Movie Review -- The Princess and the Frog

Today after we picked up our daughter from preschool we decided we needed a little family fun time. We told her we had a surprise for her and asked her, "Wasn't there some special new movie that you wanted to see?" She very excitedly replied, "The frog prince!!" We confirmed to her that we were going to see the Princess and the Frog. For all her excitement I was also excited--excited that she would be able to see a brand new princess movie.

I'm sure many of you have seen the previews for the Princess and the Frog, but I still don't want to give anything away. From the previews you can see this is a story about a girl that grows up with the big dream of someday owning her own restaurant in New Orleans. One night she is at a party dressed up as a princess when she meets the frog. This frog isn't just any frog; he is Prince Naveen, a man turned into a frog by an evil voodoo doctor. Both the girl and the prince grew up hearing the story of the Frog Prince, and Naveen convinces the girl to kiss him so that he'll turn back into a prince and he can reward her. Only unlike the classic fairy tale, when she kisses him the reverse actually happens and she herself is also turned into a frog.

The fun begins...

The two frogs end up in the bayou where they run into the jazz-loving alligator Louis and a very Creole-sounding firefly named Ray. Naveen and Tiana become friends with these two characters on their way to see Mama Odie, a very old woman of the bayou that supposedly can help them to become human again, or so they hope. You'll just have to go see it because I'm not giving anything away!

This is a very good movie as Disney goes back to its roots (so to speak) of making animated movies with more music interwoven into the storyline. There are many interesting characters in this movie and several of them sing songs that help explain the story. And with the jazz-era songs, who wouldn't love it? It certainly had our three year-old up and dancing in front of her seat!