The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated musical comedy adventure fantasy film based on 's novel , which was in turn inspired by the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale . The film opened in limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009, followed by its wide release on December 11, 2009. It's the 49th animated feature in the Disney Animated Canon and the first to be traditionally-animated since 2004's Home on the Range. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (best known for The Little Mermaid and Aladdin), with songs and score composed by Randy Newman. Tiana, the main character, is also notable as Disney's first African-American princess.
The film, which began production under the working title The Frog Princess, is a well-known fairy tale, Broadway-style musical set in and around New Orleans at the height of the Roaring Twenties. It centers on a hardworking waitress named Tiana, who dreams of opening a restaurant. After sharing a kiss with a prince that had been transformed into a frog by an evil witch doctor, Tiana must embark on a journey with the prince to find a voodoo priestess to break the spell as she too falls victim to it.
The film was both marketed and praised as a return to form for Walt Disney Animation Studios,Collider The Princess and the Frog reviewExaminer The Princess and the Frog review with various film critics, pundits, and historians crediting The Princess and the Frog as the first film to have ignited what is widely considered to be Disney's new-age renaissance,TIME Big Hero 6 reviewTom Sito/ Tom Sito on Disney Animation as well as the resurgence of critically acclaimed animated fairytales and musicals.John Lasseter on Disney Animation This would be confirmed by Disney in 2017, during the 80th anniversary event of Walt Disney Animation.Instagram image of the 2017 D23 event celebrating 80 years of Disney AnimationDisney Live-Action Remakes We Want to See Next!
Since the release of The Princess and the Frog, the characters have appeared in later films, video games, theme park attractions, albums, and various other media. Tiana has since been inducted into the highly successful Disney Princess franchise, while Dr. Facilier has appeared extensively in the Disney Villains franchise. In 2020, Disney announced that a sequel series that will focus on Tiana's adventures after the film is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2025.
==Plot==
The movie begins with a bright star shining in the Louisiana night sky. We hear the voice of Tiana singing, telling us that anything is possible if you wish upon the evening star. We are then taken to the very pink and frilly bedroom of young Charlotte La Bouff, who is sitting beside a young Tiana as they listen to Tiana's seamstress mother Eudora tell the tale of The Frog Prince while she puts the finishing touches on a dress she is making for Charlotte. Charlotte is entranced by the story while Tiana is clearly disgusted at the thought of kissing a frog and vows to never kiss one. Charlotte then puts a frog mask on her white kitten and starts pushing it in Tiana's face. But when Charlotte starts kissing the white kitten after Tiana refuses to do so, it jumps up and gets stuck on the ceiling with fright. Eudora then gets it off the ceiling and takes the mask off the horrified white kitten. Charlotte's father, Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff, arrives home with a new puppy for his spoiled daughter while Eudora and Tiana head home.
We quickly learn that Tiana and her friend Charlotte are definitely from two different worlds as the young girl and her mother head home to their tiny shack where Tiana's father, James, waits for them. Tiana and her father laugh together as they whip up a batch of his famous gumbo and talk about their shared dream of one day opening a restaurant. Tiana's father reminds her that wishing can only take you so far, and you have to get the rest of the way yourself through hard work. He makes her promise that she'll never lose sight of what's really important in life. Tiana makes a wish on the evening star that their dream will one day come true, only to become frightened by a frog that appeared right after.
Several years later, Tiana is now a beautiful young woman all grown up, working two waitressing jobs and saving up all her tips in a bedroom drawer, hoping to earn enough money to open the restaurant she and her father had always dreamed of. Before heading off to her second job, she plants a kiss on a photo of her father (it is implied that he was killed in WWI), telling him that they'll be there to their dream soon.
As Tiana heads off to work, we get a quick glimpse of the hustle and bustle of New Orleans as it was in the 1920s - full of life and culture (the newspaper seen when Naveen gets off the boat says April 1926). However, it soon becomes apparent that Tiana is much too focused on her job to really take part in anything non-work related. She's seen turning down invitations to social events from her friends in favor of working extra shifts. She's a determined and hard-working young woman that sacrifices her own happiness to reach her dream.
