Prince Naveen

**Prince Naveen** is the deuteragonist of Disney's 2009 animated feature film, *The Princess and the Frog*. He is the eldest prince of Maldonia, who prides himself in being charming and handsome. While visiting New Orleans, Naveen was transformed into a frog by a wicked witch doctor. Only by kissing a princess can Naveen break the spell and become human again.

Naveen is loosely based on the nameless titular character from the popular classic fairy tale story "The Frog Prince".

## Background

“*At this point, you only have two choices. Woo and marry a rich young lady, or... Get a job!*”
―Lawrence to Naveen
As mentioned above, Prince Naveen is native to the kingdom of Maldonia, where he lives alongside his parents, the king and queen (whose names are unknown), and his younger brother, Prince Ralphie. Naveen is quite the freeloader and has spent all his life being waited on, never learning to do a thing for himself, including activities as basic as simple cooking. His parents were in all likelihood, too busy running the kingdom to have time with their son, as Naveen stated during his meeting with Tiana that his mother had servants read him stories before bed every night, implying she was never available to do so. But despite this, they were at least aware of his behavior as, by the time of adulthood, the King and Queen of Maldonia finally had enough of the prince's lazy antics and excessive partying, and disinherited him from the royal family. Even if his parents would not change their minds, Naveen now had to find some way to become self-sufficient in order to survive. Lawrence, however, suggested a way he would not have to worry about maturity, which was to find a young woman with money, and marry her. Failing that, Naveen would ultimately have to accept becoming self-sufficient, as Lawrence put it...to get a job.

### Personality

Though not malicious, or particularly antagonistic, Naveen was extremely spoiled, lazy, and vain at the start of the film, as a result of his privileged upbringing. Arriving in New Orleans with intent to marry Charlotte La Bouff for her wealth (albeit forcibly), Naveen's only concern was "living life to the fullest" by partying as much as possible—preferably with a pleasurable company, as vocalized during "When We're Human". He had a strong disgust towards work or labor and hotly refused to ever engage in such activities, making attempts to avoid doing so at all costs. This would often annoy surrounding characters such as the prince's valet, Lawrence, who Naveen unintentionally humiliated for a number of years, to the point where Lawrence was driven to vengeful villainy. In reality, Naveen simply wanted his pushy valet to join in the festivities, but he was blind to two factors. First, Lawrence was antisocial and was ill at ease in such surroundings. Second, while Naveen avoided work, Lawrence had to do a lot of it, especially waiting on Naveen, and it reached a point of frustration for the overworked butler.

As mentioned, Naveen was also extremely vain, constantly commenting on his looks, his ability to arouse women, and was seemingly stuck with a mindset that all women were putty in his hands, in terms of romantic interest. He was also mentioned (in a boastful manner) to have dated "thousands" of women over the course of his lifetime, thus far, additionally commenting during "When We're Human" that having "a redhead on [his] left arm, a brunette on [his] right, and a blonde or two" to be examples of a perfect way to enjoy life, indicating that he was a heavy philanderer. However, as Naveen continued to interact and spend time with Tiana during the course of their adventures, Naveen loses his philandering behavior as Tiana becomes the first girl with whom he has ever fallen in love with and wants to settle down.

Naveen was also incapable of admitting his wrongdoings, and would instead put blame on someone else should trouble occur, such as blaming Tiana for "lying to him" about being a princess (even though she never told him she was a princess), after their failed attempt to break the frog curse. When Tiana later states they are going to return to New Orleans and undo the mess he got them into, he states he was "not the one parading around with a phony baloney tiara." He also refused to admit his foolishness in easily trusting a shady figure such as Dr. Facilier, the man responsible for the curse, by claiming the witch doctor was "very charismatic", making his schemes irresistibly tempting. However, Naveen grows take to responsibility for his mistakes and learn from them during his time as a frog.

Despite his shortcomings, Naveen is not as confident as he would like to believe and can be quite humble, devoted, and romantic. The strong-willed and ambitious Tiana would heavily influence the prince, and she would unknowingly bring out the best in his character, motivating him to alter his dreams and make something of himself. From that moment forward, Naveen was no longer concerned with parties and lazing, but instead set his sights on working to both better himself and to help make Tiana's dreams a reality, becoming a selfless individual who also valued the happiness of others. When he finally does admit his shortcomings, he appears very ashamed of himself, but becomes a dedicated person to make a living for himself and to make Tiana happy.

Free-spirited and lively, Naveen has a positive tendency of bringing joy to others. While initially a nuisance to Tiana, Naveen was quick to become close friends with Louis and Ray, as well as New Orleans' common citizens, who all enjoyed the prince's fun-loving nature. Naveen returned the affections by serving as a supportive friend, championing Louis' dream to become a musician, Ray's love for what appeared to be a mere star, and even offered to buy all of his new acquaintances in New Orleans a drink, just for the sake of doing so, despite not being able to afford such a promise. He tends to have a laid-back attitude towards life and never lets things upset him too much - he does not even appear overly upset at being turned into a frog but instead treats it more like a new experience. Tiana would also come to enjoy Naveen's antics, having been influenced to occasionally let loose and enjoy life, herself, by the prince—something she originally refused to do, to an unhealthy degree. He was also passionate about the art of music, specifically jazz music, finding it beautiful, and was shown to highly admire and recognize New Orleans as the birthplace of the genre.

### Physical appearance

Naveen's supervising animator was Randy Haycock, who had previously animated characters such as Simba and Pocahontas, in both his human and frog form. Naveen is a lean but muscular, average-sized young man with wavy, dark brown hair, and amber eyes. He has a slightly lighter skin tone than Tiana and often seen wearing commoner clothes over prince-like clothing. By appearance, he resembles his voice actor Bruno Campos, who, as mentioned above, is Brazilian born, giving Naveen a Brazilian-esque appearance.

When first introduced, Naveen is seen wearing a dark cream vest with a white shirt, accompanied by a reddish, orange ascot, fitting into the style of traditional New Orleans of the 1920s. At the end of the film, however, Naveen is featured in a fresh, new formal attire, with heavy and light shades of green, matching Tiana's official princess gown. The princely attire is also featured with a cape, going down just below Naveen's waist.

As a frog, Naveen was larger than Tiana, with a darker tone. He was originally designed as rather realistic, resembling a toad, but the animators felt the design was too unappealing and reworked the appearance.

### Abilities

In the chapter book continuation of the film, *The Stolen Jewel*, it is revealed both Tiana and Naveen hold the ability to communicate with animals, having gained that ability from becoming frogs and retaining it after becoming humans again.

## Trivia

* Before becoming "Prince Naveen of Maldonia", the character of the Prince was instead a British royal by the name of Henry. According to animator, Randy Haycock, this version of Naveen was inspired by J.C. Leyendecker, the young Carry Grant, as well as Brad Pitt.[1]
* Naveen is an Indian name (meaning "new"), which suggests that Maldonia is a Eurasian country (the name of Maldonia is a mix between Maldives and Macedonia), although his fluency in English, French and Italian might also indicate that Maldonia is a Mediterranean country, possibly near Monaco.
* Naveen most often appears as a frog for most non-live appearances.
* In the film *Enchanted*, released two years before *The Princess and the Frog*, a foreshadowing reference to Disney's then-upcoming incarnation of the Frog Prince (Naveen) was made.
* Naveen is fluent in French, as evidenced by his accurate translations of Ray's French lyrics for "Ma Belle Evangeline".
* Naveen is the only Disney Prince to have both of his parents alive and present in his film.