[imdb princess and the frog]  Okay…I’ve been excited about this film since it was first announced…what, two years ago?  For one, The Frog Prince story is one of my favorite fairy tales.  For two, I lived in New Orleans for a few years during my impressionable years, and I still have very fond memories of the French Quarter, the mardi gras float museum, and king cakes with little plastic babies sawed in half.  Okay, they aren’t perfect memories…but they’re mine, okay?

Anyhoo…this is also Disney return to hand drawn animation!  Not that there’s anything wrong with CG, but there is nothing prettier than hand drawn cells, in my opinion.  Lastly, it’s about damn time there was an Black Princess.  Damn straight.  The closest we have had up until now was Nala from Africa who was a freakin’ lion.  Princess Tiana has had an arduous journey to get to this point…she’s had like three different names, two different occupations, lots of concept art…but here she is now, in all her sassy splendor.  I would mention the stereotype about the sassy black woman…but most Disney princesses are sassy in SOME way.  Belle is my favorite, and she tamed a beast, so I think we can forgive Tiana that personality trait.

Disney is a little shaky when it comes to being politically correct.  Most cartoons are.  Children’s (adults’ as well) brains work on a level where it is much easier to marginalize certain traits.  We see Speedy Gonzales and Slow-poke Rodriguez…and they are very stereotypical characters…animators took certain traits that are recognized in large groups of Mexican people (as seen through our white washed perspectives) and marginalized them, and packaged them into easily recognizeable characters.  For those of us that are not familiar with different cultures…we can see Speedy and say “Mexican.”  Then when we watch, say, The Three Cabelleros, we look at a character and say “Mexican.”  That is where cliche and stereotypes come from.  As long as it’s not insulting, it’s usually for comedic sake and it works well with children’s brains…it’s not necessarily right, but it isn’t going to stop.

That being said, I am slightly concerned about the stereotypes guaranteed to crop up in the Princess and the Frog.  Already, just in the teaser, there is a cajun firefly with bad grammar and teeth missing.  Most likely, if the frog does turn into a prince, he will probably also be African-American…because god forbid there be racial mixing in a children’s movie.  I just wonder where the line is between appeasing the masses and pushing the envelope.  This will probably be a fun sweet movie with beautiful art and amazing voice acting…but how will it differ from other Disney features?  Where is the evolution?  Where is the innovation Disney prides itself on?

Don’t get me wrong, I really want to see this film.  I think it’s kind of lame that Disney bent to criticism about starting Tiana off as a chamber maid.  All of the Disney princesses were chamber maids of some sort.  Cinderella, obviously, Snow White cleaned up after dwarves, Aurora cleaned her little hovel and gathered berries, Belle cleaned up after her dotty father and then the beast.  I also think it’s lame, though, that these heroines can only better their situations by getting married.  How archaic is that?  Tiana not being a maid because she’s black is stupid because you are then saying there is something wrong with being a maid.  I was a maid; I didn’t like it, but I don’t think less of other maids.  However, the fact that the story is about a Princess makes her being a maid a little out of place.  Ignore, of course, the fact that it takes place in Louisiana, where there are no princesses.   All I’m saying is that there are other things wrong with this film, not just the maid issue.

That also being said, Tiana is adorable and I wouldn’t kiss a frog either…even if he promised to turn into a hunk straight out of an Ambercrombie ad.

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http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/