Thrashbrowns v. Mouse House, Round 4

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

The Story:

Tiana is a young waitress working her way towards opening the restaurant of her dreams when she's accidentally turned into a frog by prince-in-form-of-frog Naveen. Together, the amphibious Tiana and Naveen must find a way to transform themselves back into humans while dodging the treacherous Dr. Facilier and league of shadow baddies.

Has Thrashbrowns seen it? Why or why not?

I had not seen this one previous to tonight. As for why not, well, I never saw it as something I'd be interested in seeing, I don't have kids and the only person I've ever heard say anything positive about it was my homie, Clifton. And I may even be misremembering that.

The Good:

This will be short.

There are a few pretty shots, visually. For example, the shot at the end of Mama Odie's musical number. You know the one with all the different colored glass bottles?

Also, the presence (and voice) of John Goodman never goes amiss. Keith David does he can with the poorly-conceived Facilier and made that character like 30% better than it would've been without him.

The only other thing in this movie that consistently entertained me was the Cajun firefly, Ray. He's funny, endearing and the movie would've completely lost me without him.

The Bad:

There's a lot, so I'm going to focus on the main thing that really killed this movie for me.

Tiana's character has no arc. She doesn't develop at all. She's the same person at the end of the movie as she is when we meet her at the end of the movie. This can work like it does with Marty McFly in Back to the Future. But all it does here is make Tiana a less-interesting protagonist.

What's kind of odd is that Naveen DOES have a well-defined arc. He starts the movie as a spoiled douche bag and ends the movie a more caring, substantive person. This just serves to make Tiani even less interesting.

And, in return, Princess and the Frog becomes a much less interesting film.

The Most Annoying Disney-ism:

The comic relief side characters. Not because they aren't funny. They really aren't, with the exception of Ray. It's that they're so much more interesting than the main leads. When they aren't on screen, the movie is beige paint levels of uninteresting but when they are on screen, the movie's almost watchable. But this is Tiana's story and when you're bored out of your mind during scenes she's in without her more entertaining buddies, that's not a good thing.

Does Thrashbrowns get why people love this?

Like I said before, I'm not sure I've heard of anyone who loves this movie, other than my friend Clifton. And I could be wrong about that. I imagine this movie has a fan base, but maybe my perception of its popularity is skewed.

Did Thrashbrowns like it?

No. Other than Ray and a few other bits and pieces, Princess and the Frog is the kind of formulaic Disney family schlock that turns me off about the brand. It seemed like such a missed opportunity, with a setting like New Orleans and voodoo playing a major role in the story. But it's as if the people making the movie just chose those elements out of a hat and really didn't care about what they were doing with them. In the end, this movie is the same old Disney cinematic jalopy with a different paint job.

Up next:

Next, Mouse House gets Polynesian on our asses with Moana.