a star he calls Evangeline. They take them to Mama Odie, the voodoo queen of the bayou, in hopes that she can lift the curse. On the way, they face frog hunters and "pricker bushes," and Tiana and Naveen grow closer together. Also, Tiana discovers that there is more to life than just hard work, while Naveen learns to value more than money and leisure.
Dr. Facilier makes a deal with his "friends on the other side," promising them all of New Orleans's souls in exchange for re-capturing Naveen. The demons capture Naveen, but he is saved by Mama Odie. She tells the frogs that in order for them to become human, Naveen must kiss a princess. Since Charlotte is the princess of the Mardi Gras Parade, the frogs must reach her by midnight, when Mardi Gras ends and she is no longer a princess. Before returning to the city, Naveen tries to propose to Tiana but fumbles, and is again captured by the demons and brought to Lawrence and Facilier.
Tiana realizes that Naveen was proposing, but before she can tell him, she sees Lawrence in his Naveen form with Charlotte, and she flees from the parade, heartbroken. Ray learns of the deceit and steals the charm, but is mortally wounded by Facilier while battling the demons. Facilier tries to tempt Tiana into giving him the charm, but she resists and destroys it. With his debt unpayable, the demons take Facilier's soul instead. Meanwhile, Naveen informs Charlotte that he actually loves Tiana, and after Tiana also proclaims her love for him, Charlotte agrees to kiss Naveen. However, Mardi Gras ends before Charlotte can break the spell. Naveen and Tiana learn of Ray's injuries, but are able to reveal their love for each other to him before he dies. The bayou creatures honor Ray with a funeral, but rejoice when a new star appears next to the Evening Star.
Later, Tiana and Naveen marry with help from Mama Odie. The pair kiss, and magically resume human form; as Tiana is now a princess herself, her kiss breaks the spell. Finally, the happy couple purchases Tiana's desired building and opens their restaurant. As the film ends, Tiana and Naveen host a gala opening for "Tiana's Palace" and dance underneath the Evening Stars.
Disney had once announced that 2004's Home on the Range would be their feature animation studio's last traditionally animated production. After the company's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, the new president and chief creative officer of Disney Animation Studios, reversed this decision and reinstated hand-drawn animation at the studio.[16] Many animators who had either been laid off or had left the studio when the traditional animation units were dissolved in 2003 were located and re-hired for the project.[17]
The Princess and the Frog was directed and co-written by Ron Clements and John Musker, whose earlier works included The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), and Treasure Planet (2002).[18][19] The story for the film began development by merging two separate projects in development at Disney and Pixar at the time, both based around the "Frog Prince" fairy tale.[14][17] One of the projects was based on E.D. Baker's The Frog Princess, in which the story's heroine kisses a frog in hopes of becoming a princess, only to become a frog herself.[17] The Princess and the Frog returns to the musical film format used in many of the previously successful Disney animated films.[20] John Lasseter personally asked Ron Clements and John Musker, who'd left the company in 2005, to return to Disney to direct and write the film, and had let them choose the style of animation (traditional or CGI) they wanted to use.[14]
The Princess and the Frog was originally announced as The Frog Princess in July 2006,[16] and early concepts and songs were presented to the public at the Walt Disney Company's annual shareholders' meeting in March 2007.[21] These announcements drew criticism from African-American media outlets, due to elements of the Frog Princess story, characters, and settings considered distasteful.[22][23] African American critics disapproved of the original name for the heroine, "Maddy", feeling it sounded too close to the derogatory term "mammy".[22] Also protested were Maddy's original career as a chambermaid,[23] the choice to have the black heroine's love interest be a non-black prince,[22] and the use of a black male voodoo witchdoctor as the film's villain.[22] The Frog Princess title was also thought by critics to be a slur on French people.[24]
Also questioned was the film's setting of New Orleans, which had been heavily damaged by Huricane Katrina in 2005, resulting in the expulsion of a large number of mostly black residents.[25] Critics claimed the choice of New Orleans as the setting for a Disney film with a black heroine was an affront to the Katrina victims' plight;[22][25] Clements and Musker stated that they chose New Orleans as a tribute to the history of the city, for its "magical" qualities, and because it was executive producer John Lasseter's favorite city.[14][26]
In response to these early criticisms, the film's title was changed in May 2007 from The Frog Princess to The Princess and the Frog. The name "Maddy" was changed to "Tiana",[24][27] and the character's occupation was altered from chambermaid to waitress.[22] Popular African American talk show host Oprah Winfrey was hired as a technical consultant for the film, leading to her taking a voice acting role in the film as Tiana's mother Eudora.[14]
On December 1, 2006, a detailed casting call was announced for the film at the Manhattan Theatre Source forum.[28] The casting call states the film as being an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age, and provides a detailed list of the film's major characters.
