This past Sunday I went to see Disney’s latest: The Princess and the Frog.  They call it a return to traditional hand-drawn animation.  I thought I’d chime in with my take on the film.

First off, I have to mention the animation.  The finest I’ve seen in a Disney movie.  Maybe even the finest I’ve ever seen aside from Spirited Away.

The art direction in the film was fantastic from New Orleans to the bayou.  Spectacular.

The songs were better than average – a few were even catchy and have been stuck in my head.  There were no “Under the Sea” songs that were show stoppers but I did like the music and will add the album to my iTunes Disney playlist.

As far as a movie, the story definitely didn’t go where I thought it was going to go and that was a good thing.  It kept me guessing at times.  Of course I knew the heroine’s dream would come true, but I wasn’t quite sure how it would all come together.

I liked the characters a lot, especially Tiana.  She was not your typical helpless princess – she was a poor hard-working girl with a dream. And being a poor hard-working guy with a dream myself, I connected.  At times, it felt like they were forcing the story to be overly current but I didn’t mind so much.

There were several moments where I laughed out loud.  Thankfully, the filmmakers didn’t stoop to using any Shrek-like tactics.  It was all very clever and rooted in the world of the movie.

I think one thing that might disqualify The Princess and The Frog from being a Disney Classic is that the stakes were too small.  Since I want this to be a spoiler free post, I won’t say anything else about that, but just know, the fate of the world is not at stake if Tiana and Naveen don’t achieve their goal.  Bad things are alluded to, but it almost felt like that was tacked on because the filmmakers knew the stakes were too low.  However, I still think the movie worked.  They just could have amped up the bad guy’s plot a little more and it would have been even stronger.

On that note, my one nagging complaint with the film is that it had some very strong similarities to the 1997 film Anastasia put out by Fox.  The bad guys in these two films were especially similar.  If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed this film was directed by Don Bluth.

The commercials say this is Disney’s best animated film since The Lion King and I would have to agree.  It was better than:

Pocahontas (1995)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Hercules (1997)
Mulan (1998)
Tarzan (1999)
The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
Atlantis:  The Lost Empire (2001)
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Treasure Planet (2002)
Brother Bear (2003)
Home on the Range (2003) – To be fair, I didn’t even see this one.  Did anyone?

So looking back at that list, I can see why they would tout The Princess and the Frog as the best since The Lion King – not all that much of an accomplishment.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Princess and the Frog and I’m pretty sure it’s one I’ll add to my Disney collection.  It had some story issues and it lacked a bit of the magic that the Disney classics have but it was a step in the right direction.

So go out and support the return of traditional hand-drawn animation.  I support both 3D and 2D animation.  I believe there is a place for both in the marketplace and this film proves that.  And delightfully so.