A Certain Slant of Light

I have come to praise Caesar as well as bury him; and although there are criticisms that can be made of The Princess and the Frog, and you can find them on the internet if you will, I will focus instead on admiring this swan song of Disney’s traditional hand-drawn animation. The Princess and the Frog came out to both critical and commercial success, but because it was not an absolute blockbuster, Disney slashed its plans for future hand-drawn animation projects to the bone.

Now, I love Disney’s computer animated movies too - Tangled is up next, and I’m so excited! - but it’s maddening that they shut down their hand-drawn animation studio because The Princess and the Frog didn’t make QUITE as much money as it might have. Walt would have kept it open! Admittedly, Walt nearly bankrupted his company multiple times, but nonetheless! Disney currently has so much money that it could throw weenie roasts over fires made of hundred dollar bills. They could afford to subsidize hand-drawn animation, if it needed it, which it does not, because - let me repeat - the movie turned a handsome profit.

OH WELL. Someday Disney will be hoist on the petard of its own artistic shortsightedness. In the meantime, at least The Princess and the Frog is a gorgeous swan song. Particular highlights include the art deco sequence where Tiana describes her vision for her restaurant to her mother (accompanied by a real showstopper of a song, “Almost There”) and the end credits, which are in a similarly elegant but even more pared-down style. Just imagine a full movie in either of those styles…

The character work in this story is also excellent. I’ve already mentioned Tiana’s showpiece, the restaurant song, and I love the Cinderella-sequence at the beginning where she’s rushing around a cafe with far too many trays and plates. (People always talk about Disney princesses charming birds off trees, but they’re just as likely to be expert waitresses!) I also love Tiana’s mother: she’s not a grandmother yet, but she already has that classic Disney Grandmother energy, with the accompanying gentle razzing of her daughter!

In fact, this movie has two Disney Grandmas for the price of one: we also have Mama Odie, the 197-year-old voodoo priestess, who sings a whole long song about how Tiana and Naveen need to “Dig a Little Deeper” to figure out how to break the curse… only for Tiana to cry ecstatically at the end, “I understand! I need to dig a little deeper and start working TRIPLE shifts to get enough money for my restaurant!” Mama Odie can only smack herself in the face in response to this obtuseness.

I also appreciate the fact that, while Naveen certainly has farther to go in her journey of personal growth, Tiana actually takes longer to get there. She has less to learn than Naveen, but she is also far more stubborn - which has been a great asset in saving money for her restaurant, but any virtue can become a vice in excess.

Speaking of Naveen, I’m so impressed that the film him so unbearable that you absolutely understand (even sympathize) when his valet Lawrence connives to have him turned into a frog - and yet with such charm and generosity, and just enough glimmers of courage, that his change of heart when he falls in love with Tiana feels natural and inevitable. The movie wrings similar depth out of Lottie, a spoiled southern belle who nonetheless sets aside her own dream of marrying a prince in order to facilitate Tiana’s romance: underneath her brash exterior, Lottie is a true romantic, eager to smooth the path of True Love even if that True Love isn’t hers.