The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog
File:Frog official poster 500.jpg Teaser Poster.
Directed by	Ron Clements John Musker
Written by	Ron Clements John Musker Rob Edwards
Produced by	Peter Del Vecho John Lasseter
Starring	Anika Noni Rose Oprah Winfrey Keith David Jenifer Lewis John Goodman Bruno Campos Terrence Howard
Edited by	Jeff Draheim
Music by	Randy Newman
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release dates	November 25, 2009 (limited) December 11, 2009 (wide)
Country	United States
Language	English

The Princess and the Frog is an upcoming 2009 American animated family feature film and presented by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It will be the 49th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics and the first 2D-animated film by Disney since 2004's Home on the Range. It is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, with songs and score composed by Randy Newman and with the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey, Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard.

The film, which began production under the working title The Frog Princess, will be an American fairy tale, Broadway-style musical set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. A prince named Naveen from the land of Maldonia is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. The frog prince asks a princess named Tiana to break the spell by kissing him. However, the kiss doesn't break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo priestess of the Bayou, Mama Odie, while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator and a hopelessly romantic firefly along the way. The film will open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009 before expanding into wide release on December 11, 2009.

Plot

A press release describes the story as follows:

When the free-spirited, jazz-loving Prince Naveen of Maldonia (Bruno Campos) 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 (Anika Noni Rose), 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 trumpet-playing alligator—discover that what they want isn’t as important as what they need.

In the official trailer it is revealed that once Tiana kisses the frog prince, she herself becomes a frog, and they must journey together to change themselves back to humans.

Cast

• Anika Noni Rose as Tiana, a 19-year-old waitress and aspiring chef who dreams of owning her own restaurant one day. She is the heroine of the film. She was originally named "Maddy" and had the job of a chambermaid.
  • Elizabeth Dampier voices Tiana as a child.
• Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen, an early twenty-something gregarious, smooth-talking, and fun-loving prince who comes to the French Quarter for the Jazz scene and with whom Tiana and Charlotte fall in love. He was originally named "Harry."
• Jennifer Cody as Charlotte La Bouff, an 18-year-old spoiled southern debutante, diva, and Tiana's best friend.
  • Breanna Brooks voices Charlotte as a child.
• Keith David as Doctor Facilier, the main antagonist of the story. He was originally named "Doctor Duvalier" and was a voodoo magician and fortune teller. In a recently updated script, he is both a palm reader and a voodoo practitioner.
• Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie, a 200-year-old voodoo priestess who serves as the film's fairy Godmother. She owns a pet snake named JuJu.
• Jim Cummings as Ray, a lovesick Cajun firefly.
• Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis, a jazz singing alligator who is comical, manic, high-strung and plays the trumpet.
• Peter Bartlett as Lawrence, Prince Naveen's pompous valet.
• John Goodman as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff, a wealthy Southern sugar mill owner and father of Charlotte La Bouff.
• Terrence Howard as James, Tiana's father.
• Randolph Cheramie as Darnell, frog hunter.
• Oprah Winfrey as Eudora, Tiana's mother.

Production

Animation

Disney had once announced that Home on the Range would be the studio's last 2D animated film entry to their animated features canon, but after the company's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, it was reported that Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, new leaders of the animation department, had decided to re-open the door to Disney's tradition of handdrawn animation. Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of successful 2D Disney films The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules, will be writing and directing.

The film promises to return to the Broadway-style musical in the style of the successful Disney films like Walt's classics, and the musical renaissance of the late-1980s and all of the 1990s. Rhett Wickham also reported that John Lasseter had personally asked Ron Clements and John Musker to direct and write the film, and had let them choose in what form (either traditional animation or CGI) they wanted the film to be made. New and updated software will be used in the digital processing of the film, as the old CAPS system from Disney is now outdated.

While the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater experimented with paperless animation, the artists on The Princess and the Frog will use traditional pencil and paper that is scanned into the computers. Although a new pipeline for hand-drawn animation has been developed at the studio, like digital coloring without CAPS, the actual animation process remains the same. The visual effects on the other hand, as well as lot of the backgrounds, will be created digitally. Marlon West, one of Disney's veteran animation visual effects supervisors, says about the production; “Those guys had this bright idea to bring back hand-drawn animation, but everything had to be started again from the ground up. One of the first things we did was focus on producing shorts, to help us re-introduce the 2D pipeline. I worked as vfx supervisor on the Goofy short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. It was a real plus for the effects department, so we went paperless for The Princess and the Frog.”

The former trend in Disney's hand-drawn features where the characters were influenced by a CGI-look has been abandoned. Andreas Deja says "I always thought that maybe we should distinguish ourselves to go back to what 2D is good at, which is focusing on what the line can do rather than volume, which is a CG kind of thing. So we are doing less extravagant Treasure Planet kind of treatments. You have to create a world but [we're doing it more simply]. What we're trying to do with Princess and the Frog is hook up with things that the old guys did earlier. It's not going to be graphic…". He also mentiones that Lasseter is aiming for the Disney sculptural and dimensional look of the '50s. "He quoted all those things that were non graphic, which means go easy on the straight lines and have one volume flow into the other -- an organic feel to the drawing."