While waiting tables, her best friend Charlotte (who became all grown up like Tiana) arrives with exciting news - Prince Naveen from the faraway country of Maldonia (Italy) has arrived in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. He will be staying with the La Bouffs, and "Big Daddy" hopes that Naveen and Charlotte will hit it off so the two can wed. Charlotte is thrilled at the thought of marrying a prince and pays Tiana an immense quantity of money to whip up some "man-catching beignets" for the prince's welcome party in order to impress him. After accepting the payment, Tiana finally has enough money for a down payment on a run-down sugar mill she plans on turning into her restaurant. Despite her mother's concerns in her workaholic ways and her mentioning that her father still had his family's love even though he did not make his dream come true, along with her desire for her daughter to get married (and possibly have kids), Tiana stlll prefers to keep on going with her desire towards her dream, saying that she's "almost there".
Meanwhile, Prince Naveen and his butler, Lawrence, arrive in New Orleans. Naveen is entranced by the New Orleans music and culture (and women). He definitely lives a playboy lifestyle. We quickly learn that, though he is royalty, Naveen's parents have cut him off financially and that his only choice is to marry a rich woman or get a job. Of course, Naveen would never dream of lifting a finger himself and instead hopes to marry Charlotte and inherit some of her fortunes.
As Naveen and Lawrence wander the streets following a commotion the prince started with some music performers, they are encountered by the shady Dr. Facilier also known as the Shadow Man, who invites them to his voodoo shop, where they learn about his powers and his "friends on the other side". Jealous of the La Bouff fortune and power, the Shadow Man takes advantage of the prince's gullibility and Lawrence's resentment of his master to help in his plot to take over New Orleans. He turns Naveen into a frog and, using a magical talisman, turns Lawrence into an exact copy of Prince Naveen (though his eye color and voice do not change into Naveen's). The plan is for Lawrence (as Naveen) to marry Charlotte, get her money, and share it with the Shadow Man (who plans on killing Big Daddy and using his fortune to control the city).
That night, at the masquerade party, Naveen (Lawrence in disguise) arrives and immediately sweeps Charlotte off her feet. She is clearly enraptured by the idea of marrying a prince. Meanwhile, Tiana discovers that someone has outbid her on the old building. If she can't get the money in three days, she'll lose any hope of achieving her and her father's dream. Feeling hopeless, Tiana goes out onto the balcony and makes another wish upon the evening star. It is here that, under the stars, a talking frog comes to her, who turns out to be the real Prince Naveen.
Naveen mistakes her for a princess (due to her masquerade costume Charlotte lent after her original costume got messy in a mishap) and tells her that if she kisses him, he will become human again, and then he will give her anything she wants in return. Thinking of her beloved restaurant, Tiana reluctantly kisses Naveen creating a big flash of magic. Naveen then looks at himself, only to sigh in disappointment upon seeing that he's still a frog then looks down and sees Tiana's dress on the floor while she was trying to get out of it, Tiana managed to get out of her dress and told Naveen that she didn't look much different asked him how she got there and why she was in the middle of her dress, Then he saw that his hand was green and he looked in the mirror and discovered that he had turned into a frog. In great panic and anger, she jumps onto the table to Naveen and attacks him resulting in them getting launched out of the room and landing in the party. Chaos ensues as they end up in Charlotte's dress and are chased away by her dog, Stella, and avoid bumping into several party guests. During Tiana and Naveen's runaway, they are spotted by Lawrence and the Shadow Man who then head back to the guesthouse where they left Naveen and see that he really has escaped.
Tiana and Naveen have a rough first night as frogs, as they are nearly eaten by a group of alligators and forced into hiding in an old tree trunk (arguing the entire time, of course). Her hardworking, no-nonsense personality and his lazy and carefree nature do not mesh well. The next day, Tiana builds a tiny raft, throws an acorn at Naveen to wake him up, and tells him that they must get back to New Orleans, track down the Shadow Man, and break the spell over them.
