Frog Princess found & renamed!

[Mooky]

AH! I'm so excited! lol I love the green dress on her! I'm really hoping that they use the clip art for that cardboard stand-up behind the merch for her from now on! I also think that the doll on the far right is beautiful!

I totally agree! I love her green dress. It would make sense for her to wear her green dress on clip art with the other Princesses, since it's original, and not like Cinderella's. Thanks for all the pictures, mooky!

You're welcome!

These pictures are making me all giddy inside, December seems so far away. But at least we know marketing will be huge .

[schoollover]

I think tiana looks really good as a doll, and I can't wait for the film.

[Sotiris]

When I first saw Prince Naveen, it instantly reminded my of Prince Edward. Instead of being a "classic" prince he seems to be reduced to a caricature. In Enchanted that had a function: to pay homage/tease around with Disney stereotypical characters. Here it does not seem appropriate. His posture, his costume, his shoulders and chest and especially that stupid, pompous grin all are common in Prince Edward as well. Hopefully this will just be due to the low quality picture and not the character design of Naveen.

[Goliath]

At first, I was excited to check this thread everytime new posts were being added. Since all the whining about the color of Tiana's dress has started, not so much anymore...

[ajmrowland]

AH! I'm so excited! lol I love the green dress on her! I'm really hoping that they use the clip art for that cardboard stand-up behind the merch for her from now on! I also think that the doll on the far right is beautiful!

I totally agree! I love her green dress. It would make sense for her to wear her green dress on clip art with the other Princesses, since it's original, and not like Cinderella's. Thanks for all the pictures, mooky!

I'm excited. But, I want to see more footage of the movie. That's how I get really excite. Either way, I agree that the green dress should be her trademark one.

As for Naveen, singerguy, the little synopsis provided a few pages back says that he's French. I mean seriously, is it really impossible for him to be a Black/French, French/Hispanic, or a Black Hispanic who just so happens to be from France?

[Neal]

Disney invented a country for him - Maldonia. He's Maldonian. Period. End statement. The latest word, a month old, from Disney is he's from Maldonia.

[ajmrowland]

Disney invented a country for him - Maldonia. He's Maldonian. Period. End statement. The latest word, a month old, from Disney is he's from Maldonia.

Oh? Let me see. Hmmmmmm.

Uh Huh.

Uh huh.

Oh!

Well it appears I was mistaken. The synopsis does not state where he's from, except that it's someplace exotic.

[Neal]

There's a new summary out!:

"When the free-spirited, jazz-loving Prince Naveen of Maldonia comes to town a deal with a shady voodoo doctor goes bad and the once suave royal is turned into a frog. In a desperate attempt to be human again, a favor in exchange for a fateful kiss on the lips from the beautiful girl, Tiana, takes an unexpected turn and leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana to the banks of the almighty Mississippi and back in time for Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

An unforgettable tale filled with music, humor and heart where two frogs—along with the help of a 200-year-old voodoo priestess, a love-sick Cajun firefly, and a trumpetplaying alligator—discover that what they want isn’t as important as what they need.

The Princess and The Frog will feature Disney’s first African American princess, Tiana, who lives in New Orleans during the Jazz Age. Other characters include Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator, and Ray, a love-sick Cajun firefly.

The Princess and The Frog marks the return to hand-drawn animation from the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements with music by Oscar®-winning composer Randy Newman (Monsters, Inc., Cars, Toy Story)."

There's going to be a Disney art exhibition starting in November featuring some art from TPatF - this summary comes from a press release for that and can be read below:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_s ... _new=28481

[Simba3]

It sounds really good to me. However, the only thing about all of the synopses that irks me a little is that it doesn't sounds like the villain is going to have a substantial role. Obviously, I cannot be sure of this, but it doesn't really sound like he will have a large part or be menacing with the couple (like Ursula or Maleficent would). I don't know, I hope I'm wrong.

[Neal]

Perhaps a Pixar influence? Don't forget, Pixar swore never to have true blue villains ala the old Disney style (villains evil for the sake of being evil and evil from the start of the film to finish).

First, the villain's actions became understandable and one could sympathize with it in Meet the Robinsons.

There was no villain in BOLT.

Perhaps, the villain in The Princess and the Frog will be minor.

[Simba3]

Perhaps a Pixar influence? Don't forget, Pixar swore never to have true blue villains ala the old Disney style (villains evil for the sake of being evil and evil from the start of the film to finish).

First, the villain's actions became understandable and one could sympathize with it in Meet the Robinsons.

There was no villain in BOLT.

Perhaps, the villain in The Princess and the Frog will be minor.

Well, there are other Disney films with no villain, or a villain with a small part. I just figured with a big film like this, a princess film, the villain would have a larger role. Films like this tend to work well then the hero/heroine prevail over the evil villain. However, as I said, I could be way off base = perhaps the villain does have a substantial role.

[SpringHeelJack]

Perhaps a Pixar influence? Don't forget, Pixar swore never to have true blue villains ala the old Disney style (villains evil for the sake of being evil and evil from the start of the film to finish).

First, the villain's actions became understandable and one could sympathize with it in Meet the Robinsons.

There was no villain in BOLT.

Perhaps, the villain in The Princess and the Frog will be minor.

What about Randall and Waternoose in "Monsters Inc."? Waternoose made the shift from seemingly good guy to bad guy with formerly-good-motivations, but he was still a pretty traditional baddie, and Randall was consistently an antagonist.

I'm not trying to prove you wrong, just saying that Pixar can do a fairly conventional bad guy who plays a pretty major role.