In February 2007, it was reported that Dreamgirls actresses Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose were top contenders for the voice of Tiana, and that Alicia Keys directly contacted Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook about voicing the role.[29] It was later reported that Tyra Banks was considered for the role as well.[30] By April 2007, it was confirmed that Rose would be voicing Tiana.[31] Three months later, it was reported that Keith David would be doing the voice of Dr. Facilier, the villain of the film.[32]
Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony software, was used as the main software package for the production of the film, as the CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) system Disney developed with Pixar in the 1980s for use on their previous traditionally animated films had become outdated.[33] The Harmony software was augmented with a number of plug-ins to provide CAPS-like effects such as shading on cheeks and smoke effects.[13][34] The reinstated traditional unit's first production, a 2007 Goofy cartoon short entitled How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, was animated without paper by using Harmony and Wacom Cintiq pressure-sensitive tablets. The character animators found some difficulty with this approach, and decided to use traditional paper and pencil drawings, which were then scanned into the computer systems, for The Princess and the Frog.[13]
The visual effects and backgrounds for the film were created digitally using Cintiq tablet displays.[13][35] Marlon West, one of Disney's veteran animation visual effects supervisors, says about the production; "Those guys had this bright idea to bring back hand-drawn animation, but everything had to be started again from the ground up. One of the first things we did was focus on producing shorts, to help us re-introduce the 2D pipeline. I worked as vfx supervisor on the Goofy short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. It was a real plus for the effects department, so we went paperless for The Princess and the Frog." The backgrounds were painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop, and many of the architectural elements were based upon 3D models built in Autodesk Maya.[13]
The former trend in Disney's hand-drawn features where the characters and cinematography were influenced by a CGI-look has been abandoned. Andreas Deja, a veteran Disney animator who supervised the character of Mama Odie in Princess and the Frog, says "I always thought that maybe we should distinguish ourselves to go back to what 2D is good at, which is focusing on what the line can do rather than volume, which is a CG kind of thing. So we are doing less extravagant Treasure Planet kind of treatments. You have to create a world but [we're doing it more simply]. What we're trying to do with Princess and the Frog is hook up with things that the old guys did earlier. It's not going to be graphic...".[34] Deja also mentions that Lasseter was aiming for the Disney sculptural and dimensional look of the 1950s: "All those things that were non-graphic, which means go easy on the straight lines and have one volume flow into the other – an organic feel to the drawing."[34]
The one exception to the new Toon Boom Harmony pipeline was the "Almost There" dream sequence, which utilized an Art Deco graphic style based on the art of Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas.[36] Supervised by Eric Goldberg and designed by Sue Nichols,[37] the "Almost There" sequence's character animation was done on paper without going through the clean-up animation department,[14] and scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to affect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects.[11][13]
Clements and Musker had agreed from very early on that the style they were aiming for was primarily that of Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955), a film which they and John Lasseter felt represents the "peak of a certain kind of animation of the classic Disney animation style".[38] Lady and the Tramp also heavily informed the style of the New Orleans scenes, while Disney's Bambi (1942) served as the template for the bayou scenes.[38] Much of the clean-up animation, digital ink-and-paint, and compositing were outsourced to third party companies in Orlando, Florida (Premise Entertainment), Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Yowza! Animation), and Brooklin, São Paulo, Brazil (HGN Produções) [3]
During Disney's 2007 shareholder meeting, Randy Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performed the film's opening number, "Down in New Orleans", while slides of pre-production art from the film played on a screen.[21] Other songs in the film include "Almost There" (a solo for Tiana), "Dig a Little Deeper" (a song for Mama Odie), "When We're Human" (a song for Louis, Tiana and Naveen [as frogs]), "Friends on the Other Side" (a solo for Doctor Facilier), and "Gonna Take You There" and "Ma Belle Evangeline" (two solos for Ray).[21] Newman composed, arranged, and conducted the music for the film, a mixture of jazz, zydeco, blues, and gospel styles performed by the voice cast members for the respective characters R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo wrote and performed the end title song "Never Knew I Needed", an R&B love song referring to the romance between the film's two main characters, Tiana and Naveen. Supported by a music video by Melina, "Never Knew I Needed" was issued to radio outlets as a commercial single from the Princess and the Frog soundtrack.[39]
The film premiered in theaters with a limited run in New York and Los Angeles beginning on November 25, 2009, followed by wide release on December 11, 2009.[40] The film was originally set for release on Christmas Day 2009, but its release date was changed due to a competing family film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, scheduled for release the same day.[41]
On its limited day release, the film grossed $263,890 at two theaters and grossed $786,190 its opening weekend.[42][43] On its opening day in wide release, the film grossed $7,020,000 at 3,434 theaters.[44] It went on to gross $24,208,916 over the opening weekend averaging $7,050 per theater,[45] marking it the highest-grossing start to date for an animated movie in December, while being less auspicious than the animated movies from Walt Disney Pictures' 1990s traditional animation heyday.[46] The film grossed $104,400,899 in the US and Canada, just short of its $105 million budget. However, it grossed an additional $165 million overseas for a total of about $270 million.
