The Princess and the Frog

Synopsis

A lazy prince turns into a frog and must get a princess to kiss him before he remains one permanently. When the frog mistakenly kisses a servant girl dressed up as a princess, she too becomes a frog, and together they must find a princess for him to kiss.

Entertainment Value - B

Great jazz music and humor; an all around fun story. Definitely different from all of Disney's other princess stories.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 3

The message presented isn't very strong. We're somewhat shown the importance of a good work ethic and gaining an education. There's quite a contrast between the work ethic of Tiana and Prince Naveen, the former works too hard and the latter plays too much. The two learn that there must be a balance between work and play.

We see a good model for friendship between Tiana and Charlotte. This relationship is important in not only overlooking racial barriers, but also class barriers which can sometimes be hard to overlook without the rich person becoming too condescending or the poorer one too covetous.

Tiana and Prince Naveen fell in love way too quick, even for a fairy tale. In less than a day they go from having nothing in common to falling in love. Maybe some relationships don't need years (or even a year) to mature before feeling ready to take the plunge into marriage, but a day is ridiculous. (This would be a fault in many princess movies - Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella; but there are some good examples of developed relationships with Beauty and the Beast and Enchanted, to name a few.)

The Shadow man (villain) was a little dark with all the voodoo and communicating with "the other side" (not sure if this meant just those dead, or more likely dealing with the dark, shadowy side with the devil and his minions). Though dark, it did seem rather fitting with the setting being New Orleans, but might be a little scary for kids afraid of shadows.