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Today’s Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Megan Reid who reviews Disney’s”Princess and the Frog” as a follow up to her (and countless others’) long-percolating speculation. Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment.

YAB Review: ‘Princess and the Frog’

What was the biggest draw for you to see this movie?

As I’ve written before, I’ve been excited to see “The Princess and The Frog” for over a year. There was star power, we knew the music would be good, the return to hand-drawn animation was a long time coming for old-school Disney fans, plus, I remembered that thirteen-year-old me really liked the E.D. Baker book on which the movie is based. But—to be totally honest—like almost everyone else, I was more hyped about the fact that Disney was introducing viewers to their first black princess. In fact, I heard “The Princess and The Frog” referred to more often as “The Black Princess Movie”; the character of Tiana was basically a marketing gimmick on her own.

What were your expectations based on the movie’s marketing?

I didn’t read reviews, but I admit I sought out a lot of the marketing for “The Princess in the Frog.” I streamed trailers for the film on the official site and YouTube, and watched behind-the-scenes features, like a soundtrack walk-through and interviews with animators, on the movie’s Facebook page (as I’m writing this, the page has over 54,000 fans). Plus, I’ve been seeing teasers on TV for a couple of weeks before the movie opened, as well as clips from Ne-Yo’s music video for the film’s end credit music, “Never Knew I Needed.”

Describe your moviegoing experience:

I saw “The Princess and The Frog” the Sunday afternoon after it opened, and bought my tickets at the theater. My showing was pretty packed—as was the mall in general. It seemed like a lot of families incorporated the movie into their afternoons as a shopping break, which, if that trend was typical around the country, might be one of the reasons the movie has had such a strong box-office showing.

I had expected to be one of only a couple college-aged students there, but there seemed to be quite a few people my age on dates. Of course, we were definitely outnumbered by 4-12 year old girls—there was a large group from a dance school, and at least one birthday party.

What did you walk out of the theater thinking?

Despite my excitement, I was one of the skeptics. I knew I’d see the movie, was prepared to love Tiana and the fact that there’d be a Disney princess who looked more like me, but also prepared to be disturbed by Disney’s less-than-ideal track record of depicting race (to say the least), not to mention class and gender. But, all in all, I found “The Princess and The Frog” incredibly heartwarming. It was charming and funny, and had good messages about working hard and going after dreams: Tiana was a great example of a character who wasn’t afraid to take charge and save the day. And though, yes, she does spend most of the movie as a frog and not a black New Orleans-er, she’s basically the cutest, most adorable frog ever, so I didn’t really mind. Prince Naveen wasn’t as charming as I’d hoped—he’s definitely not much of a feminist, but I guess he learns his lesson. Her sidekicks Louis and Ray were total stereotypes, but they were treated almost indulgently by the script, and seemed to be audience favorites, along with her boy-crazy best friend, Charlotte. Dr. Facilier was a classically creepy Disney villain, and he and his shadow creatures would have totally freaked me out as a kid. Plus, I’d say my seven bucks was well spent for the visuals alone: the hand-drawn animation was flat-out gorgeous.

I almost (almost) wish I’d been one of the little girls sitting in my row at the theater, who could enjoy the movie whole-heartedly without noticing the problematics in the movie—African masks are “scary”; the blatant stereotyping of (mostly white, poor) Southerners; the fact that, in the end, Tiana’s “lesson” is kind of that marrying a prince is worth giving up your dreams for (she does get her wish of opening a restaurant…but only after she’s chosen to marry her guy instead and becomes a princess). I think older Gen. Y viewers will pick up on some of the issues, and hopefully families with younger kids can spark talks about more than Tiana’s gorgeous dress.

In spite of all that, though, I left the theatre really happy, and actually kind of emotional. It was basically what I expected: I’m not saying “The Princess and The Frog” was a giant revolution for Disney, but it was a sweet, if sometimes painful, turning point—with a pretty cool black princess. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait 72 years for another one.

For more coverage of the tween space, check out the Ypulse Tweens Channel.

About Megan

Megan began writing fashion articles for her local newspaper at age 15, and her work has since appeared in publications like Boston magazine, Mountain Living and CosmoGirl. A former art history and theater student, Meg loves traveling, writing postcards, YA lit, learning to bake, and planning adventures. When she isn’t studying, she’s probably dragging someone along on a late-night ice cream/Starbucks run. Meg has lived in four countries and six states, and is completing her M.A. in English at the Ohio State University. This is her second year as a Youth Advisory Board member.

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Categorized under: Movies & Music, Tweens, Youth Advisory Board

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