The film has received largely positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 84% of 152 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.3 out of 10. [47] Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 81%, based on a sample of 32 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "The warmth of traditional Disney animation makes this occasionally lightweight fairy-tale update a lively and captivating confection for the holidays."[48] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 0–100 from film critics, has a rating score of 73 based on 29 reviews.[49]
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A" and wrote in her review that "the creative team behind The Princess and the Frog upholds the great tradition of classic Disney animation." [50] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote in his review that "The narrative behind The Princess and the Frog is that Walt Disney Animation has rediscovered its traditional hand-drawn animation, which has been supplanted by computer-generated cartoons." Honeycutt also praised the film for "a thing called story." [51] David Germain of the Associated Press wrote that "Princess and the Frog isn't the second coming of Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. It's just plain pleasant, an old-fashioned little charmer that's not straining to be the next glib animated compendium of pop-culture flotsam." [52] Justin Chang of Variety being less receptive of the film stating "this long-anticipated throwback to a venerable house style never comes within kissing distance of the studio's former glory." [53] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film 3/5 stars claimed "The Princess and the Frog breaks the color barrier for Disney princesses, but is a throwback to traditional animation and her story is a retread." [54] Village Voice's Scott Foundas's response toward the film is that "the movie as a whole never approaches the wit, cleverness, and storytelling brio of the studio's early-1990s animation renaissance (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) or pretty much anything by Pixar." [55] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review claiming "With The Princess and the Frog they've gotten just about everything right. The dialogue is fresh-prince clever, the themes are ageless, the rhythms are riotous and the return to a primal animation style is beautifully executed." [56] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, giving the film three out of four stars, highly praised the film admiring Disney's step back to traditional animation saying, "This is what classic animation once was like!" and, in his print review wrote, "No 3-D! No glasses! No extra ticket charge! No frantic frenzies of meaningless action! And...good gravy! A story! Characters! A plot!"[57] The financial and critical success of The Princess and the Frog has persuaded Disney to greenlight at least one new hand-drawn animated feature to be released every two years.[17]
Upon its release, the film created controversy amongst some Christians over its use of Louisiana Voodoo as a plot device.[58] In Christianity Today's review of the film they criticized its sexual undertones, however they said that, "it's the use of voodoo that ultimately reveals the movie's hollow, thoughtless core." They argued that the scenes with Dr. Facilier and his "friends on the other side" contain many horror elements and that young children might be frightened by the film.[59] Hollywoodjesus.com said that the film's depiction of voodoo was, "a bit too dark and extreme for this kind of kid's film," [60] while Christiananswers.net rated the film "Offensive", called it "dark and demonic", and stated that it should have been given a "PG" rating by the MPAA instead of "G".[61] The film's treatment of Louisiana voodoo as a type of magic instead of a religion also drew criticism from non-Christian factions.[62]
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Main article: The Princess and the Frog: Original Songs and Score |
The film's soundtrack album, The Princess and the Frog: Original Songs and Score, contains the ten original songs from the film and seven instrumental pieces. The soundtrack was released on November 23, 2009, the day before the limited release of the film in New York and Los Angeles.[63]
The Princess and the Frog was supported by a wide array of merchandise leading up to and following the film's release. Although Disney's main marketing push was not set to begin until November 2009, positive word-of-mouth promotion created demand for merchandise well in advance of the film.[64] Princess Tiana costumes were selling out prior to Halloween 2009, and a gift set of Tiana-themed hair care products from Carol's Daughter sold out in seven hours on the company's website.[64] Other planned merchandise includes a cookbook for children and even a wedding gown.[64] Princess Tiana was also featured a few months before the release in the Disney on Ice: Let's Celebrate! show.[65]
