A new Princess and the Frog poster has surfaced online, and in its beautiful simplicity I am loving it to death.
Might also be laced with some Disney pixie dust magic as I can’t contain my excitement that this film will be returning to the classical animation style of their glory days.
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Boy, I don’t know about this.
I like Disney’s classics, and I was looking forward to their return to hand-drawn animation. However, the reason hand-drawn died was because Disney was half-assing it for the last decade with lackluster animation, and too much pop culture.
Everything about this one looks more like “The Emporor’s New Groove” when they should have gone for “Snow White”.
There’s a reason The Lion King was the biggest hit in Disney’s animation history, and why Pixar keeps knocking it out of the park. They are/were classy movies with broad appeal, and absolutely gorgeous to look at.
I happen to think that The Emperor’s New Groove is severely underrated.
Besides, you’re arguing that animators should devolve in their animation stylings?
I agree Governor/Slashbeast.
I didnt think much of Groove until I rented it on DVD for the kids… and I love it!!
The poster looks ok… it just seems kind of dull to me, but I am not at all looking forward to this movie. I was sooo excited about the return to the classic animation, but then I saw the trailer. And the idea of the Princess and the Frog could be great! Everything I heard made me giddy, until the trailer.
A New Orleans princess?? Guess I missed a big section in history class, because I am so confused. Especially since they placed this in a specific time period. When I saw all that, I was offended. The same way I was offended when I saw Pocahontas in 5th grade and had studied her life earlier that year in my elementary school history book.
If only they had placed this story in some nebulous time period, like in Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or the Little Mermaid. But they didn’t, and so the whole “Princess” thing drives me nuts.
Not to mention I am annoyed by the side characters already. This does not bode well.
That being said, I am still entirely behind seeing another classic animation movie after this.
Maybe its like “Black Knight” and she goes back in time or something =O
Were there black princesses in Medieval European times?
I think it’s going to be a “dimension/world warp travel” thing.
It wouldn’t have to be Europe. It could be a kingdom with however many ethnicities as the writers would like in some unspecified or nonexistent land. If they want it could be anywhere, if there was a need to give a specific place, than somewhere around the Mediterranean could make sense and be interesting to animate.
True, it looks to be set in those times though. It’s Disney, so I’m not expecting historical accuracy.
I don’t think she’s really a princess, in fact after seeing the first 5 minutes, clearly she is not. I think it might be more of a metaphor how every little girl wants to be a princess.
Then she is not a Disney Princess, and I thought the intent was to create a new Disney Princess.
The “Disney Princess” is not a Princess in a Disney film. Its a title given to the female leads of Disney animated feature films. They are the Princesses of Disney, they don’t have to be actual royalty to gain that title.
There are many of the Disney Princesses who are not playing the part of royalty in their story.
Yeah looks kind of generic, but they kind of drained the classics and other ethnic categories… A new orleans princess and frog thing might be good because it will force them to make the characters really good.
In my opinion its going to fail
Maybe because people are used to the new slick Pixar look of animated movies, and honestly, we’re all over and done with the whole “LionKing” “Aladin” look
It may be really good (im sure it will, oh im sure- im there openng day) but i dont see people watching it… I dont see the target audience going to see this movie
Same reason why The Fantastic Mr Fox movie will bomb.
It’s a shame, too.
I personally have a special place in my heart for 2D classical animation. Nothing will ever be able to top The Lion King for me (Toy Story comes extremely close).
I don’t think it will bomb though, it has a strong pull for female audiences, who, as we all know, have the money.
Toy Story was done in that nice Pixar style.
But The Lion King was amazing, i agree
I don’t think this looks anything like The Lion King, though it certainly has shades of Aladdin.
Aladdin actually marked the beginning of Disney’s end. It’s a great movie, and its probably my favourite Disney film, but that’s all thanks to a really strong/exciting script, and the best collection of songs ever written for any Disney film.
Aladdin was the last film by the songwriting team of Menken and Rice. Disney hasn’t produced a decent soundtrack since. Even The Lion King had mostly crappy songs (by Phil Freak’n Collins!)
There are two reasons Aladdin killed Disney’s 2D: -1- Aladdin introduced pop culture references to Disney’s classic (formerly ‘timeless’) animation. At first, Aladdin’s pop humour seemed fresh and fun, but even then, people worried it would date the film… and it has (Ronald Reagan jokes?).
-2- The animation in Aladdin was much more simplistic (modernist?) than in previous Disney animations. Disney’s older films had a very rich, refined look, depth and colour palette. They strived for something meticulously detailed, they wanted their animation to look “almost real”. That was how Disney differentiated itself from competitors like Warner Bros.. Aladdin killed all that, because the style was more WB than Disney.
In Aladdin, the visual design worked because it vaguely reflected Arabesque art. But what happened was that Aladdin was such a huge hit when it came out, that Disney has been trying to recreate its success ever since. That’s why every new Disney film has to be set in a new “cultural/ ethnic milieu”, and why they all have modernistic, less-realistic, Warner Bros.-esque animation, and why they all have stupid pop culture jokes.
Warner Bros. doesn’t make animated family films anymore, and Bugs Bunny is pretty much retired. But Dreamworks Animation Studio has basically taken their cue from WB. Dreamworks is better at pop culture references than Disney because they make their films faster and cheaper, and they don’t have the rigid moral code that Disney maintains.
This is why Disney should differentiate themselves again by going ‘timeless’ and ‘classy’ with their 2D.