Once they begin to leave, they are encountered by another enormous gator named Louis. At first, they fear he will eat them, but soon learn that Louis is a gentle giant who loves jazz music and dreams of playing the trumpet in a jazz band, but it's never worked out for him (cue hysterical flashback of Louis jumping onto a paddle boat to try joining in a band before escaping when being screamed and shot at by the terrified humans). When they explain their situation to Louis, he tells them they should visit Mama Odie, the voodoo queen of the bayou. At first, he's reluctant to show them the way, but Naveen cleverly convinces him to come, implying that Mama Odie may be able to turn Louis human and help make his dream come true.
As they journey through the bayou, the three meet up with Raymond, also known as Ray, a Cajun firefly. He takes the trio down the bayou with some help from the rest of his firefly family. Along the way, he reveals that he is in love with a beautiful firefly named Evangeline. Tiana and Naveen get captured by Reggie, Darnell, and Two Fingers, who are looking for some frogs to make a frog-leg dinner out of, only to evade and escape them. As the group eats some "swamp gumbo" whipped up by Tiana, Ray spots and shows the others Evangeline shining brightly in the sky. They quickly realize that Evangeline is not a firefly, but is actually the "evening star". However, none of them have the heart to tell Ray the truth as he sings a beautiful love song for his Evangeline. As Ray serenades the star, Naveen convinces Tiana to dance with him which ends with the two nearly kissing, and it quickly becomes clear that the two are starting to fall for one another.
Back in New Orleans, the impostor Naveen (Lawrence) has finally proposed to Charlotte, who is positively delighted. She proclaims that the two will be married that night at the big Mardi Gras parade and skips off to make wedding plans. While she is gone, the Shadow Man then shows up and sees that the magic talisman is out of Naveen's blood. The spell that makes Lawrence look like Naveen finishes wearing off. The two men need to bring him back and get more of his blood for the talisman to start working again. The Shadow Man has no choice but to call on his "friends on the other side" (who, as it turns out, are shadow demons besides the masks, voodoo dolls and shrunken heads). He sends them out to find Naveen and bring him back alive and healthy.
Early that evening, back in the bayou, Naveen, Tiana, Ray, and Louis finally find the very old and very blind Mama Odie. Though she seems to be somewhat senile at first, she gives them all good advice – they must "dig a little deeper" to find out what's really important. They explain that they want to be human again, but she insists that it's not what they want; it's what they need that matters. Naveen sees that what he needs is to be with Tiana. On the other hand, Tiana is too blinded by her desire to live out her dream to see that there is something more important right in front of her.
Mama Odie explains that the only way for the two of them to become human again is for Naveen to kiss a princess. They quickly realize that this means Charlotte (whose father had been crowned as King of Mardi Gras, making her the "princess"). The plan is for Naveen to kiss Charlotte before midnight (while she is still a princess) in order to turn himself and Tiana human again, marry her, and buy Tiana her restaurant, just as he promised her when she first gave him a kiss.
Leaving Mama Odie profusely, the four friends head out to the river to find their way back to New Orleans. They hitch a ride aboard a paddleboat (everyone thinks Louis is wearing a very realistic alligator costume for Mardi Gras and invite him to join the band), and Naveen quickly confides to Ray his plan to propose to Tiana that very night out of his love for her. He proudly proclaims that he won't marry Charlotte anymore and he'll find another way such as getting "one or two jobs, maybe three" to help keep his promise to Tiana and get her restaurant.
He sets up a beautiful candle-lit dinner (one giant candle, since they're still frog-sized) and makes several feeble attempts to express his feelings for her but is clearly nervous and flustered. Before he can get the words out, the boat passes the old sugar mill, distracting Tiana. She starts talking once again about her dream, and Naveen feels that she really cares more about her restaurant than about him. He knows that he will never be able to give her the money for her restaurant unless he marries Charlotte, so he gives up his plan to propose and instead sets his mind on getting back to Charlotte to help make Tiana's dream come true. When he leaves to fetch Louis and Ray, Tiana admits her dilemma of her love for Naveen and him still needing to marry Charlotte to get her the money for her restaurant to Evangeline and asks what she can do, begging her to give her an answer.
