The Princess and the Frog Discussion - Part II

[Disney Duster]

Divinity, Mama Odie looks very skeletal and scary. If they want to say "even ugly old woman can be good and lovable", that's nice, but I see her as scary more than ugly. Why does she have such a sharp, pointed nose, why not something softer? Older people usually get rounder noses anyway. Old people get cuter. Her design really turns me off from her character. When they have the ability to, they should soften her design.

By their very nature, artists are people who want to challenge the norm and branch out into new territory both stylistically and technically to improve their work. Fantasia is the perfect example of this and, gasp, it's a Walt!

Right. And they will be going into new territory both stylistically and technically with these new fairy tales coming up, too. It's obvious from the way they're turning The Frog Prince into this New Orleans voodoo jazz edgy comical tale, and Rapunzel being CGI that looks like a French rococco painting and moves like hand-drawn animation, among the other things they're doing with these tales. Of course, making The Frog Prince about a German King and Queen that lovingly adopts a little black girl to be their princess would be quite new too, but keep Disney fairy tale traditions in the setting and other classical ways.

Fantasia was very much like Pinocchio or Snow White, the classical, beautiful animation and music, with amazing visual effects. The Scorcerer's Apprentice is like those stories. It was even about magic, as so many Walt films were. Fantasia even contained fairies, and weren't we talking about fairy tales here?

Lilo and Stitch is not really like any of that, but whatevs. I just don't see the reason why people want the studio to become something it's not. They can do different things, but they should have some common traditions and classic elements. They should always be Disney at their heart.

[pap64]

I think Mama Odie is supposed to look scary because she is a 200 year old voodoo priestess. Its likely the practice took a tolls on her looks.

[Siren]

I think she looks the way she does because she's 200 years old, not because of the fact she practices Voo Doo. Considering she is 200, she looks pretty damn good for what a 200 year old person should look like...dust and bones.

I think the style is kinda cool. Its original. Most of the time villains are angular. Nice to see they are getting out of the stereotype.

And I don't find her scary at all. She IS round for the most part. She's blind too, so way to go for Disney adding a blind character. She wears the sunglasses like most blind people do, since seeing their "dead eyes" is usually more uncomfortable and scary for people than the sunglass look.

But I don't see the scariness factor at all. She reminds me a bit of the medicine woman in Brother Bear.

[jeremy88]

I think Grandmother Willow looks creepier/scarier than Mama Odie...I mean c'mon now, an over 200 year old talking tree? Mama Odie doesn't even come close! Still though, Grandmother Willow is a loveable character even though her look and overrall existance in Pocahontas is pretty scary. I'm sure once we see all of Mama Odie's character traits and personality she'll become that good loveable old character and it will overshadow her "scariness", which I don't it really is at all.

[Disney's Divinity]

And I don't find her scary at all. She IS round for the most part. She's blind too, so way to go for Disney adding a blind character. She wears the sunglasses like most blind people do, since seeing their "dead eyes" is usually more uncomfortable and scary for people than the sunglass look.

She's supposed to be blind? Somehow I didn't pick up on that. That makes her even cooler now.

But I don't see the scariness factor at all. She reminds me a bit of the medicine woman in Brother Bear.

Except a bit more maternal, I think.

I just like to have older female characters in Disney films. No particular reason why. Whether they're good or bad doesn't usually bother me.

Personally, I never really thought she was that skeletal besides around the mouth (I can't remember if she has teeth or not though). At the moment, she's the most interesting addition to the movie for me. I don't feel either way about Tiana and Naveen except that the green dress is beautiful, and Dr. Facilier's design kind of leaves me up in the air about how I feel about it (he looks like he could possibly turn into another Jafar--sigh).

I still wonder how they're going to handle the Voodoo Priestess thing though. I wonder if that's just what they're saying she is, but that it won't really be mentioned in the film at all? I prefer that they stay away from specific religions/spiritualities except when there's a point to do so (such as Hunchback's depiction of Frollo).

[Disney Duster]

Oh, you can post pictures of her where you can't see her that well that look less scary, but she's always looked scary to me from the beginning.



She may be 200 years old, but old doesn't have to mean scary also!

By the way, her snake is a seeing-eye snake. Guess she really is blind.

