The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Inspired by the 2002 novel The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker which is based on the German folk tale The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm.
Intro song (“Down in New Orleans”). Set in the Roaring Twenties in New Orleans, a young Tiana accompanies her mom Eudora who is a seamstress. They are at the home of Eli “Big Daddy” La Bouff whose daughter Charlotte La Bouff is best friends with Tiana. After returning home, Tiana makes gumbo with her father James, sharing it with their neighbors. James shares his dream of opening his own restaurant which he plans to call Tiana’s Place.
Several years later, a 19 year old Tiana works two waitress jobs every day and night to earn money to open up her own restaurant. She is completely devoted to opening her own restaurant, the dream she shared with her late father, who died in World War I. This leaves her no time for a social life (“Down in New Orleans”). Meanwhile, Naveen, the spoiled and arrogant prince of Maldonia, arrives in New Orleans, where, being financially cut off from his family's fortune by his parents, he intends to marry a rich Southern belle i.e. Charlotte La Bouff. Mr. La Bouff, hosts a masquerade ball in Naveen's honor, for which Charlotte hires Tiana to make beignets, offering her enough to buy a dilapidated mill to convert into her dream restaurant (“Almost There”).
Naveen and his valet, Lawrence, encounter Dr. Facilier, a voodoo witch doctor, who tricks them into a fortune reading. He transforms Naveen into a frog and gives Lawrence Naveen's appearance through a voodoo talisman containing Naveen's blood (“Friends on the Other Side”). Facilier intends for the disguised Lawrence to marry Charlotte, then to kill her father with a voodoo doll so he can gain the La Bouff fortune. At the ball, Tiana is told by the realtors, the Fenner Brothers, that she has been outbid for the mill. Despondent, Tiana wishes on the evening star for her dream to come true. She then meets Naveen in frog form who, believing her to be a princess, asks for a kiss to break Facilier's spell. Tiana reluctantly accepts after Naveen promises to finance her restaurant. However, Tiana transforms into a frog because she is not a princess. The two are chased into a bayou where they meet a trumpet-playing alligator named Louis, who dreams of playing jazz. After informing Louis they are actually humans under a voodoo spell, he tells them of Mama Odie, another voodoo practitioner who lives in the bayou and they all go in search of her (“When We’re Human”). Lawrence, transformed as Naveen, quickly proposes to Charlotte who agrees. However, the talisman disguising Lawrence as Naveen needs more of Naveen's blood or Lawrence will return to his normal appearance, forcing Facilier to consult his friends from the other side.
They are guided to Mama Odie by a Cajun firefly named Ray (“Gonna Take You There”). During the journey, Tiana and Naveen fend off a group of hunters. In the aftermath, Tiana cooks some swamp gumbo and teaches Naveen how to mince mushrooms. Ray reveals that he is enamored with the Evening Star, believing it is a firefly named "Evangeline," as no one has the heart to tell him otherwise as Naveen teaches Tiana to dance; the two begin developing feelings for each other, especially after the latter learns to be a more responsible human being (“Me Belle Evangeline”). Facilier asks the voodoo spirits his creditors (his "friends on the other side") to help retrieve him, offering them the souls of the people of New Orleans in exchange, and they grant him an army of shadow demons to do his bidding. The demons discover Tiana and her group in the bayou, although they are rescued by Mama Odie.
Tiana and Naveen request Mama Odie’s help in turning them back into human but Mama Odie tells Tiana and Naveen to dig a little deeper to find out what they really need (“Dig a Little Deeper”). However Tiana misses the point so Mama Odie’s tells them that the spell can only be broken with a princess's kiss. They realize that as Big Daddy has been crowned Mardi Gras king, Charlotte will be a princess until midnight. The group hitches a ride on a paddle steamer back to New Orleans, during which Naveen tells Ray about his love for Tiana and plans to propose marriage to her, although after talking to her, he selflessly decides against it since transforming him and Tiana into humans and financing Tiana's restaurant is contingent on him kissing and marrying Charlotte. The shadow demons find and capture Naveen and bring him to Facilier, who uses his blood to replenish the talisman. After hearing from Ray how Naveen feels about her, Tiana heads to the Mardi Gras parade to find him, only to see Lawrence, masquerading as Naveen, marrying Charlotte. Heartbroken and now believing she will forever be a frog, Tiana flees the scene.
Ray rescues the real Naveen and steals the talisman, which he gives to Tiana before Facilier mortally wounds him. Facilier offers to make Tiana's dream come true in exchange for the talisman. Realizing she would rather be with Naveen and that she would be dishonoring her father by accepting, Tiana destroys it. With Facilier's plan foiled, the voodoo spirits drag him into their world for failing to pay back his debt. After Lawrence is exposed and arrested, Tiana reveals her love to Naveen and Charlotte agrees to kiss Naveen so he and Tiana can be human, but the clock strikes midnight and the kiss fails. Ray dies shortly thereafter and during his funeral a new star appears next to Evangeline. Tiana and Naveen are married by Madam Odie, and since doing so makes Tiana a princess, both are restored to human form after their kiss. They later return to New Orleans to legally marry and open their restaurant together, with Louis playing in the band (“Down in New Orleans”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The style the filmmakers were aiming for was primarily that of Lady and the Tramp, a film which they felt represents the "peak of a certain kind of animation of the classic Disney animation style". While Lady and the Tramp heavily informed the style of the New Orleans scenes; Make Mine Music, Bambi, The Rescuers, and The Fox and the Hound served as the template for the bayou scenes.
Technology
Toon Boom Animation's “Toon Boom Harmony” software was used in the digital processing of the film, as the old CAPS system Disney developed with Pixar in the 1980s was now outdated.
The artists on The Princess and the Frog used traditional pencil and paper that is scanned into the computers, however the visual effects, as well as many of the backgrounds, were created digitally using tools such as Wacom Cintiq tablet displays (i.e. paperless animation).
Easter Egg(s)
During the Mardi Gras parade, there is a float of King Triton from The Little Mermaid.
Attraction(s)
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (Disneyland)