Well, yesterday was Valentine’s day, and as a treat Kei and I went to the cinema to see the Princess and the Frog. Not only was this our first cinema trip since our son was born, it was also the first time we’d left him with someone else for more than about half an hour. It was a little daunting!
Anyway, the film. As the first 2D Disney film in who knows how long, I felt it was quite important to go and see this, despite the subject matter (another Disney Princess film? Please). But Despite the obvious theme, and the fact that yes, it was a musical, it was rather good. Animation-wise, it was the sort of high standard you’d come to expect from Disney – so no surprises there. All in all it was a very nice looking film, from the backgrounds to the character design, which itself was a bit odd. It’s one of those stock-Disney character design films, but some of them were really good (like Doctor Facilier, the rich girl and her dad, or Raymond) and some were bland stock-Disney types (like the crocodile, or the main character). Actually, the main character, Tiana, was really annoying. Apart form the standard Disney-girl look she had, at the start of the film she was a child, and yet had an adult head! Whereas her friend, the spoiled rich girl, actually looked like a little kid (and even as an adult she had a much more interesting design).
Still, it was on the whole a really enjoyable film – not the sort of spectacular 2D extravaganza you’d expect after such a break, but still great. It wasn’t quite the Incredibles, but was leagues ahead of crap like Cars or Robots, you know?
I definitely recommend seeing this film, it’s probably the most interesting thing at the cinema right now (including Avatar).
NB: While writing this, I had the almost irresistible urge to shoehorn in the pun ‘warts-and-all’. I resisted.
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