Before the group arrives in New Orleans, Naveen is captured by the Shadow Man's voodoo "friends", unbeknownst to his companions. After he is gone, when they finally arrive at Mardi Gras, Ray accidentally reveals to Tiana in his anticipating excitement for her accepting Naveen's proposal that Naveen truly loves her and plans on marrying her. Tiana realizes that this is what she truly wants and rushes off into the crowd to find him. However, when she reaches the parade, she sees Charlotte standing beside the fake Naveen (wearing the newly-replenished talisman), preparing to marry him. Tiana misunderstands, thinking he has already kissed her and become human, and runs off to the cemetery alone.
Ray follows her and tries to console her, but Tiana angrily snaps and hurts Ray by calling Evangeline nothing more than a star that is millions of miles away from him, and that he needs to open his eyes to the truth before he gets hurt as she did. Still not convinced, Ray rushes back to the Mardi Gras parade and finds frog-Naveen, who has been kept prisoner in a locked box by Lawrence. After Naveen gets released thanks to Ray, he stops the wedding by jumping onto the impostor and tugging the talisman hard to knock him off the float. Lawrence loses the talisman and is returned to his true form. Realizing its significance, Ray steals the voodoo talisman and flies away with it. Furious, the Shadow Man summons the shadows to chase Ray all the way to the cemetery to retrieve the talisman with Lawrence staying out of sight under his order while holding Naveen captive.
Ray finally meets up with Tiana and gives her the talisman, telling her the Naveen they saw with Charlotte is not really him and making her promise to keep it out of the Shadow Man's possession when they saw the shadows coming for the talisman. She hops away with it, while Ray stays behind to destroy as many shadows as possible. With his light, he kills a few of them. The Shadow Man knocks Ray to the ground and coldly steps on him without a second thought before wearing a disgusted expression and casually walks off. A few seconds later, Louis comes running, calling for Ray, but finds the firefly lying on the ground mortally wounded.
The shadows and the Shadow Man continue chasing Tiana before finally cornering her, but when she threatens to break the talisman into a million pieces, the Shadow Man casts an enchantment on her, causing her to look human again, and changes the setting to her dream restaurant. She thinks she sees Naveen playing the ukulele in the corner of the room, but when the man turns around, she sees it isn't and is disappointed. The Shadow Man tries to convince Tiana to hand over the talisman by offering to make her a deal: promising the restaurant and becoming a human again. When she refuses to, he brings up memories of her sacrifices and people doubting her abilities. Finally, he shows her the memory of how her father worked hard but failed to get enough money for a restaurant. He tells her that if she gives him the talisman, he'll turn her back into a human and give her everything she's ever dreamed of — everything she and her father always wanted. Tiana hesitates for a moment, but her eyes light up in realization, and she explains that while it's true her father never got what he wanted, he had what he needed; he had love, and he never lost sight of what was really important, and she'll never do the same too. Tiana throws the talisman to the ground, but it's snatched up by the Shadow Man's own shadow, and the illusion immediately disappears.
The Shadow Man cackles, transforms Tiana back into a frog, and tells her that she should have taken his deal, but Tiana takes the talisman back using her tongue and shatters it into pieces. He is horrified and frets how he won't be able to pay back his debt. The talisman's broken state greatly angers the voodoo spirits, who come out to give the Shadow Man his punishment. Masks come out of the stone heads, asking if he's ready, which he replies that he isn't. Shrunken heads appear and voodoo dolls climb out of the ground. In terror, the Shadow Man says that he has lots more plans and still has Naveen locked away, making Tiana realize that Ray was telling the truth about the Naveen they saw with Charlotte. A shadow demon that came from inside an enormous mask drags in the Shadow Man's shadow, which in turn brings along the hysterical witch doctor himself into the voodoo world to sacrifice his soul as punishment for his unpaid debt with his terrified face engraved on a tombstone to indicate his death, much to Tiana's horror.
