Princess and the Frog (Movie Time!)

If you can believe it, I have never been much of a princess guy. I was, however, pressed into service as a babysitter for much of my youth and when you have a younger sister who loves Disney movies, you end up seeing your fair share. OK, I'll admit it: I could probably still sing most of the songs from Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin. There, you caught me.

Anyway, the Princess and the Frog did seem to be quite similar in formula to the 1990's Disney Princess era. The basic storyline is well known: a young woman finds a frog and is told that all she needs to do is kiss him, and he will turn into a prince and all of her dreams will come true. In this take on the classic, she instead turns into a frog herself and they must work together to overcome the evil spell Dr. Facilier, a voodoo shaman, has cast on them.

Tiana is the first African-American Princess which seems important, but considering she spends the vast majority of the film as a frog certainly blunts any importance. The overall theme of the film is: all your goals are achievable through hard work and persistence. Most of the songs were catchy and the animation was quite pleasant. Perhaps the most winsome aspect of the film was the characters. They were funny and interesting, and my two favorites were Louis and Ray; a jazz trumpet virtuoso who also happens to be an alligator and a love struck lightning bug. While the film certainly felt more contemporary than most of the other Disney Princess movies, it definitely fit in with the theme.

Princess and the Frog was slightly more scary than other Disney fare, but this movie is still aimed at the same audience that all of the Princess movies are aimed at: girls age 2-14. It seems like an incredibly broad audience, but Disney is a money making machine, and they know how to use their products to sell to the maximum audience possible. They currently have tens of thousands of products for their Disney Princess line, and Tiana is an addition that will help them market to an even more diverse audience.

It doesn't seem possible to run a children's library without including some Disney books and materials. And while it is a good idea to stay well informed on even the most popular products, it doesn't really seem like libraries need to push the Disney stuff. If I was especially hard up to find extra princess books and movies to supplement a Royal Reads week or a Princess reading program, I might include this movie in the list or display.