The Princess and the Frog

It’s nice to see the traditional Disney animation machine churning again, although this is actually rather average. Tiana (the voice of Anika Noni Rose) lives in New Orleans and dreams of someday owning a restaurant. A young prince (Bruno Campos) encounters a voodoo guy (Keith David), which results in his becoming a frog. Tiana (dressed as a princess for a masquerade ball) is coaxed into kissing him, because that would turn him human again according to all the fairytales—but the plan backfires. Tiana becomes a frog, too, and they spend the movie fighting to regain human form. While some of the animation is breathtaking, the action is often too frantic, and the characters don’t really register. The frogs look a bit boring; only a big gator really registers as memorable. Not bad, but not quite up to par with past Disney gems.