After the Shadow Man's fate is sealed, Tiana heads back to the parade, where she sees Naveen talking to Charlotte while the bumbling Lawrence was arrested and sent to the Parish Prison after he's been revealed to be a fraud. Naveen explains to Charlotte what happened to him and that if she kisses him before midnight (which is mere minutes away), he will become human again, and he will marry her. His only condition is that Charlotte has to give Tiana the money she needs for her restaurant and in the process, he calls her his "Evangeline", making her feel deeply touched. Once she stops Charlotte and Naveen from making the kiss by calling out to the two, Tiana hops out of the shadows and confesses her love for Naveen, telling him that she'd rather be not have her restaurant without him. Naveen reciprocates her love in return, and the two share a romantic moment of their proclaimed love. Charlotte is moved to tears that her friend is finally living out the fairy tale she has always dreamed of, and agrees to kiss Naveen for Tiana, so they can both be human again and marry each other.
She holds Naveen in her hands and leans in for the kiss — but it's too late. Midnight has come and, though she kisses him again and again, nothing happens as Charlotte is no longer a princess. Before anything else can be said between the now-content Tiana and Naveen, Louis rushes to them, holding a dying Ray in his hands. He lays Ray on the ground, and he turns to Tiana and Naveen, asking them why they're still frogs, and they softly reply to him that the two of them are staying that way and together — thanks, in part, to him. Ray gives a weak smile, saying that he likes the latter, and Evangeline does too. His eyes slowly close, and he passes away in peace as his light slowly flickers out.
His three sad friends bring him back to the bayou for a funeral with his family. After they place his tiny body in a leaf with two flowers Naveen and Tiana placed in and push it out across the water, everyone starts to gasp and look up at the sky as a bright, white light shines down from above. Another star has appeared beside Evangeline, shining just as brightly. Everyone starts to cheer because they can see that Ray finally got his wish to be with Evangeline at last.
The funeral then fades away to a wedding as animals from the entire bayou gather together to see Mama Odie officiate Naveen and Tiana's wedding ceremony. After she pronounces them "frog and wife", they share a kiss and turn back into humans. Mama Odie laughs as the two figure out that by becoming Naveen's wife, Tiana became a princess and thus, kissing each other broke the spell.
The two return to New Orleans where they have a second wedding ceremony, then buy the old sugar mill from the Real Estate agents with some help from Louis and work together, fixing it up and eventually turning it into "Tiana's Palace", a very successful, upscale restaurant. We see Tiana and Naveen happily serving tables as Louis the gator entertains the guests onstage with his trumpet and a band he performed with at the Mardi Gras parade, finally living his own dream. Tiana and Naveen go up to the roof, where they dance together and share a kiss beneath the stars. Tiana sings, "Dreams do come true in New Orleans!", while Ray and Evangeline continue to shine brightly together in the night sky above as the movie closes.
==Cast==
===Principal/Secondary cast===
*Anika Noni Rose as Tiana
**Elizabeth Dampier voices Tiana as a child
*Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen
*Jennifer Cody as Charlotte La Bouff
**Breanna Brooks voices Charlotte as a child
*Keith David as Dr. Facilier
*Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie
*Jim Cummings as Ray
*Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis
**Louis' trumpeting was done by Terence Blanchard
*Emeril Lagasse as Marlon
*Kevin Michael Richardson as Ian
*Peter Bartlett as Lawrence
*John Goodman as Eli La Bouff
*Oprah Winfrey as Eudora
*Terrence Howard as James
*Ritchie Montgomery as Reggie
*Don Hall as Darnell
*Paul Briggs as Two Fingers
*Jerry Kernion as Mr. Henry Fenner
*Corey Burton as Mr. Harvey Fenner
*Randy Newman as Cousin Randy
*Michael Colyar as Buford
*Danielle Moné Truitt as Georgia
*Kwesi Boakye as Newspaper Boy
*Mick Wingert as Travis
*Jennifer Kilger as Swooning Girl
*Phil Proctor as Cajun Firefly
*Seth R. Williamson as Prince Ralphie
===Additional Voices===
*Keith Anthony
*Roger Aaron Brown
*June Christopher
*David Cowgill
*Peter Del Vecho
*Terri Douglas
*Jeff Draheim
*Rob Edwards
*Eddie Frierson
*Al Hebron
*Bridget Hoffman
*Kelly Hoover
*Rif Hutton
*Wolfgang Wesley Hutton
*Margaret Johnson-Holzendorf
*John Kassir
*Mona Marshall
*John Musker
*Allison Norman
*Peter Renaday
*Lynwood Robinson
*Kimberly Russell
*Lorry Ann Shea
*Bruce W. Smith
*Elissa Sussman
*Fred Tatasciore
*Claudette Wells
*Marlon West
*Joe Whyte
*Shanda M. Williamson
*Shane R. Williamson
==Development==
Disney had once announced that Home on the Range would be the studio's last 2D animated film entry to their animated features canon, but after the company's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, it was reported that Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, new leaders of the animation department, had decided to re-open the door to Disney's tradition of hand drawn animation. Many animators who had either been fired or had left the studio after the 2004 closure were located and re-hired for the project.
