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The-Princess-and-the-Frog-2009

The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 Disney production that marked the companys return to traditional animation. The film is loosely based on E.D. Baker's The Frog Princess, which in turn is based on the Brother Grimm's fairy tale, The Frog Prince. Set in 1920s New Orleans, the film follows Tiana, a hardworking waitress who dreams of owning her own resaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by a witch doctor, she too becomes a frog. Together the two (reluctantly) work to break the curse. The film saw limited released in New York, and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009, and wide release on December 11, 2009. The film was co-directed by Ron Clements and John Musker.

Plot[]

In 1926 New Orleans, Tiana is completely devoted to opening her own restaurant, a dream she shared with her late father, who died in World War I. She works two waitress jobs to earn money to make this dream a reality, leaving her no time for a social life.

Prince Naveen of Maldonia arrives in New Orleans where, being financially cut off, he intends to marry a rich Southern belle like Tiana's best friend, Charlotte La Bouff. Her father, wealthy Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff, hosts a masquerade ball in Naveen's honor, for which Charlotte hires Tiana to make beignets, offering her enough to buy a dilapidated mill to convert into her dream restaurant. Naveen and his valet, Lawrence, encounter Dr. Facilier, a voodoo witch doctor, who tricks them into a fortune reading. Then, he transforms Naveen into a frog and gives Lawrence Naveen's appearance through a voodoo talisman containing Naveen's blood. Facilier intends for the disguised Lawrence to marry Charlotte, then to kill her father with a voodoo doll so he can gain the La Bouff fortune.

At the ball, Tiana is told by the realtors, the Fenner Brothers, that she has been outbid for the mill. Despondent, Tiana wishes on the evening star for her dream to come true. She then meets Naveen in frog form who, believing her to be a princess, asks for a kiss to break Facilier's spell. Tiana reluctantly accepts after Naveen promises to finance her restaurant. Instead Tiana transforms into a frog as she is not a true princess. The two are chased into a bayou where they meet a trumpet-playing alligator named Louis, who dreams of playing jazz. After informing Louis they are actually humans under a voodoo spell, he tells them of Mama Odie, another voodoo practitioner who lives in the bayou and they all go in search of her.

They are guided to Mama Odie by a Cajun firefly named Ray, who is enamoured with the Evening Star, believing it is a firefly named "Evangeline," as no one has the heart to tell him otherwise. During the journey, Tiana and Naveen begin developing feelings for each other. Meanwhile, the talisman disguising Lawrence as Naveen needs more of Naveen's blood or Lawrence will return to his normal appearance. Discovering Naveen has escaped, Facilier asks the voodoo spirits (his "friends on the other side") to help retrieve him, offering them the souls of the people of New Orleans in exchange, and they grant him an army of shadow demons to do his bidding.

Mama Odie tells Naveen the spell can only be broken with a princess's kiss. They realize that as Big Daddy has been crowned Mardi Gras king, Charlotte will be a princess until midnight. Though Naveen has fallen for Tiana, he selflessly decides to help finance her dream restaurant by marrying Charlotte. The shadow demons find and capture Naveen and bring him to Facilier, who uses his blood to replenish the talisman. After hearing from Ray how Naveen feels about her, Tiana heads to the Mardi Gras parade to find him, only to see Lawrence, masquerading as Naveen, marrying Charlotte. Heartbroken and now believing she will forever be a frog, Tiana flees the scene.

Ray rescues the real Naveen and steals the talisman, which he gives to Tiana before Facilier mortally wounds him. Facilier offers to make Tiana's dream come true in exchange for the talisman. Realizing she would rather be with Naveen and that she would be dishonoring her father by accepting, Tiana destroys it. With Facilier's plan foiled, the voodoo spirits drag him into their world for failing to pay back his debt. After Lawrence is exposed and arrested, Tiana reveals her love to Naveen and Charlotte agrees to kiss Naveen so he and Tiana can be human, but the clock strikes midnight and the kiss fails. Ray dies shortly thereafter and during his funeral a new star appears next to Evangeline. Tiana and Naveen are married by Madam Odie and, as doing so makes Tiana a princess, both are restored to human form after their kiss. They later return to New Orleans to legally marry and open their restaurant together, with Louis playing in the band.

Cast[]

  • Tiana - Anika Noni Rose
  • Prince Naveen - Bruno Campos
  • Dr. Facilier - Keith David
  • Louis - Michael-Leon Wooley
  • Charlotte - Jennifer Cody
  • Ray - Jim Cummings
  • Lawrence - Peter Bartlett
  • Mama Odie - Jenifer Lewis
  • Eudora - Oprah Winfrey
  • James - Terrence Howard
  • "Big Daddy" La Bouff - John Goodman
  • Young Tiana - Elizabeth Dampier
  • Young Charlotte - Breanna Brooks
  • Reggie - Ritchie Montgomery
  • Darnell - Don Hall
  • Two Fingers - Paul Briggs
  • Mr. Henry Fenner - Jerry Kernion
  • Mr. Harvey Fenner - Corey Burton
  • Buford - Michael Colyar
  • Marlon the Gator - Emeril Lagasse
  • Ian the Gator - Kevin Michael Richardson
  • Cousin Randy - Randy Newman
  • Louis' Trumpet Playing - Terence Blanchard
  • Georgia - Danielle Mone' Truitt

Additional Voices

Production[]

The film entered production under the name 'The Frog Princess'.

Distribution[]

Notes on the Setting[]

The prologue sequence features a man reading a newspaper on the trolley Tiana and her mother take home. The headline reads "Wilson Elected!!!" which places the prologue in the year 1912. With the rest of the film taking place in the 1920s one may note that prohibition is in full swing but was widely ignored in the south so Alcohol being served in various scenes (the riverboat, restaurant, and ball) isn't an anachronism so much as a reflection of New Orleans during that era.

Sources[]

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