The Princess and the Frog Discussion - Part III

[Polizzi]

Tiana and Naveen - Bad Romance (Lady Gaga)
Ray - Fireflies (Owl City)
Louis - Empire State of Mind (Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys)
Lawrence - Unknown
Dr. Facilier - I Put a Spell on You (Screamin' Jay Hawkins)
Mama Odie - I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)
Charlotte "Lottie" La Bouff - Tik Tok (Kesha)
Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff - Unknown
Eudora, Tiana's mother - Unknown
James, Tiana's late father - Do You Remember? (Jay Sean featuring Lil John and Sean Paul)

That's just for the fun of it.

[Elladorine]

It's crazy how the music from this film has grown on me in the past week, especially When I'm Human.

[Polizzi]

It's crazy how the music from this film has grown on me in the past week, especially When I'm Human.

Me too.

[Jules]

It's crazy how the music from this film has grown on me in the past week, especially When I'm Human.

You're probably identifying with the human aspect of the song.

Don't ask how I come up with these theories. I'm just your neighbourhood genius.

[Elladorine]

You're probably identifying with the human aspect of the song.

Don't ask how I come up with these theories. I'm just your neighbourhood genius.

How did you know I'm longing to become human again myself? Must be why I like the special edition of Beauty and the Beast so much too.

[disneyboy20022]

You're probably identifying with the human aspect of the song.

Don't ask how I come up with these theories. I'm just your neighbourhood genius.

How did you know I'm longing to become human again myself? Must be why I like the special edition of Beauty and the Beast so much too.

At least you have a Super Model Smurffette and Tinker Bell by your side to help you on your question to be Human again which your gonna be but don't play your horn.....Idk if the world is ready to hear a Non Human enigmawing blowing your horn..

[ajmrowland]

I dont think the world wants to hear anyone blow their horn.

[Elladorine]

Well as you can see I'm currently stuck as a gingerbread cookie, and it's kinda hard to blow horns like this.

[UmbrellaFish]

Just something funny that was on 30 Rock last night-

Tracy- I know ya'll are all secretly mad 'cause we finally have a black Disney Princess!

Jenna- You know, there hasn't actually been a white princess since 1991.

Pete- Tiana, Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine- Wow, she's right!

Jenna- There are little blonde girls in this country that have no idea they can be beautiful! That's why I've started "Jenna's Kids". It's a summer camp that teaches pretty blonde girls how to be mean (she then claps for herself, and sits down).

And now to the Chelsea Handler IMDb board to talk about how 30 Rock referenced her, too.

[KubrickFan]

I knew this would happen, but I liked the movie a lot more when I bought the Blu-ray disc, and saw it again. In fact, I love it now. The songs, which didn't do anything before, suddenly were catchy, and didn't seem wasted at all. The animation was lovely (another 2d movie, how could I not be enthusiastic about it before?), and I loved almost everything about it, even though I was ambivalent about it the first time I saw it.
The only downside I can think of right now is that it will take too much time for another hand drawn animated movie to come along. I really hope Lasseter won't let the format die.

[ajmrowland]

Just something funny that was on 30 Rock last night-

Tracy- I know ya'll are all secretly mad 'cause we finally have a black Disney Princess!

Jenna- You know, there hasn't actually been a white princess since 1991.

Pete- Tiana, Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine- Wow, she's right!

Jenna- There are little blonde girls in this country that have no idea they can be beautiful! That's why I've started "Jenna's Kids". It's a summer camp that teaches pretty blonde girls how to be mean (she then claps for herself, and sits down).

And now to the Chelsea Handler IMDb board to talk about how 30 Rock referenced her, too.

I gotta watch that!

[estefan]

I just watched the Portuguese dub on the Blu-Ray and it was done very well, keeping with the spirit and fun of the original version and the voice actors were well chosen. That said, I don't know why they didn't get Bruno Campos to dub over Naveen, like how Antonio Banderas also voices Puss-in-Boots in the Spanish versions of Shrek.

It's also interesting to note that they change the Fenner's reasoning for Tiana not getting the restaurant from "someone of your background" to "someone with your inexperience." Did they just have trouble translating or what?

[ajmrowland]

^I think the line was meant to sound like that in the English version, but was changed to sound a little more vague.

[blackcauldron85]

NOLA: 'Princess and the Frog' take to the ice in Disney's new skating show
http://www.laughingplace.com/Latest.asp?I1=ID&I2=74155

[Margos]

^I think the line was meant to sound like that in the English version, but was changed to sound a little more vague.

And maybe because the American tradition of racism might not be understood by a younger Portugese and Brazilian audience?

[Mooky]

It's also interesting to note that they change the Fenner's reasoning for Tiana not getting the restaurant from "someone of your background" to "someone with your inexperience." Did they just have trouble translating or what?

And that, folks, is exactly the reason why dubs suck. Come on, the look on Tiana's face when they say the original line says it all. It was obviously a racial insult disguised as a simple observation.

[Sky Syndrome]

Tiana and Naveen played around with the frog hunters. That could be considered bonding time too. Naveen learned Tiana isn't above doing fun things. He rescued her from them and that made her think more tenderly of him. Tiana would've expected him to stand on the sidelines.

On the contrary Syndrome, Naveen's character would not have been to abandon Tiana. He is made out to be a self-concerned jerk but there is nothing indicative of him being a deserter. The whole Tiana wants fun aspect was badly done. It was her dream, not only her father's to want that restaurant and she enjoys cooking. It was badly plotted, that's all.

Tiana would have suspected that Naveen wanted to protect his good looks because having gruesome battle scars would make him ashamed to be seen by women after the spell was broken.