The Princess and the Frog was written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, whose earlier works included The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet. The story for the film was developed by merging two other projects in development at the time. 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. The film returns to the Broadway-style musical in the style of the successful Disney films like Walt's classics and the Disney Renaissance of the late-1980s and all the 1990s. Rhett Wickham also reported that John Lasseter had personally asked Ron Clements and John Musker to direct and write the film and had let them choose in what form (either traditional animation or CGI) they wanted the film to be made.
The film's story began development by merging two projects in development at Disney and Pixar at the time, both based around "The Frog Prince" fairy tale. One of the projects was based on E. D. Baker's The Frog Princess, in which the story's heroine (Princess Emma) kisses a prince turned frog (Prince Eadric), only to become a frog herself.[15] The other was based on Ralph Eggleston's pitch of The Frog Prince set in gangster-era Chicago. Jorgen Klubien separately claimed that a story he was developing at Pixar tentatively titled The Spirit of New Orleans served as inspiration for the film.[19] The Princess and the Frog returns to the musical film format used in many of the previously successful Disney animated films, with a style Musker and Clements declared, like with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, had inspiration from Golden Age Disney features, such as Cinderella (1950).
Musker and Clements thought that given so many fairy tales were set in Europe, they could do an American fairy tale. They stated that they chose New Orleans as a tribute to the history of the city, for its "magical" qualities, and because it was Lasseter's favorite city. The directors spent ten days in Louisiana before starting to write the film.
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", and the character's occupation was altered from chambermaid to waitress. 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.
==Writing and themes==
The head of story, Don Hall, described the plot as a fairy tale "twisted enough that it seems new and fresh", with a kingdom that is a modern city, a handsome prince that is a "knuckleheaded playboy" and a variation on the fairy godmother with Mama Odie. Co-writer Rob Edwards also said The Princess and the Frog was "a princess movie for people who don't like princess movies". As the writers thought Tiana's character motivation of simply dreaming of having her own restaurant was not appealing enough, they expanded so it was her father's as well, with the extra philosophy of "food bringing people together from all walks of life". Musker and Clements stated that while Tiana already starts as a sympathetic character, the events of the plot make her "understand things in a deeper level" and change people around her. Both protagonists would learn from each other—Naveen to take responsibilities, Tiana to enjoy life—as well as figuring from Ray's passion for Evangeline that the perfect balance is brought by having someone you love to share the experience. Tiana became the first African-American Disney Princess. Tiana was inspired in part by famed restaurateur Leah Chase, whom Clements and Musker met on their research trip to New Orleans. Clements elaborated, "There's a woman in New Orleans named Lee (sic) Chase who was a waitress and ultimately opened a restaurant with her husband … we met with her and we talked with her and she went to kind of into her story, her philosophy about food, which is a big element of the movie."
