Wishes do come true for me. I love 2d animation, and my dream of Disney returning to their 2d animated roots has come in the shape of The Princess and the Frog, a mish-mash of your favorite Disney flicks starring, for the first time, an African-American woman. It isn’t a Disney movie without a meaningful message. Wishing upon a star is always good, but you have to work hard on it while also appreciating the things you have now.

Loosely based on E.D. Baker’s version of the The Frog Princess, The Princess and The Frog is a tale about a young girl, Tiana, who dreams of having her own restaurant. She’s the type that works so hard that she sometimes forgot what it’s like to have fun. Meanwhile, Prince Naveen comes to visit New Orleans and enjoys everything the city has to offer, including its women.

Things take a turn for the worst when Prince Naveen comes into contact with our villain of the movie, Dr. Facilier. He’s a voodoo practitioner and turns our poor prince into a frog. As a frog, Prince Naveen meets Tiana on top of a balcony, telling her that if he was to be human again, she’d have to kiss him. But she turns into a frog instead, and this is when their journey begins.

I’d have to say that a lot of the characters are very likeable. Tiana is ambitious and wants to make her father proud. Prince Naveen is charming and smooth who loves jazz music and is too into his looks. Ray is a Cajun firefly, need I say more? Louis is a frightened gator that aspires to perform with jazz musicians. And Tiana’s spoiled friend, Charlotte, is crazy in a cute way.

The scenes that I really enjoyed were when Tiana and Prince Naveen interacted together. You have a hard-working girl stuck with a lazy prince who knows only to have fun. Because of their difference in personality, they were able to help each other by bringing out a trait they never knew they had, awwww.

Sadly, it’s the villain that feels like an afterthought, just for the sake of having a bad guy. Dr. Facilier doesn’t get much screen time and he feels very one-dimensional. But who can blame him when money is the only thing on his mind. The whole voodoo aspect felt out of place in a movie like this.

The music is back and it’s more fun than ever. The songs were catchy, but don’t come in expecting classics like “A Whole New World” or “Part of Your World.” I did wish they’d bring back Alan Menken, but Randy Newman did a fine job, but I feel he needs to learn how to balance the music, since there were too many happy songs.

The Princess and The Frog is one part Pinocchio, one part Sleeping Beauty, and one part Beauty and the Beast, with a splash of Up. It is a funny and entertaining film, with a touching message that will surely inspire many out there, that I hope it will spawn many more 2d animated features. I’d like to mention that Disney is pretty ballsy for having a certain scene occur, which I can’t say, since well, it’d spoil the movie for you.

Grade: A-

• Tweet