I'm not sure when news first leaked out about The Princess and the Frog (or rather, "The Frog Princess", as it used to be called) but I've known about it and been anxiously awaiting it since that day.
And yesterday, all my waiting and staring at the same four or five concept pictures has come to a peak of excitment, when I got to watch the first trailer.
As a lot of people have noticed (and a lot have despaired), The Walt Disney Corporation has not released a 2-D feautre animation (pencil drawn, for those still confused...computer generated 2-D sequels do not count) since Home on the Range four years ago, and have not released a good one since Lilo & Stitch in 2002. Next year, that all changes.
When Disney aquired Pixar in early 2006, they changed their mind about ending pencil-drawn animation. They decided to leave the CG to Pixar and finally return to their roots in hand drawn, musical animations. Now, we haven't had one of THOSE since Mulan in '98!
There's been quite a bit of controversy over this movie...originally, the heroine, Princess Tiana, was named "Maddy" and was a chambermaid. But there's something about Tiana that seperates her from the other eight Disney Princesses besides her release date starting with a 2. Tiana is Disney's first African-American princess. Apparently, giving Tiana a lowly job like "chambermaid" was racist, although the only tiff I have with that is that she'd end up looking like a Cinderella copycat.
The story itself took a one-eighty when Disney began to fear complaints. Remember how I said the movie used to be called "The Frog Princess"? Well, the actually fairy tale of the Frog Princess entails a three young princes and their respective brides competing for the crown. The son who ended up with a frog, quite by accident, wins as this lady frog is far quicker and more talented than the human princesses. She ends up transforming back to a human at the end, and happily ever after ensues. Now, the story most a familiar with and relates A LOT closer to the trailer is the fairy tale "The Frog Prince", the popular tale of a princess who kisses a frog, transforming him into the Handsome Prince. But has Disney really done that drastic of a plot change?
I'm not sure. In fact, I have no clue. All I know is that in late 2009, The Princess and the Frog is coming to theatres and bringing with it the return of hand-drawn musical animations, the key to Disney's sucess AND magic. And what better way to bring it back than with a Princess, the first and most famous character aspects of Disney's feature animations?
I've already watched the trailer more times than I can count. C:
What a great preview! Reading your post actually makes me excited for this movie to come out. Listening to Emily's cd of the Little Mermaid helped too. Should we make a date to see it together?
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