==Voice cast==
On December 1, 2006, a detailed casting call was announced for the film at the Manhattan Theatre Source forum. The casting call states the film as being an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1926 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 then-Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook about voicing the role. It was later reported that Tyra Banks was being considered for the role. By April 2007, it was confirmed that Rose would be voicing Tiana. Three months later, it was reported that Keith David was cast as Doctor Facilier, the villain of the film
==Animation and design==
Clements and Musker had agreed early on that the style they were aiming for was primarily that of Lady and the Tramp (1955), a film which they and John Lasseter feel represents "the pinnacle of Disney's style". "After that, everything started becoming more stylized, like Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians—which are fantastic films as well, but there's a particular style (to Lady and the Tramp) that's so classically Disney." 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. Bambi was described as a stylistic reference for the painted backgrounds, as according to art director Ian Gooding "Bambi painted what it feels like to be in the forest instead of the forest" so The Princess and the Frog would in turn try capturing the essence of roaming through New Orleans. Clements and Musker had agreed from very early on that the style they were aiming for was primarily that of Lady and the Tramp, a film which they and John Lasseter feel represents the "peak of a certain kind of animation of the classic Disney animation style". That said film also heavily informed the style of the New Orleans scenes, whilst Make Mine Music, Bambi, The Rescuers, and The Fox and the Hound served as the template for the bayou scenes.
The former trend in Disney's hand-drawn features where the characters 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...". He also mentions that Lasseter is aiming for the Disney sculptural and dimensional look of the 1950s. He quoted "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."
Deja also mentioned 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." Lasseter also felt that traditional animation created more character believability. For example, with Louis the alligator, created by Eric Goldberg, Lasseter said: "It's the believability of this large character being able to move around quite like that." Choreographer Betsy Baytos was brought by the directors to lead a team of eccentric dancers that gave reference to make each character a different style of movement. The character design tried to create beautiful drawings through subtle shapes, particularly for most characters being human. For the frog versions of Tiana and Naveen, while the animators started with realistic designs, they eventually went for stylized designs "removing all that is unappealing in frogs", similar to Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (1940).
Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony software was used in the digital processing of the film, as the old CAPS system Disney developed with Pixar in the 1980s is now outdated.
The Harmony software was augmented with a number of plug-ins to provide CAPS-like effects such as shading on cheeks and smoke effects.
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. Supervised by Eric Goldberg and designed by Sue Nichols, the "Almost There" sequence's character animation was done on paper without going through the clean-up animation department, and scanned directly into Photoshop. The artwork was then enhanced to effect the appearance of painted strokes and fills, and combined with backgrounds, using Adobe After Effects.
While the Goofy short How to Hook Home Theater experimented with paperless animation, the artists on The Princess and the Frog used traditional pencil and paper that is scanned into the computers. Although a new pipeline for hand-drawn animation using Toon Boom Harmony has been developed at the studio, the actual animation process remains the same. The visual effects, as well as many of the backgrounds, were created digitally using tools such as Wacom Cintiq tablet displays.
The visual effects and backgrounds for the film were created digitally using Cintiq tablet displays. 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. 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).
==Music==
On November 15, 2006, it was revealed that Randy Newman, who is responsible for the music of five Pixar films, would be put in charge of the music in the film instead of Alan Menken and his new lyricist Glenn Slater, making it the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be composed by a Pixar composer. This change was due to John Lasseter not wanting the public to feel Disney being repetitive, as Menken was also working on another Disney fairy tale film, Enchanted.
During the Walt Disney Company's annual shareholder meeting in March 2007, Randy Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performed a song from the film called "Down in New Orleans", while slides of pre-production art from the film played on a screen.
The film's soundtrack album contains ten original songs and seven instrumental pieces. The music, a mixture of jazz, zydeco, blues and gospel sounds, was composed, conducted and arranged by Pixar composer Randy Newman. R&B recording artist and producer Ne-Yo made a song exclusively for the film called "Never Knew I Needed", an R&B love song referring to the romance between the film's two main characters (Tiana and Naveen). The soundtrack was released on November 23, 2009, the day before the limited release of the film in New York and Los Angeles. The songs are performed by various artists, most of whom lend their voices to the characters in the movie.
==Release==
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. The film was originally set for release on Christmas Day 2009, but its release date was changed due to the competitive nature of the Fox's live-action-animated family film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, scheduled for release the same day.
===Home video===
The Princess and the Frog was released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 16, 2010. 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. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia on June 16, 2010.
==Reception==
The film has received largely positive reviews by critics and viewers alike. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 85% of 184 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.3 out of 10.
