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[Anthony]

Excellent notes. Thanks Puss!

I'll come back in two and a half months with a better reply... :wink:

[never2old]

Nicely said pussinboots!

For me, the movie lacked a bit of emotion. It does have some slightly moving parts, but it's no Beauty and the Beast! But that's my only criticism of it. The animation was gorgeous, there are some great characters in there, and it's definitely worth watching!

I have to say, I quite like the soundtrack. I bought it after watching the movie, and there are some cool songs in there -  and the score is good too. Not my favourite Disney soundtrack, but I think the music goes very well with the tone of the movie.

[dagobert]

In my opinion it is a little bit unfair to compare the movie with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin or Lion King. It is the first hand drawn movie for many years and I think the movie is a great start for reintroducing hand drawn animation. Most of the animators from the 90s left the company and the new and young animators did a great job. We have to give them more time and I'm sure Disney will release some new classics.

Maybe it was a little bit to early for a movie based in New Orleans, after "Katrina".

[luke85]

Maybe it was a little bit to early for a movie based in New Orleans, after "Katrina".

I know this is a concern for some people. But whilst Katrina was a terrible tragedy, I really don't see it as being relevant to the film. The movie is set in 1920s New Orleans, not post-2005 New Orleans. That argument could be used for other locations to suffer from tragedy. Should movies not be set in New York because of 9/11?

The story of the movie is completely separate from the present day, so I don't think it is insensitive to have New Orleans as the film's setting.

[pussinboots]

In my opinion it is a little bit unfair to compare the movie with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin or Lion King.

They've raised the stakes themselves, essentially positioning the film as "JUST AS GOOD AS ALADDIN. THIS IS TO 2009 WHAT THE LITTLE MERMAID WAS TO 1989." And it's not just the marketing. The filmmakers obviously shared the ambition. Perhaps that was pushing the realms of the possible a little bit.

If Princess and the Frog had come out as a sort of unexpected surprise at a film festival, people would be praising it to the skies and never even utter a word of criticism. But when you aim this high...

It's still a lovely thing, of course. At least they're being ambitious again. At least they're aiming for quality again, and handling their legacy with a degree of dignity again, rather than bulldozing over history and turning Cinderella and Belle into long-lashed bimbos fit for bedsheets, as they had been for a decade.

I think it's about up there with The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Both tried extremely hard and excelled on several fronts. Both are BIG on atmosphere, both have several great, memorable characters (and a few cardboard ones.) Both are better in the first two acts than the final one. Both feel a little like circles pushed through square holes. But both are great films.

(Hunchback finds its way to my DVD player all the time, for the record.)

[pussinboots]

Minor spoiler alert. Overthinking alert.

I just realized why it reminds me so much of Hunchback. Both suffer from hey-where'd-the-plot-go-syndrome. A plethora of subplots is introduced, because they're fun or because they're commercially necessary, and then they just sort of implode. The End.

In the case of Hunchback, there was the inevitable problem that the ending of the original novel couldn't be repeated, for obvious reasons. There were also the gargoyles, who were there to provide Happy Meal toy material. As a result, after Frollo's demise, the movie just sort of had to end. Quasimodo's growing love for Esmeralda is extinguished by a quick "oh well" moment, Phoebus gets to have a little speech and catch Quasimodo so no one can say he hasn't had his heroic moment in the climax, and we're out. Huh?

Something similar happens in the Princess and the Frog, I'm afraid. You understand that they didn't want to give up on all these fun characters, and that Tiana needed her own independent-woman plot in order to be an acceptable modern Disney princess, but the result is just sort of confusing. Usually, Disney film premises are fairly simple. The protagonist has a want or a need, then pursues it and wises up along the way, then heroically and unselfishly slays the villain and Happy Ending ensues. But here, one plot line has little to do with another. Dr Facilier and Tiana barely cross paths, and neither she nor Naveen has much to do with his demise. There is never much reason for them to traverse the bayous other than that bayous are cool backdrops for any movie. The frog spell isn't broken by anything that should have taken the entire movie (unlike the spells of Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio and even Hercules, which are broken as rewards for lessons learned.) Tiana's big dream comes true as an afterthought. So again, it feels like the writers had to quilt this thing together.

