An exquisite comeback

Welcome back Disney!!!!
I recently had a chance to visit the video library after a very long time and I was pleasantly surprised to see "The princess and the frog" in the newbie list. I wondered as to what made the library dig out something from their archives and display it in the newbie section. But then, as I always did, I took a look at the synopsis and whoa...This was a new movie..Disney had a traditional animation movie out when the biggies were making Avatars and UPs and Ratatouilles. No, this wouldn't stand a chance.


Something in me suddenly projected images of Simba and Mufasa from I dont know somewhere in the deepest recesses of my mind and I had the sudden urge to see what this movie was made of. Well, here I am.

I have no words to praise the movie enough. Disney, Hats off to you. I was tapping my feet to the jazz and the music, and I just didn't know where those 100 minutes went. The characters were awesome and as usual, the female characters were made really cute and outstandingly beautiful. The villain..my my, He had the eerinesss of Zafar and the sheer cunning of Scar. But more of him later. The characters' faces tell us what the character is-Cute but spoilt or Cute and Cinderella-ic or the role model father, everything was exactly what they were supposed to be. Something last seen in Lilo and Stitch, the cute comedy, was back. And there was something Pixar-ish about the whole making-you-cry-with-sentiment aspect of the story. On the whole it was a whoooo ride for a good 100 minutes.

The story is not what I thought it was initially as what I thought was totally restricted to my days of drooling over fairy tales. The story has been delightfully twisted and turned to make us wonder where we were going and then just when you thought everything was all clear, something pleasantly surprising springs up to tells you...Not yet..but Almost.

The story is about a young waitress Tiana whose dream is to realize her father's dream of a restuarant with all the fancies that a young lady of her age would dream of. But, as it would have it, she has no money and no way to get enough of it. Add to it, a spoilt but devoted childhood friend, Charlotte, of a rich and pampering father whose dreams are of marrying the charming Prince Naveen. Now, pull out of this Naveen the usual prince Charming and add to him a few spoons of Emperor Kuzko and remove all the money and you got yourself a dumb and arrogant prince, just what is needed to fill the gap. Now, this prince gets into a teeny tiny conversation with a local Shadow man, Facillier, who turns him into a frog and his assistant into the prince using voodoo. Now, this Facillier has the thing with all the baddies of the "other side", who provide him with shadow minions to do his deeds - A pleasant change from the actual wicked witch. And then, the prince meets Tiana thinking her to be a princess and convinces her to kiss him and bam..She turns into a frog. Now, that must be wierd..Not at all the way things should go..But then, all this happens in the first 20 minutes of the story, so we still have a lot of storying and singing and jazzing to do. 
They both go in search of Mama Odi, the friendly and feisty witch who would be able to help them get back their human forms. In their journey, they are aided by a jazz loving Alligator, a star loving firefly and a few other smaller but cute creatures. I dont wish to spoil the story by relating all the mid movie thrills but as it would have it, Tiana and the Prince fall in love. The movie progresses with their adventures in the bogs and comes to the climax with the final showdown with the villain of which I would not disclose much, but just say, remember Alladin?


And then we have yet another surprise in the end, before the Happily ever after, but then by then you are already smiling away with a few drops of I-don't-know in your eyes and humming "I just cant wait to be king".


On the whole, a great comeback by Disney and for all those who loved the Disney movies of the 90's this is a treat of a lifetime.