On August 4, 2008, the official website was launched with the first teaser trailer of the movie.

On May 9, 2009, the official trailer was premiered on The Disney Channel.

Music

On November 13, 2006, it was revealed that Randy Newman, who is responsible for the music of five Pixar films, would be in charge of the music in the film instead of Alan Menken and his new lyricist Glenn Slater. This change was due to John Lasseter not wanting the public to feel Disney being repetitive, as Menken was also working on another Disney fairy tale film, Enchanted.

During the Walt Disney Company's annual shareholder meeting in March 2007, Randy Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performed a song from the film called "Down in New Orleans", while slides of pre-production art from the film played on a screen. The other songs : Almost There (Tiana's Solo), Dig a Little Deeper (Mama Odie's Solo), If I'm a Human (Louis' Solo) &, I Got Friends On The Other Side (Dr.Facilier's solo), & 2 Ray's solos

Voice cast

On December 1, 2006, a detailed casting call was announced for the film at the Manhattan Theatre Source forum. The casting call states the film as being an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age, and provides a detailed list of the film's major characters, including the leading character, who at that point was to be called Maddy. Disney later officially confirmed this.

In February 2007, it was reported that Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose were top contenders for the voice of the princess, and that Alicia Keys directly contacted Disney's studio chief Dick Cook, telling him that she wanted the role very much. It was later revealed that Tyra Banks was considered for the role as well. On April 19, 2007, it was confirmed that Anika Noni Rose would be voicing Princess Tiana. On July 5, 2007, it was reported that Keith David would be doing the voice of Dr. Facilier, the villain of the film.

Release

The film will premiere in theaters with a limited run in New York and Los Angeles starting on November 25, 2009, followed by a wide release on December 11, 2009. The film was originally set to be released on Christmas Day in 2009, but was changed due to the competitive nature of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel being released the same day.

Controversy

There was some controversy when media first got leaked details of the film the name of the heroine of the movie (a 19 year old black girl from new orleans) was announced as Maddy (short for the French name Madeleine) with the film set in the French Quarter. The character's name was perceived by some as to be a typical, lower-class, "slave name", mostly for sounding and looking similar to Mammy (a variant of mother) considered a ethinic stereotype due to Hattie McDaniel's character in Gone with the Wind. The heroine also had a job as a maid, simpler to other fairytales but had complaints buy some as being racially insensitive cause the character is black however white princesses Cinderella and Snow White,where still considered as exceptable cause there not.

On April 20, 2007, E! reported that the title of the film could possibly be changed from The Frog Princess to The Princess and the Frog, and that the lead character Maddy may be getting a name change as well.

On May 4, 2007, USA Today published an article regarding the film in which they referred to it under the aforementioned title, The Princess and the Frog, and referred to the lead character as "Tiana" rather than Maddy, supporting the earlier reported name change possibilities.

On May 8, 2007, BET and other online sites reported that Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta stated that some of the original release information was incorrect, and confirmed the USA Today names "Princess Tiana" and The Princess and the Frog to be correct. Trotta stated "Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney’s rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity."

In March 2009, once more information of the film's casting was released, the African-American community had contention with the fact that the Prince isn’t black. Prince Naveen comes from a fictional land named Maldonia, and is voiced by Brazilian actor Bruno Campos. Angela Bronner Helm from Black Voices, a website that focuses on African-American culture, wrote in a March article:…Princess Tiana is black; her prince is not. That's right – even though there is a real-life black man in the highest office in the land with a black wife, Disney obviously doesn't think a black man is worthy of the title of prince. I guess Sasha and Malia and all the other little black girls out there should just shut up and be thankful to have something! Little black boys will have to wait another 20 years.

referring to President Barack Obamas daughter who himself has interracial parents like tiana and naveen and isn't black, her comments where criticised for discriminating agianist mixed raced people who still have simpler ethnic features to tiana and not suporting racial equality.

William Blackburn, former columnist at The Charlotte Observer, voiced his criticism of another matter. stating that the "story is set in New Orleans, the setting of one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community" and felt the choice of this setting was "insensitive."

Video Game

Disney announced on June 4, 2009 that they will release a video game inspired by the film in the fall of 2009 exclusively for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. It will be an "adventure through the exciting world of New Orleans in a family-oriented video game," and will feature favorite moments from the film and challenges for Princess Tiana.

See also

• The Frog Prince
• List of animated feature films

External links

• Official Princess and the Frog website
• Movie's trailers
• Template:Bcdb title
• The Princess and the Frog at AllMovie
• The Princess and the Frog at IMDb
• Bleu magazine interview with The Princess and the Frog star Anika Noni Rose
• Movie's HD Streaming Trailer