[pap64]

So the green dress is official then.

[Mooky]

I wonder what's Dr. Facilier's motive for turning Naveen into a frog Maybe he needs royal blood/sacrifice for one of his spells? But what would he want to use that spell for?

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm not sure, but hasn't it been said that he wanted Naveen to be taken out of the game or something. Maybe he'll be like Ursula, and enchant himself to look like the Prince and rule in his place. *has no idea*

Anyway, regardless of his motives, I think Keith David will most likely make him into a memorable villain--the type that steals the spotlight from the protagonists, imo.

And why does the country have to be named? Bah. I hate fake names that are in the "real world."

[Sotiris]

Is it just me or Naveen's country Maldonia is dangerously close to the real country Moldova? I don't really like that, i think that they should have made up a name of a country that does not resembles a real one. But that's just me i guess...

[Mooky]

And why does the country have to be named? Bah. I hate fake names that are in the "real world."

Oh, God, I hate that too! Genovia, Latveria, Byelocroatia, ugh ! In PatF's case, if they went through all that trouble to give the movie some historical context, what's the point in "inventing" a new country for the prince? Just give him a real country or don't name it at all!

It's like they did all they could to make his ethnicity vague, just to please the PC police. Now he's not white, but he's not black or Middle Eastern either. He speaks with French accent, but he's not from France, little less from Europe. His name is from India, but he's not Indian. No, he's from Maldonia .

On PatF's IMDb board, user named kaiser romanoi made a thread about this thing. Here's what they wrote (and I agree with it completely):

While reading the plot of the film, I started thinking of an actual love story, involving a fun loving European prince and a commoner in the Americas in the late 1920's. I am talking about Alfonso, Prince of Asturias and beautiful Cuban heiress, Edelmira Sampedro. However, in the real world, he had to renounce to the throne in order to marry her. Their story was tragic as they got divorced and a few years later, he died.

What does this story has to do with the film? Well, the truth is that I would like to share an idea of mine. Even in this forum there are some people who would like the idea of having a "Latina" princess. Why not having a Spanish prince for Tiana? (I must admit that I did not like the name Tiana; Princess Madeleine sounds sweet and royal. Tiana is historically unaccurate, too much modern and likely of an American pop star). Among Europeans, a Spanish prince would make an obvious choice. Spanish are not prejudiced about mixing with other races. And I can easily imagine a Spanish prince (who fits the traditional Disney idea of royalty) going to New Orleans to have fun (which I can barely understand for a Middle Eastern/African prince. In the case of a Spanish prince his connections would be obvious: Bourbon Street is named after his family.

Having a Spanish prince would had been the best homage to the three roots of New Orleans: French (Charlotte), Spanish (Prince) and African (Madeleine/Tiana). Disney think big: it is not just New Orleans, it would have been a gracious and polite homage to the multiculturalism of American society and the two largest minorities in the USA.

Now, why didn't Disney think of this?

Is it just me or Naveen's country Maldonia is dangerously close to the real country Moldova? I don't really like that, i think that they should have made up a name of a country that does not resembles a real one. But that's just me i guess...

It sounds like a combination of Moldova and Macedonia. It was originally Maldakesh, which would have made it even more ambiguous (Malta/Marrakesh).

[PrincePhillipFan]

This is true, however since it's begin beaten into my head repeatedly that this film is going to be "just like the 90s [DAC]!" and the fact those are the DAC I like the least combined with knowledge of all the changes in production (Randy instead of Alan, more PC changes, hell even the title was changed!), you can see how my enthusiasm is lacking for this. I will go see it I guess, but for me it's more of a duty than a pleasure.

I think I'm starting to feel the same way about this film. I was really looking forward to seeing the movie, but the storyline just keeps getting so watered down from once was, that I'm just becoming less interested. Also the fact, like you feel yourself, that I never really cared much for any of the Disney 90s films either except for Hercules.

Besides that though, I'm really starting to like the character design for Naveen (wasn't too wild about it when I first saw it, but it's starting to grow on me.) Also, I love Tiana's green dress and hopefully we'll be seeing more of her in that.

[Sotiris]

Look the clip-art is exactly the same in pose and face. Only the dress and the accessories change...

[ajmrowland]

This is true, however since it's begin beaten into my head repeatedly that this film is going to be "just like the 90s [DAC]!" and the fact those are the DAC I like the least combined with knowledge of all the changes in production (Randy instead of Alan, more PC changes, hell even the title was changed!), you can see how my enthusiasm is lacking for this. I will go see it I guess, but for me it's more of a duty than a pleasure.

I think I'm starting to feel the same way about this film. I was really looking forward to seeing the movie, but the storyline just keeps getting so watered down from once was, that I'm just becoming less interested. Also the fact, like you feel yourself, that I never really cared much for any of the Disney 90s films either except for Hercules.

Besides that though, I'm really starting to like the character design for Naveen (wasn't too wild about it when I first saw it, but it's starting to grow on me.) Also, I love Tiana's green dress and hopefully we'll be seeing more of her in that.

So you are going to judge the film based solely on a vague description of the first ten minutes? I'll say it again, more footage will probably rekindle the interest that's lost because of what's already leaked on the web.

I love Tiana's dress, and the prince's design is pretty good, IMO, but it takes more new stuff to get ppl excited. You know how HP fans got excited over shots of HBP being up on the internet(not to mention when a new trailer comes out). For them, it's exciting; for here, We don't have nearly as much to feed that excitement, so it dies out.

And I definitely know this post'll be ignored by most of us, for the sheer amount of thought put into it.