Why do people hate Princess and the Frog so much?

[Super Aurora]

And I suppose using my own posts against me to make me look like a hypocrite is more mature? Yeah. That's real "mature".

Yes it is mature because he was able to bring out living evidences of your bullshit in a civilized manner. As oppose to whining like a 45 yr old neckbeard man-child.

[DisneyJedi]

FYI, I'm twenty-four, turning twenty-five in four months and one day from now.

[Big One]

FYI, I'm twenty-four, turning twenty-five in four months and one day from now.

Neat. Now let's get back on topic please.

[TsWade2]

Okay, let me just say, I love Princess & the Frog movie, no matter what people will say about it. I disagree on what Big One says about Louis the Alligator. I think he's funny and kind of cute too. But I have to respect that opinion. I don't agree, but I'll respect it.

Okay, I'm outta here!

[Super Aurora]

FYI, I'm twenty-four, turning twenty-five in four months and one day from now.

Neat. Now let's get back on topic please.

Princess and the Frog was mediocre at best. Songs were unmemorable except Dr. Facilier's, and the story structure was badly paced. Oh and it had an obnoxious sidekick named Lois the Failigator that look like it belong in Barney's show.

[Big One]

Neat. Now let's get back on topic please.

Princess and the Frog was mediocre at best. Songs were unmemorable except Dr. Facilier's, and the story structure was badly paced. Oh and it had an obnoxious sidekick named Lois the Failigator that look like it belong in Barney's show.

The film would be pretty solid if the only frog was the prince and most of the central characters were humans. It would make the unique element of a talking animal mean a lot more than it does in this movie, where talking animals are the focus of what is advertised and built up as a princess film. People went in expecting Cinderella, but got The Jungle Book instead. This is all Disney's fault too as they could've easily made something as good as Tangled with black characters to make something like racial boundaries broken more legitimate, but instead they shoe-horned breaking racial boundaries on a film where the black characters were frogs for the majority of the film. That's just awful writing.

[Musical Master]

When I look at the deleted scenes bonus on the DVD Musker and Clements mention scenes that were cut due to "pacing issues" and wanting to trim it down. What's weird is that there were so many things that really could've made the movie really good.

For example: Louis was originally a human who was turned into an alligator by Dr. Facilier as a price for being given the talent to play the trumpet and his desire was to be a human again, Mama Odie and Dr. Facilier were to be related and to have a huge magic fight at the end of the movie as the thrilling climax while Tiana and Naveen tried to find the voodoo necklace to destroy it.

Honestly Louis would've had a more stronger purpose to be in the story if he was cursed the same way Naveen did and turned back into a human to be a jazz legend.

[Super Aurora]

The film would be pretty solid if the only frog was the prince and most of the central characters were humans. It would make the unique element of a talking animal mean a lot more than it does in this movie, where talking animals are the focus of what is advertised and built up as a princess film. People went in expecting Cinderella, but got The Jungle Book instead. This is all Disney's fault too as they could've easily made something as good as Tangled with black characters to make something like racial boundaries broken more legitimate, but instead they shoe-horned breaking racial boundaries on a film where the black characters were frogs for the majority of the film. That's just awful writing.

I agree. I would also think that if they really want to go the black princess route, they should of went with Aida or something similar. "Blackifying" (yes i just made that up) an European white story is just bound to cause shitstorms no matter how hard you break it. Because to be honest, using an American setting is very difficult to establish a royal fairytale story. The country was found because of anti-monarchy so when you have an American(black) princess it's like a hilarious oxymoron.

I think that's the first step that made this film seems weak. I bet the reason for whole New Orleans setting is because Lassitner has a hard-on for it. In fact I think the story could of work even with out the princess/prince angle so it make it feel like that gimmick was even more contrived and pointless.

[Warm Regards]

When I look at the deleted scenes bonus on the DVD Musker and Clements mention scenes that were cut due to "pacing issues" and wanting to trim it down. What's weird is that there were so many things that really could've made the movie really good.

For example: Louis was originally a human who was turned into an alligator by Dr. Facilier as a price for being given the talent to play the trumpet and his desire was to be a human again, Mama Odie and Dr. Facilier were to be related and to have a huge magic fight at the end of the movie as the thrilling climax while Tiana and Naveen tried to find the voodoo necklace to destroy it.

