“The Princess and the Frog” (opening throughout San Diego December 11) is a cartoon based on the children story of the same name. But this film adds a twist and excitement to the story.
It starts off with Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) at age six and her father reminding her that there is nothing more important in life than your dreams. About one minute later it shows how Tiana is getting up for work all stressed out but the only thing that gets her through the morning is the image of her father. Her father died when she was 8 years old. Tiana works as a waitress saving up every penny so she can buy the old windmill. She wants to turn it into her own restaurant and have the classiest place in New Orleans. So Tiana's friend Charlotte (Jennifer Cody) gives her just enough money to but the windmill if she will serve her guests at the ball that night, which might I add, Prince Naveen is going to attend. So as Tiana says yes her energetic friend, Charlotte jumps up and down in excitement. At the same time on the other side of New Orleans Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) has just arrived in town and he is singing and dancing with the town girls. Until he decides to talk to Dr. Facilier (Keith David) who just so happens to be a voodoo doctor and turns the prince into a frog and the prince's assistant into the prince. As long as the amulet that the assistant has is filled with the prince’s blood he can present himself as the image of the prince.
That night at the ball while Tiana is serving her guests, she falls into the food so her friend Charlotte takes her up stairs so she can change into a dress. She changes into a blue evening gown with a tiara. As Tiana looks into the mirror she hears the prince – now a frog -- talk to her as he is sitting on top of the dresser. He tells her what happened to him and says that he needs to kiss her so he can turn back into a prince. So she does what he says but she turns into a frog too. So they crashed the party hoping that Charlotte will have a solution but everyone starts freaking out and starts chasing them so they get out by holding onto some balloons. These balloons take them to a swamp and pop, soon they crash into a few friends they meet in the swamp one is an alligator named Ian The Gator (Kevin Michael Richardson) and a firefly named Ray (Jim Cummings.) These two friends help them find Mama Oldie (Jenifer Lewis) who just so happens to be a good voodoo doctor. She tells them that the only way they can become human again is for the Prince to kiss Charlotte before midnight. BUT Tiana and Prince Naveen fall in love with each other… and well you can probably guess how it all ends.
As I walked into this movie I thought I was going to see a cartoon about two frogs having fun with the predicament they find themselves in. After watching this movie I was very disappointed. The beginning is exactly what I thought it would be but towards the middle of the film is when I got a little mad. This was a film I thought I could take my niece to see but there was too much kissing for a kid’s movie and all the prince wants to do is marry a rich girl because his parents cut him off and he didn’t want to support himself. Throughout this film I could hear kids say "eww" or "they’re kissing a lot." I even saw a lady walk out of this film with her two kids and if a parent has to walk out than I don’t think that this is very appropriate for a kids film.
To be honest I kind of got freaked out with those voodoo shadow creatures that had to find the prince when he was a frog. I don’t think shadows should be that scary. They were in all different shapes and I heard kids constantly scream.
I believe Disney is all about the kissing and making things more than what they really are. When kids see stuff like this it makes them believe that life is a piece of cake and they will find love and live happily ever after, but what about the problems that follow people in real life? The arguing? The crying? And sometimes the divorces? They make kids believe all this bull and when they grow up they’re going to see that everything is not a fairytale, most of all that you might not grow up and find true love.
"The Princess and the Frog" is rated G but from my experience I think it should have been rated higher than that.
--Alisha Jackson is a senior at Mount Miguel High School. She loves to read and watch movies, so being a teen critic is a life long dream for her -- "watching movies for free and before they come out." She wants to be a writer in the future.
