I FINALLY got a chance to watch "The Princess and the Frog" at the beginning of January. It was such a cute movie! I didn't realize until I watched it that it was set in the New Orleans bayou. Disney did a really good job of depicting the setting and bringing it to life - I could almost feel the warm, muggy air. It reminded me of our stay at the Port Orleans Resort in Disney World last summer (the resort has a Southern mansion/bayou theme).The story was quite unique. I enjoyed the new aspect of Louisiana voodoo, although I was a bit surprised to see it in a Disney movie. I was also surprised by some of the scenes involving the villain, like when he called up creepy shadow monsters. They were actually rather scary, and I can imagine several younger children getting extremely frightened.
However, I did like Disney's fresh take on the movie. The main character, Tiana, is not born a princess - rather, she grows up in a poor community and has to work hard to achieve her dreams. I liked all of the other characters as well, including Ray the firefly. There are no fireflies here in Washington so I have to get my fill of them through books and movies! I've always wanted to see a real firefly...
I liked some of the songs, but they were definitely a bit disappointing compared to many of Disney's other songs. I had trouble figuring out the words several times, especially since many of the voices (unique as they were) were a bit hard to understand.
The main thing I liked about the movie was the message of working hard - not just having a goal, but actually doing your best to reach it. This is something that never really comes across in any other Disney movie, so I was glad to see it here.
"The Princess and the Frog" was definitely not my favorite Disney movie (in fact, "Tangled" was much better in my opinion), but it was still adorable and entertaining and worth the time.