At both Disneyland Park theme park in California and the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, a live parade and show called "Tiana's Showboat Jubilee!" premiered on October 26, 2009 at the Magic Kingdom,[66] and on November 5 at Disneyland Park.[67]
In Disneyland Park, actors in New Orleans Square parading to the Rivers of America and boarding the park's steamboat.[67] From there, the cast, starring Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, Louis the alligator, and Doctor Facilier, would sing songs from the movie, following a short storyline taking place after the events of the film. The Disneyland version's actors actually partook in singing, while the Walt Disney World rendition incorporated lip-syncing.[67]
"Tiana's Showboat Jubilee!" ran at both parks until January 3, 2010.[66][67] At Disneyland Park, the show was replaced by a land-based event called "Princess Tiana's Mardi Gras Celebration," which features Princess Tiana along with five of the original presentation's "Mardi Gras dancers" and the park's "Jambalaya Jazz Band" as they perform songs from the movie.[68] Tiana is also due to appear in Disneyland Paris' New Generation Festival.[69]
Some of the characters appear frequently during Disney's World of Color, the nightly fountain and projection show presented at Disney's California Adventure starting June 2010.
The Princess and the Frog was released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 16, 2010.[70] The film is available in DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray combo-pack editions; the combo pack includes DVD and digital copies of the film, along with the Blu-ray Disc version.[70] The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia on June 2, 2010 and on June 21, 2010 in the United Kingdom. As of July 25, 2010 the movie has sold 4,168,731 copies and has made $66,316,069 in DVD sales.[71]
The Princess and the Frog was nominated for eight Annie Awards. The results were announced at the 37th Annie Awards Ceremony on February 6, 2010, were the film won three awards.[12] The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to Up. Two of the film's songs "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans" were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to "The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart.[8][72]
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 Satellite Awards[73] | Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated |
| Best Original Song | Randy Newman ("Almost There") | ||
| Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans") | |||
| 2009 Producers Guild of America Awards[74] | Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures | Peter Del Vecho | |
| 2009 Online Film Critics Society Awards[75] | Best Animated Feature | The Princess and the Frog | |
| 67th Golden Globe Awards[76] | Best Animated Feature Film | The Princess and the Frog | |
| 2009 Chicago Film Critics Association[77] | Best Animated Feature | The Princess and the Frog | |
| 2009 Critics Choice Awards[78] | Best Picture | The Princess and the Frog | |
| Best Animated Feature | The Princess and the Frog | ||
| Best Score | Randy Newman | ||
| Best Song ("Almost There") |
Randy Newman | ||
| 2009 Black Reel Awards[79] | Best Film | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated |
| Best Song, Original or Adapted | Ne-Yo ("Never Knew I Needed") |
Nominated | |
| Anika Noni Rose ("Almost There") |
Won | ||
| Anika Noni Rose ("Down in New Orleans") |
Nominated | ||
| Best Voice Performance | Keith David | Nominated | |
| Anika Noni Rose | Won | ||
| Best Ensemble | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated | |
| 37th Annie Awards[12] | Best Animated Feature | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated |
| Animated Effects | James DeValera Mansfield | Won | |
| Production Design in a Feature Production | Ian Gooding | Nominated | |
| Character Animation in a Feature Production | Andreas Deja | Nominated | |
| Eric Goldberg | Won | ||
| Bruce W. Smith | Nominated | ||
| Voice Acting in a Feature Production | Jennifer Cody ("Charlotte") | Won | |
| Jenifer Lewis ("Mama Odie") | Nominated | ||
| 82nd Academy Awards[8][72] | |||
| Best Animated Feature | Ron Clements and John Musker | Nominated | |
| Best Song | Randy Newman ("Almost There") | ||
| Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans") | |||
| 36th Saturn Awards[80] | Best Animated Film | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated |
| 2010 Teen Choice Awards[81][82] | Choice Movie: Animated | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated |
Disney announced on June 4, 2009, that they would release a video game inspired by the film and it was released on November 2009 exclusively for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. It has been officially described an "adventure through the exciting world of New Orleans in a family-oriented video game," featuring favorite moments from the film and challenges for Princess Tiana.[83]
