The Princess and the Frog (Film Review)
January 2nd, 2010 | Published in Community
by Desaree, Racebending.com staff
Disney introduced Tiana the first African American princess to the world on December 11, 2009 in their animated movie “The Princess and the Frog.” With ticket sales over $29 million, this magical movie has had the public buzzing ever since Anika Noni Rose from “Dreamgirls” was cast to voice the princess back in 2007. The setting for this Americanized tale is in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the 1920s. Tiana (Rose) is the daughter of two hard working African American parents (Terrence Howard and Oprah Winfrey) who stress the importance of hard work, determination, and reaching for your dreams.
The imprint is lasting and Tiana works two waitressing jobs saving every tip she earns for payment on an old rundown sawmill. The dream of owning a restaurant originally belonged to her father (Howard) who passed away in the war, but with Tiana’s superb cooking skills and determination she’s confident that their dream will become a reality.
Unfortunately, the bankers tell Tiana that she must earn more money for the sawmill or they’ll have to give the building to another buyer. Devastated by the impossibility of earning enough money by the deadline Tiana decides to take a chance and makes a heartfelt wish on the evening star. After that moment she turns to see a frog gazing up at her. Not knowing that the frog can actually talk she questions what to do next and is shocked when the frog answers.
Tiana flattens him with a book and the frog tells her that he is actually Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos) of Maldonia. The prince then realizes that the book in Tiana’s hands is The Frog Prince, and he convinces her that just like the fairy tale he too will be turned back into a prince if she kisses him. She reluctantly gives in hoping that this one kiss will bring her the money she needs to make her family dream come true. The prince has mistaken Tiana for a princess, so instead of the prince turning into a human Tiana is actually turned into a frog! It is Dr. Facilier’s Voodoo magic from “the other side” that turned Prince Naveen and Tiana into frogs. The two embark on a slimy adventure through the Bayou searching for Mama Odie’s good Voodoo to break the spell and turn them human again.
The Princess and the Frog is beautifully drawn and much overdue. This movie is a step in the right direction for promoting role models with naturally darker skin tones and for that it gets my support. The animated cast comes from a variety of different cultures, reminding viewers how diverse America really is. Tiana is the second animated American princess to come from the Disney studios after Pocahontas. As the first African American Princess, Tiana’s story revolves around working hard to make your dreams come true, but there is much more to this story then just the moral.
The separation of economic status between Tiana’s family and the wealthy customers of her seamstress mother Eudora (Winfrey) are staggeringly evident in the movie. Charlotte, Eudora’s best customer, lives in a massive plantation mansion, while Tiana and her family live in a tiny wooden shack. Even though Charlotte is adorned in fine dresses and tiaras she is focused on wanting to marry a prince so she can live happily ever after. Tiana is moderately dressed and full of confidence in herself and what the future can bring with the right amount of effort. The scene inside her home tells more of how unbalanced the economic scales were for working African Americans in the South. Eudora was a successful seamstress, with at least one extremely wealthy client, yet for all the dresses she had sewn for Charlotte, at the end of the day her family shared a pot of gumbo with the neighbors that looked more like broth and a few shrimps rather than a hearty stew.
This fairy tale is set in the South during the Jazz era of the 1920s. For the first animated African American princess to be crowned there, considering the fact that the South is also where the first Africans were sold into slavery makes me think that this is Disney’s attempt to perhaps right some of the wrongs that have been ingrained in American history. Similar to the way Pocahontas was supposed to ‘honor’ Native Americans, even though that movie was full of atrocious inaccuracies, it was not intended to be a history lesson. Nonetheless Disney could not have made this animated movie without being somewhat culturally accurate. For the most part I would say that they succeeded in telling Tiana’s story without completely disregarding the struggles that African Americans had to endure in that timeframe.
As a parent I am happy to see that there is a new Disney Princess with dark skin and black hair, just like my three year old daughter, who after seeing a picture of Princess Tiana pointed to herself and with wide eyes said that Tiana was “my Princess…like me!” Be prepared to laugh and perhaps shed a few tears. I also recommend parents with younger children to take caution before heading out to see this Disney movie. The dancing murderous Voodoo dolls and demons could have them watching their shadows with a weary eye for weeks.