Honestly Louis would've had a more stronger purpose to be in the story if he was cursed the same way Naveen did and turned back into a human to be a jazz legend.

I would have shipped Charlotte and human!Louis so much...

But I don't think a Mama Odie vs. Dr. Facilier battle would have worked out. As someone on another forum said, Mama Odie represents light, and Facilier represents shadows. Even during the day there are shadows, so...

[DisneyJedi]

The whole human!Louis backstory would have been real interesting, but I definitely think he works better as a gator. Even with the backstory in there, I would like to prefer him living with his gator self to know that he doesn't need to be human.

And by the way... Even if he's a gator, I do ship him with Lottie.

[Musical Master]

When I look at the deleted scenes bonus on the DVD Musker and Clements mention scenes that were cut due to "pacing issues" and wanting to trim it down. What's weird is that there were so many things that really could've made the movie really good.

For example: Louis was originally a human who was turned into an alligator by Dr. Facilier as a price for being given the talent to play the trumpet and his desire was to be a human again, Mama Odie and Dr. Facilier were to be related and to have a huge magic fight at the end of the movie as the thrilling climax while Tiana and Naveen tried to find the voodoo necklace to destroy it.

Honestly Louis would've had a more stronger purpose to be in the story if he was cursed the same way Naveen did and turned back into a human to be a jazz legend.

I would have shipped Charlotte and human!Louis so much...

But I don't think a Mama Odie vs. Dr. Facilier battle would have worked out. As someone on another forum said, Mama Odie represents light, and Facilier represents shadows. Even during the day there are shadows, so...

But Facilier's shadow creatures were zapped by Mama Odie's magic so I still think that it would've made for a more interesting final fight on the level of Aladdin vs Jafar or better yet Ursula vs Ariel and Eric.

[estefan]

The whole human!Louis backstory would have been real interesting, but I definitely think he works better as a gator. Even with the backstory in there, I would like to prefer him living with his gator self to know that he doesn't need to be human.

I have to agree with Jedi on this. It fits into the main theme of the film that by looking past the thing you want, you find the thing you need. And in the case of Louis, he already had the thing he needed (i.e. his trumpet-playing ability), but his focus on turning human distracted him from noticing him.

And in regards to Big One's comment about the type of Disney picture people may have wanted, I think it might depend on the person and which type of one you prefer. Personally, I prefer The Jungle Book (one of my favourite Disney animated films) over Cinderella, though I like that one, too.

For me, personally, I felt The Princess and the Frog ticked off my personal check boxes for what I love in a Disney animated feature. I do tend to like slapstick cartoon violence, so I did laugh at parts that maybe weren't as popular with other viewers like the frog hunters, Louis's antics (I still laugh pretty damn hard at his flashback scene on the steamboat) and the running joke of Naveen being continually squished. But humour is quite possibly the most subjective thing on the planet. I know Hercules is widely cited by a number of people as one of the funnier Disney flicks, but I was never enamoured by the humour in that movie. But, hey, that's my personal taste in the matter.

[thelittleursula]

Oh and it had an obnoxious sidekick named Lois the Failigator that look like it belong in Barney's show.

Really ?? D:


I thought that he was kinda Balo/ Jungle Book-ish, though then again he did have that Barney look and feel now that you mention it :/
Can't Un- See it now

[Mooky]

It was a classic case of high expectations and (perceived) low rewards, of which I was guilty myself. Yes, the humor is juvenile*, and some of the characters have no real purpose to be in the film (Louis, Lawrence and Mama Odie), but damn if it didn't have a better story, much more heart and better music than its immediate successor, and the idea behind it wasn't as commercial or calculated as Tangled's.

*Not juvenile in the sense of immature/inappropriate, but more of a safe, kiddie humor that adults don't really find funny or entertaining. When I think of previous Disney films, the best humor was always more farcical, ironic/sardonic, and/or deadpan in nature (think: "It looks awful." / "That's because it's on you, dear."). PatF really didn't have that, it relied too much on slapstick -- which I don't mind -- but some of the lines were just cringe-worthy: "Glad to see you're finally getting into the music. Do you get my joke? Because your head is, it's in the tuba", or the recurring "It's not slime, it's mucus" and "I am prince Naveen *squash* of Maldonia". *gags* However, some of the lines were just brilliant:

Naveen: No, no, no, my parents are fabulously wealthy! But they cut me off for being a...
[notices a leech is attached to his arm]
Prince Naveen: LEECH! LEECH!

