Yesterday was a pretty chilly, very wet day here in SoCal but I managed to brave the rain not once but twice for entertainment purposes. Yesterday afternoon I made my way out to the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood, CA for a matinee showing of the new Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog:
To my ecstatic glee, I am happy to report that Disney’s return to 2D animation is a welcome one. The Princess and the Frog is full of Disney charm and magic and while there are a few probs with the story, IMHO, I loved the movie very much and heartily recommend it to everyone. It has been LONG overdue that Disney would feature a Black princess in one of their animated films … it was so wonderful to see Tiana and her family bring color to the Disney catalog of characters. I did find it ironic, tho, that Disney’s first Black princess spends the majority of the film as a green frog (which isn’t a spoiler, this plot development is revealed in the film trailer). I also liked that Prince Naveen was a prince of color, hailing from the fictional country of Maldonia. The Antonio Banderes-ness of his accent made him Hispanic in my eyes. The Shadow Man villain was fun and I love all the color and magic that the New Orleans setting provided the story. I was not happy with Ray the toothless Cajun firefly character … he seemed a bit derogatory to me … but, wouldn’t you know it, he charmed me completely and I ended up really liking him (I just wish the animators gave him more than 3 teeth). My fave character, hands down, was Tiana’s BFF Charlotte (she even had a Big Daddy a la Blanche Devereaux in Golden Girls). She was a really cute character. I have to say that the biggest disappointment for me were the songs, written by Randy Newman. I’m sorry but he sucks. None of the songs were memorable or catchy. I miss the days when Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) wrote for Disney. The ending was a bit of a surprise, I won’t spoil but something happened that you don’t usually see in Disney films. Even with these tiny flaws, The Princess and the Frog is a great film to add to the Disney library of animated classics. I hope we get to see more 2D animated films very soon. 2D animation has been away for far too long.
Last night, I ventured out in the rain again to dance the night away with my friend Josh. After the jump, check out a couple of our fun pics from last night …
We had a blast … the music was mostly a’ight but we made sure to have fun no matter what was playing on the dancefloor. I hadn’t been out dancing in ages … ’twas a lot of fun.
Tonight, I’m meeting up with some friends for dinner and more at The Magic Castle! I’ve never been so I’m really looking forward to it. I know you cannot take photos there but I hope to have fun stories to share tomorrow.