It's a breath of fresh air for Disney to create another "real" animated masterpiece. This is probably the best Disney animated film since Hercules. It takes place in the steamboat era instead of the typical medieval and romantic eras, but still provides us with many of the great moments from historic Disney films. With great characters (like Louis, who is AWESOME) and classic Disney bumbling idiots, The Princess and the Frog is highly entertaining. It provides nods to Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Fairy Godmother, and even The Three Stooges, and these are all elevated by the nonstop visual comedy. The only thing that this movie lacks is a memorable villain. The Shadow Man has nothing on Jafar or Cruella DeVil. The voice cast is stunning, favoring stars from Broadway instead of casting celebrity voice actors along with someone else to sing their songs. Anika Rose may have the best singing voice of any Disney Princess (including Elsa), especially because of her embodiment of the film's jazz-era setting. Jim Cummins' Cajun accent as Ray is nothing short of amazing when you consider that this is the same voice as Pooh, and Bruno Campos has a voice that is perfectly fitting for both a prince and a frog throughout the film. Plus, we still get John Goodman (who is always great) and a brief moment with Terrence Howard. I really enjoyed the story, so much that I cried 3 different times. Not only did the writers do a great job of setting up several high-emotion moments, but Randy Newman's musical score expertly enhanced these. I haven't enjoyed a Newman score this much since Monsters, Inc. and Pleasantville. The Jazz, the Dixieland, the southern gospel, the music is all so good! The flawlessly beautiful hand-drawn animation style is unique from the Disney Renaissance and should have paved the way for a new generation of Disney fans, but it is unfortunate that Disney turned right back to computer animation after the success of this film. “The Princess and the Frog” has helped Disney to get back to its roots of creating quality animated films with high moral values (even if they have strayed away from traditional animation once again).
[Pictured: The new animation style is gorgeous and the endless visual comedy makes the film an instant classic]
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