And I'm glad Divinity also agrees religion should really be left out of a story intended for all audiences, unless you're trying to say something about religion to everyone which this film isn't nor shouldn't. It's meant for even kids to understand, not make kids think about converting...

[blackcauldron85]

Maybe Voodoo as a religion won't be addressed; maybe voodoo = magic in the film...just like how Jafar & the Genie use magic in Aladdin, maybe voodoo is just another name for "magic", in TP&tF, anyway?

[Jules]

Mama Odie is cute and cuddly. Bleet!

[Neal]

I like Disney's spunky magic-weavers:

Merlin
Genie
Bailey

...I'm looking forward to (and hoping) Mama Odie is another fun and funny magician!

[katemonster]

Mooky
PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:40 am Post subject:
Ahem... Back on topic: there's a new featurette on the official website, it's called The Disney Legacy... It's in the Video section of the site.

If you have Facebook, you can access it via Walt Disney Pictures Backlot page:

Thanks for the info Mooky! I became a fan and there is so much information and clips on the page. Looking great!

[Super Aurora]

Mama Odie looks very skeletal and scary.

This is "very skeletal and 'scary'."





This is "very skeletal and 'scary'."




This is "very skeletal and 'scary'."




.......Mama Odie isn't.

Her design really turns me off from her character.

Why would you even want to be turned on by an old woman?

[Mooky]

^^

Thanks for the info Mooky! I became a fan and there is so much information and clips on the page. Looking great!

You're welcome! Yeah, Disney's Facebook page is very informative, with all those updates and whatnot.

I think Grandmother Willow looks creepier/scarier than Mama Odie...

Oh, God, yes! I always thought that too! *shudders*

[Disney Duster]

This is "very skeletal and 'scary'."

.......Mama Odie isn't.

Yes, she is for an old person who is supposed to be cute and cuddly and be warmed up to by the characters in the film and the people in the audience.

I already said I don't get why she has such a pointed nose, old people get more round ones as they get older. There's something called cartilage.

Then again, maybe the point is she's so old she's losing that. But that proves my point she's getting towards skeletal, because she's losing flesh. But then she's also fat, so the design still makes no sense.

Sure maybe her shortness and fatness make her cute and cuddly but it's all ruined by her skeletal face.

Her design really turns me off from her character.

Why would you even want to be turned on by an old woman?

I said it turns me off from her character, as in her personality or whatever she's supposed to be or do in the film.

[Super Aurora]

You obviously have no sense of humor. LOL

[Mooky]

I just thought of something: The Princess and the Frog isn't a straight adaptation of The Frog Prince, it's just inspired by it – they even acknowledge that fact in the trailer. So I was thinking, what if Disney made a Frog Prince short and included it as a bonus feature on the DVD/Blu-Ray, kind of like that Little Matchgirl short on the TLM DVD. They'd just have to keep the same character designs as in that storybook from the trailer/movie.

[tsom]

This is very random and slightly on topic, but does anyone know anything about this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_A ... chtenstein

I think it's cool that something like this actually happened and now we get to see a movie that's a tiny bit similar to reality!

[pap64]

Well, that means that black Princesses are not exclusive to Disney movies

[nomad2010]

so i was just sitting around the other day when i realized that disney didn't use their new cgi castle logo. they used their old logo which was shown before all the fab 4 movies when they were in theaters. i think that was a really smart move on disney's part.

[KubrickFan]

so i was just sitting around the other day when i realized that disney didn't use their new cgi castle logo. they used their old logo which was shown before all the fab 4 movies when they were in theaters. i think that was a really smart move on disney's part.

Didn't use their logo on what, exactly? Disney has their new Mickey logo when animation is concerned, so I doubt it that they would just use their old logo again.

[Disney Duster]

Well, that means that black Princesses are not exclusive to Disney movies

Well yea, in Africa and other places there have been many!

But thanks tsom. A black princess reigning in Europe. See, that proves that a black princess in the original setting of the German "Frog Prince" really could have happened. Oh, Disney...please just change this whole film to "The Frog Prince", set in royal Germany with Tiana and Naveen as the same characters, but with German upbringing...

Kubrick, they have a new Mickey logo for animated movies? That doesn't really fit, I mean Mickey's not in any Disney animated movie at all, but plenty of castles have been. It should still be a castle...