[Lady Cluck]

My only problems with the movie are the frog hunter scene (I don't mind slapstick but this was way too long and pointless) and Dr. Facilier's lack of a personal connection with Tiana. There could have been higher stakes.

Otherwise I love the animation, I love the music (very underrated, it really grew on me), and I love the characters - Naveen/Charlotte are two of the funniest Disney personalities ever and Tiana is one of my favorite princesses, and certainly one of the best role models if you care about that.

I think a lot of people who hated on this film when it came out had unrealistic expectations, were racist, or didn't realize they grew up a bit since watching the classic Disney films as a kid in the 90s


As for it being a "flop," well there were a lot of reasons for that but there's one that really pisses me off And that is that Disney put out a bunch of shitty films for nearly 10 years prior so I hate that TPATF is a scapegoat just because it was actually good yet didn't light the world on fire Who knows if Tangled would have been such a hit if it didn't have TPATF to show Disney could put out decent films again right before it.

[GreatGreg]

The music was the weakest point about the film. Every great Disney movie had great Disney music.

I listened to the soundtrack a lot when it first came out -- even before I saw the film -- and really wanted to like it, but none of the songs 'stick'. In fact, I find that most of Randy Newman's songs are mediocre and sound very similar. YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME and WHEN SHE LOVED ME were great. The others are not so much.

[DisneyFan09]

Yes, it's not the best Disney movie. But, every time it is mentioned anywhere on the web, people are like, "OMIGOSH. I hate the movie. The songs are forgettable and the story sucks." I can understand the songs, but like the stories, characters etc.? I thought those were fine. I didn't get lost in the story at all. The thing I don't get is why Naveen is in America. He doesn't say because he wants to marry a rich woman like everyone does.

My sister only thought it was ok because of the voodoo ruining it for her. But, otherwise, I don't get the hate for PATF.

Although this isn't a direct answer to your question, I'll say this; "The Princess and the Frog" may be hated, but it's not THE most hated Disney flick. It got acceptable reviews and it's rated high on Imdb and Flixster.

[Miss Manday]

Wow, I'm kind of surprised. I enjoyed PATF. Not my FAVORITE Princess movie, but I enjoyed it. Naveen is one of my favorite Disney princes, and Charlotte is one of the best female sidekicks (or characters in general) created recently, as she's very real.

I enjoy the soundtrack, though I do like the Steamboat soundtrack from WDW better because it has Tiana and Naveen singing more of the songs with their original voices. "Dig A Little Deeper" as sung by Tiana and Naveen is great! Really, the only part of the film I don't like is "Friends On The Other Side", for while it is QUITE catchy, I'm not a fan of voodoo. But otherwise, I'm surprised it gets so much hate. It has a good message, fun characters, catchy tunes...

[estefan]

I decided to go back and look at the old Princess and the Frog thread, so to reacquaint myself with the general reception from people here on its original release four years ago. And the reaction was very positive. While I found a couple of posts where people had a couple of story issues, didn't care for Louis or didn't care for one or two of the songs, the general response was more positive back then. Even the less enthusiastic posts still called it a good film.

I read through about 10 pages and almost all of them were extremely positive comments about The Princess and the Frog's quality. And for every post that criticised the sidekicks and soundtrack (with perfectly reasonable explanations as to why), there were maybe five praising those aspects.

What happened? Well, I stand by my theory that Tangled somehow led to an "us vs. them" mentality. Because you do have some posters who consider Tangled the best modern Disney picture and aren't wild about Frog and vice versa.

[GreatGreg]

Your conclusions are subjectively based on fan reaction on a Disney website. Of course the reactions will be biased.

There are very solid reasons why PATF didn't work. I never said I hated it or it is a bad film, but it was mediocre and had forgettable characters like that lizard.

Honestly, the most memorable scenes for me was the ending with that mosquito's fate. That was pretty good. I also liked the first half hour or so when Tiana was human.

I distinctly remember liking the film much less once they both turned into frogs and there was chaos at the party. From then on, it became a much sillier movie and its humour became much more low-brow.