Just an observation...

[davewasbaloo]

Here in the UK it is pretty annoying. Besides yet another much later release, the add on the Disney channel looked like it was designed to appeal to 5 year old girls, their mothers and maybe some friends of dorothy - it was just the sequence where the Tiana kisses anything but the lips of the frog. If I didn't know any better, it looks on par with Fern Gully, Lost in Time, or any other forgettable 2D Annoying, especially when you look at how great the other characters are (for boys as well) and some of the music.

Once again the UK marketing team should be shot (despite doing an awesome job with Christmas Carol).

THis is not performing well in the US right now at all. I hope it does not signal the end of 2D. Because 2D is not the problem. Marketing maybe, and the theme definately (the word Princess in the title can really ostricize a large part of the market). But when the Alvin Squeekuel is out performing PatF in the box office, you know all is not well.

I really want this one to do well. I want to see future traditional animation.

[howtodeal]

I saw the movie twice and i think its AMAZING! it definetly in the same category as The little Mermaid and Aladdin
in my opinion. The story, the music, the return of hand drawn animation, it was all perfect.
There's also a little unusual surprise towards the end (I'm not going to say anything   )
Most of the people are complaining about the songs, but i really like them and i think they give the
movie its own identity and they fit the setting of the movie  
I can't wait for you guys in Europe to see it

[dagobert]

I saw the movie twice and i think its AMAZING! it definetly in the same category as The little Mermaid and Aladdin
in my opinion. The story, the music, the return of hand drawn animation, it was all perfect.
There's also a little unusual surprise towards the end (I'm not going to say anything   )
Most of the people are complaining about the songs, but i really like them and i think they give the
movie its own identity and they fit the setting of the movie  
I can't wait for you guys in Europe to see it

You are absolutely right. I don't know why so many people complain about the music, we love the songs, too.
We have only seen the German version, so we don't know how the songs are in English, but the German songs are great and so we had to buy the soundtrack.

In my opinion PatF is the best Disney animation movie since Lion King, so it's really sad that the movie didn't perform so well in the US. I think until now it made only 92 mio $.

[howtodeal]

so it's really sad that the movie didn't perform so well in the US  

Yeah, box office results in the US are disappointing    bu it's Disney, other movie studios wish they
have something like the "Disney Princess" brand  
How is the movie doing in Germany btw? is it successful?

[dagobert]

so it's really sad that the movie didn't perform so well in the US  

Yeah, box office results in the US are disappointing    bu it's Disney, other movie studios wish they
have something like the "Disney Princess" brand  
How is the movie doing in Germany btw? is it successful?

I don't know how the movie is doing in Germany, but here in Austria it was successful. I also don't know how much money the movie made, because here it is measured in visitors who have seen the movie. Until now (5 weeks of running) nearly 200000 have seen PatF.

[howtodeal]

Until now (5 weeks of running) nearly 200000 have seen PatF  

This sounds really good   /

Did you guys see the DVD and Bluray cover? the movie is going to be released March 16th in America

http://jonathanbusterinc.deviantart.com ... -150420157

[pussinboots]

That looks frighteningly airbrushed as usual. But at least it's for a proper movie this time.

[howtodeal]

That looks frighteningly airbrushed as usual

I agree. The characters look a lot better than this  :roll:

[peep]

I saw it today, was great. I really loved the animation, the story, the characters and the songs. Maybe not as good as the main classics but it is still up there among them.

The screening I went to also had the two directors, one of the main animators and Anita Noni Rose do a Q&A session after the film. It was brilliant and I got to meet Anita Noni Rose and Ron Clements after the film, was brilliant (Ron Clements signed my DVD copy of Aladdin ).

Pics:


Ron Clements signs posters and DVDs.


I got to meet Princess Tiana!


Me with Ron Clements, one of the directors of Princess and the Frog and lots of other Disney classics


Ron Clements and John Musker leave the BFI