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 78%, based on a sample of 32 reviews and among the Rotten Tomatoes' community, the film holds an overall approval rating of 74%, based on a sample of 259,503 reviews.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*On April 20, 2007, E! reported that the title of the film could possibly be changed from The Frog Princess to The Princess and the Frog, and that the lead character Maddy may be getting a name change as well. On May 4, 2007, USA Today published an article that referred to the film as The Princess and the Frog, and to the lead character as "Tiana" rather than Maddy, supporting the earlier reported name-change possibilities. Four days later, Viacom-owned BET and other online sites reported that Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta explained that some of the original release information was incorrect, and confirmed the USA Today names "Princess Tiana" and The Princess and the Frog to be correct. Trotta said "Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity."
*Beyoncé Knowles was auditioned for the role of Tiana, but she does not voice her; 10 years later, she eventually voiced Nala in the 2019 version of The Lion King.
*This was the first traditionally-animated film to involve John Lasseter since The Brave Little Toaster.
*Facilier's lead animator, Bruce W. Smith, was inspired by Captain Hook from Peter Pan and Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians when designing his character.
*This was the last Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be scored by a non-recurring composer and the first to be scored by a recurring Pixar composer (Randy Newman) until 2016's Zootopia, which was scored by another recurring Pixar composer Michael Giacchino, as film composer Henry Jackman became a recurring composer of films from that studio (after Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Oliver Wallace, George Bruns, Alan Menken, Mark Mancina, John Debney, and James Newton Howard and before Christophe Beck) starting with 2011's Winnie the Pooh.
*The film has also been criticized for showing an optimistic and idealized version of the American South in the and for its portrayal of Voodoo. The film is also set in New Orleans, Louisiana, which has a large African-American population, and was released in 2009, just four years after the city suffered a direct hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
*This is the first Disney Princess film to be released in the 21st century.
*This is the first Disney Princess film to feature the voice of Fred Tatasciore.
*This is the only Disney Princess film to have A113.
*This is the only Disney Princess film to feature the voice of John Goodman.
*This is the last Disney Princess film to receive a G rating.
*This is the last Disney Princess film to be traditionally-animated.
*At the beginning of the film, in most international versions, Tiana's father only writes "TIANA'S" instead of "TIANA'S PLACE" in crayon on the poster of his restaurant. However, the word "PLACE" still appears on the poster after Tiana sings the reprise of "Almost There".
===Cameos and other Disney references===
*During the song "Dig a Little Deeper", Mama Odie throws a handful of magic objects including Genie's Lamp.
*Magic Carpet makes a cameo as an actual rug at the beginning of the film.
*King Triton appears as a parade float during the Mardi Gras Parade.
*As Tiana is seen in Charlotte's room, a prince doll that resembles Prince Charming wearing his outfit from Cinderella II: Dreams Come True is seen on the toy shelf.
*Several dolls on Charlotte's shelf look like the Disney Princesses before Tiana.
*In the ending, Louis joins a band called the Firefly Five Plus Lou, a reference to the Dixieland jazz band the Firehouse Five Plus Two made up of Disney animators, including Frank Thomas, who is seen in the film playing the piano.
*During the credits, the riverside shack from the Disneyland version of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride appears.
==References==
==External links==
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ar:الأميرة والضفدع
de:Küss den Frosch
es:The Princess and the Frog
fi:Prinsessa ja sammakko
fr:La Princesse et la Grenouille
hr:Princeza i žabac
it:La principessa e il ranocchio
ja:プリンセスと魔法のキス
nl:De prinses en de kikker
no:Prinsessen og frosken
pl:Księżniczka i żaba
pt-br:A Princesa e o Sapo
ru:Принцесса и лягушка
sv:Prinsessan och Grodan
zh:公主與青蛙
Category:2009 films
Category:Disney animated features canon
Category:Disney films
Category:Films based on books
Category:Animated films
Category:Disney Princess films
Category:The Princess and the Frog
Category:Traditionally Animated Films
Category:G-rated films
Category:Academy Award nominated films
Category:Annie Award Winner
Category:Annie Award Nominated
Category:Films based on fairy tales