About the Naveen thinking Tiana should have fun aspect. Naveen enjoyed the novelty of being frog and made the most of the experience. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he couldn't understand why Tiana wouldn't make the most of it too. At the end of the film, Tiana goes on a green kick as though she had liked being a frog but as a frog, she never embraced being one because she was wrapped up in getting the spell broken and later being in love with Naveen made her not care what form she had.

[jpanimation]

continued from What Movie Did You Just Watch? thread...

Funny, I liked all the songs in Princess and the Frog except 'Dig a little deeper'. I thought it was too obvious and generic.

In your review you said: "The songs of Dr. Facilier, Mama Odie and Tiana's first were the greatest." Was that a mistake or have you grown to dislike "Dig a Little Deeper" upon subsequent viewings?

Same here. I grew to love all of the songs except "Dig a little Deeper". I think the chorus was really great and so did the melody. But the actual singing felt a tad flat. Maybe its because we got used to really, really strong vocal performances that the character lacked that "oomph" in her performance.

Well I was talking about the melody of the song (ability to hum the tune) and not the meaning or lyrics (in which case, yes, "Dig a Little Deeper" doesn't have much depth). This was my second viewing and I still can't remember the other songs, only "Dig a Little Deeper". I personally find the "When We're Human" song to be the worst, as it was shoved into there to seal the instant phony friendship these characters develop (Disney avoids character develop by replacing it with songs) and serves no other purpose than to make Louise not look pointless (which he is). They sing about stuff we already know but them singing about it together makes them look like chums. Louise has one task in the movie that will serve the story, lead the protagonists to Mama Oldie, but he doesn't even do that (Ray does and soo much more). I don't hate Louise, he has a nice personality and is a cool concept (trumpet playing alligator) but his whole reason for being is thin (they needed a side-kick that would sell). Not to mention he is animated so bouncy and cartoony that he is out-of-style and alien to this movie. He should've just been a cameo or in a short included on the DVD, not an actual character integrated into the film. If Louise and the Frog Catchers weren't in this film, that would be precious time for Naveen and Tiana to spend together and develop a bond without the slapstick intrusions.

"Down In New Orleans" is great background music but that's all it really is, background music. I can't really fault it for that and it serves it's purpose in establishing the setting. "Almost There" is a nice little song for the protagonist to sing of her desires, and it works (certainly not as bad as some of the other songs in this film) but it just doesn't have that extra something that "Part of Your World" (The Little Mermaid) or "Reflection" (Mulan) or even "Go the Distance" (Hercules) had. "Friends On The Other Side" starts out good and ends good but is stopped in it's tracks with the stupid cards thing in the middle (they didn't need to stop the song to explain things, I just found it lazy that they didn't integrate that into the catchy song, and took some half-assed approach of having him somewhat sing as he explains with the cards). Some of the little voodoo things singing during the song also sound corny. The two songs Ray has aren't bad but are completely ruined by Ray's over-the-top accent. He is just way to caricatured and cartoony to have these songs (especially "Ma Belle Evangeline," which should be beautiful but I can't take seriously). Overall, the music in the movie is a let down for me.

I rented the Blu-ray and while it looked great, I'm glad I didn't buy it. It was basically a tricked out barebones release and I'll wait for a more substantial 2-Disc release. The 20min documentary, deleted scenes, and art galleries were nice but everything else was worthless promotional material from their website. The documentary skipped over way to many people and aspects of the film to make it worth while (Randy Newman barely got to talk about the music, none of the animators really got to talk about their inspiration for their characters, and Ron and John didn't really talk about how they came up with this movie [probably want to avoid talking about the controversial original take on the film]). It also lacked no-brainer features, like the original theatrical teaser, promotional material like posters, and the funny Drawing Naveen feature Disney posted on YouTube. It maybe a while, good thing this isn't one of my favorites, but I'll wait for the more substantial 2-Disc release.

OK, I wasn't fair. The live action reference feature was also cool but everything else was worthless promotional material from their website. I really think they held back, so I'll wait. Since I doubt this will be a Diamond Edition, a re-release should be less then 10 years, and I'll just have to wait until then.

[ajmrowland]

Personally, I like all the songs, but Dig a Little Deeper sorta shrunk on me. The Lyrics are "preachy" in the sense that they make Tiana seem stupid not to notice what Mama Odie is trying to say.

In addition, I think the "love song" was poorly placed. There was plentyn of room on that riverboat that it didnt need to be before they meet Mama Odie.

Other than that and the Frog Hunters, there's not much fault I could find. Sure, I would've loved more Facilier and if FOTOS was more showstopping, but it's all cool. I think I'll just take the easy way out and use the "it's not Alan Menken" excuse this time round.

Im certainly not as hard on the film as jpanimation is.

[Goliath]

@ jpanimation: I agree with everything you wrote about Louis. It's just so obvious that Disney only put him in the film to have a 'sidekick'. I was annoyed with him in every scene. Instead of having Ray die, they should have killed off Louis, and I would have cheered and applauded.

Back to the music: yeah, I must've been drunk when I wrote that. I find 'Dig a little deeper' to be both too little and too much at the same time: too little in lyrics, too much in the execution. The songs is just too over-produced, with the big chorus and the look and feel of a big musical number... And what's been said in the song is, indeed, generic and preachy. The lyrics are so obvious that I cringe everytime I hear them. Besides, I don't buy it when a Disney character preaches about money having no 'real' value. Kind of hypocritical coming from Disney.

All in all, the film tries way to hard to be a 1990's Disney Classic and therefore, it fails. It can't hold a candle to them, and not even to the later films like Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan and Tarzan, which are all far superior to PatF.