BTW, Disney starting producing The Lion King before Aladdin became a huge phenomenon, and that’s why Lion King was saved from the mediocre fate of every film that has come since.
God forbid someone changes up their animation style.
And, you’re awfully close to stealing my screen name.
Don’t be dissing The Lion King.
@ GOV
“This is why Disney should differentiate themselves again by going ‘timeless’ and ‘classy’ with their 2D”
3 words: “Disney owns Pixar”
And The Lion King is in my opinion, one of the top five best movies ever made. It is completely flawless.
^ I completely agree.
Oh, and GOV:
I 100% agree with what you said about Dreamworks and WB and them having a rotten dry sence of humor when they make kids movies (Im a die hard Pixar fan)
But I just saw Where The Wild Things Are (Which happens to be a WB childrens movie) and I almost bawled, it was such a great, deep and emotional movie. I MUST own this movie! I wish i would have seen it when i was nine years old
I know it isnt animated but still, it was sooo fantastic… everyone in the theater was bawling at the end
I’m not dissing The Lion King. I said The Lion King was spared mediocrity because it was in production before Aladdin came out. What that means is, The Lion King is GOOD, unlike everything that came after it. The Lion King was the last great Disney animated film.
I did say The Lion King had crappy music though, and I stand by that statement. Other than Hakuna Mattatta (sp?), are there any other memorable tunes in it? No. It’s all drab middle-aged, middle-of-the-road Elton John lameness.
Disney doesn’t own Pixar. Pixar owns Disney. You might not recall that this happened a few years ago. Pixar ended their contract with Disney which caused Disney’s stocks to crumble. Disney was in ruins, there was lots of in fighting, and people were calling for Michael Eisner to resign. Then Pixar actually came in and bought up majority shares and took over Disney’s production arm. In fact, the only reason Disney is doing 2D animation again is because John Lassetter made an executive decision to restore the 2D studios.
Princess and the Frog is the first result of that take over. I’m guessing it was in development limbo when Disney shut down their animation studios, and they fast tracked it.
I guess that’s why The Lion King has some of the most memorable songs from any movie ever.
Oh, right… like… ah… The Circle of Life and Can you Feel (the Love Tonight)? Terrible.
The fact is that those songs could be taken out of the movie and it wouldn’t change a thing. They are little more than background music to a montage. If the songs are memorable, it’s because you’ve just heard them too many gawdamn times.
To understand what I’m saying, I recommend you go back and re-watch Aladdin. The mark of a great musical is when the songs are perfectly interwoven into the story, sung in-character and serve to advance the plot. Aladdin does this exceptionally well. The songs are catchy and the lyrics are witty as hell.
The very definition of a bad musical is one where the music is inserted just for the sake of having music/dance number. The Lion King is an example of a bad musical. But again, I think The Lion King is a GOOD MOVIE.
COMPARE LYRICS
Aladdin:
Prince Ali!Mighty is he! Ali Ababwa/ Strong as ten regular men, definitely!/ He faced the galloping hordes / A hundred bad guys with swords/ Who sent those goons to their lords? Why, Prince Ali!
vs.
The Lion King:
There’s a time for everyone if they only learn / That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn / There’s a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors / When the heart of this star-crossed voyager / beats in time with yours
Aladdin’s lyrics seem almost effortlessly flawless. You don’t even need to know the song to hear the cadence and rhythm. And in 5 short lines, they’ve managed to encapsulate a whole story.
The Lion King… they’re stretching. I can’t hear a tune in those lines. They don’t even make any sense. But you’re not paying attention to the lines anyway. Its lazy writing.
There are 5 songs in The Lion King, only 2 of those are montages.
A musical can have the greatest lyrics in the world but if I can’t remember it at the end of the day there’s no point. I can remember EVERY song from The Lion King and I’d bet that most people could as well. The only songs I can remember from Aladdn (which I love as well) are Arabian Nights (good song) and A Whole New World whose lyrics are just as banal as anthing Elton John sang in The Lion King.
Gov, you are grasping.
“If the songs are memorable, it’s because you’ve just heard them too many gawdamn times”
Uh, if the songs were not memorable they wouldn’t have played them so many times.
And both of those sampled lyrics that you offer up are each poeticly formed perfectly for the songs’ cadence and I coudlnt read them without placing the tune to both.
That you prefer one soundtrack to another is hardly “proof” that its better. Lets look at Oscars or Golden Globes? Both films won Best Music, Original Score as well as Best Music, Original Song. Each of them for the sappy ballad that captures the spirit of the film. And your sample from Aladdin does NOT encapsulate the whole story. It was part of the lie which was a plot device and only shares one detail in the story laid out in the film.
Sounds like they are each recognized as equals among the Oscars and Globes yet you insist that there are vast differences in the quality and appeal of the songs?
Honestly. You are allowed to prefer one over the other, and you are even allowed to hate one if you so choose. But you are not convincing anyone with your rants.
It’s about time that Disney moved away from Hannah Montana and High School Musical. Hopefully, we will be getting some of Disney’s Oscar-winning material again, instead of the stupid stuff they’ve been putting out lately.
Hannah Montana and High School Musical aren’t animation, yet…
Disney is not moving away from Hannah Montanna and High School Musical type shows/movies. Those are pure money for the Mouse. There is no way they are stopping that.
They are not stupid, they are for a different demographic than you prefer.
They made plenty of animation at the same time as HSM and Montana stuff, so I don’t know what makes you think they are stopping those because an animated feature came out.
I keep forgetting that this and sherlock holmes are coming out this december.