The Princess and the Frog was an interesting one for Disney; a nostalgic look back at no doubt one of their most consistent formulas given a modern remix. Replacing the fairyland castles of old with a jazzy New Orleans and the idea of blood born royalty replaced by the spoilt daughter of the richest man in town TPatF was in one way a breath of fresh air for Disney, while on the other hand it wasn't.
As much as they gave their 'fairytale princess story' generating machine a fresh lick of paint, the workings on the inside are very much the same. It's fair to say that you may securely predict how this film will end within five minutes of it starting, and while I would usually say that is not so much a bad thing with Disney as much it is their trademark...if they're gonna really put all this effort into refreshing this genre they could of put some real effort into it at least?
Please, do not be mistaken. This film is very enjoyable with some very likable and fun characters and your standard set of sugar coated Disney songs littered throughout the film (although once again they fail to manage any songs that could stand proud amongst the classics) and is certainly delivering a more worthwhile and honest moral to the younger audience than a lot of animated films are managing too these days. Overall, you'll have fun watching this and while some of the new ideas are interesting I can't help but feel there was some real potential lost somewhere along the line with this one.
8/10
