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The Princess and the Frog is an upcoming 2009 American animated family feature film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, which is loosely based on E.D. Baker's novel The Frog Princess and the Grimm brothers' The Frog Prince. [3] It will be the 49th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics and the first theatrically released 2D animated movie by Disney since 2004's Home on the Range. It is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, with songs and score composed by Randy Newman and with the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey,[4] Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard.[5] The film, which began production under the working title The Frog Princess, will be an American fairy tale, Broadway-style musical set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. A prince named Naveen (Bruno Campos) from the land of Maldonia[6] is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier (Keith David). The frog prince mistakes a girl named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell. However, the kiss doesn't break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo priestess of the Bayou, Mama Odie, while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator and a hopelessly romantic firefly along the way. The film will open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009 before expanding into wide release on December 11, 2009.[1]
[edit] Plot summaryA press release describes the story as follows:
In the official trailer it is revealed that once Tiana kisses the frog prince, she herself becomes a frog, and they must journey together to change themselves back to humans.[8] [edit] Cast
[edit] Production[edit] AnimationDisney had once announced that Home on the Range would be the studio's last 2D animated film entry to their animated features canon, but after the company's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, it was reported that Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, new leaders of the animation department, had decided to re-open the door to Disney's tradition of handdrawn animation.[11] Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of successful 2D Disney films The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Hercules, will be writing and directing.[12][13] The film promises to return to the Broadway-style musical in the style of the successful Disney films like Walt's classics, and the musical renaissance of the late-1980s and all of the 1990s.[14] Rhett Wickham also reported that John Lasseter had personally asked Ron Clements and John Musker to direct and write the film, and had let them choose in what form (either traditional animation or CGI) they wanted the film to be made. Toon Boom Animation's Toon Boom Harmony software is being used in the digital processing of the film, as the old CAPS system Disney developed with Pixar in the 1980s is now outdated.[15] While the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater experimented with paperless animation, the artists on The Princess and the Frog will use traditional pencil and paper that is scanned into the computers. Although a new pipeline for hand-drawn animation using Toon Boom Harmony has been developed at the studio, the actual animation process remains the same.[16] The visual effects on the other hand, as well as lot of the backgrounds, will be created digitally using tools such as Wacom Cintiq tablet displays. [17] Marlon West, one of Disney's veteran animation visual effects supervisors, says about the production; “Those guys had this bright idea to bring back hand-drawn animation, but everything had to be started again from the ground up. One of the first things we did was focus on producing shorts, to help us re-introduce the 2D pipeline. I worked as vfx supervisor on the Goofy short, How to Hook Up Your Home Theater. It was a real plus for the effects department, so we went paperless for The Princess and the Frog.”[18] The former trend in Disney's hand-drawn features where the characters were influenced by a CGI-look has been abandoned. Andreas Deja says "I always thought that maybe we should distinguish ourselves to go back to what 2D is good at, which is focusing on what the line can do rather than volume, which is a CG kind of thing. So we are doing less extravagant Treasure Planet kind of treatments. You have to create a world but [we're doing it more simply]. What we're trying to do with Princess and the Frog is hook up with things that the old guys did earlier. It's not going to be graphic…". He also mentions that Lasseter is aiming for the Disney sculptural and dimensional look of the '50s. "He quoted all those things that were non graphic, which means go easy on the straight lines and have one volume flow into the other -- an organic feel to the drawing."[16] [edit] MusicOn November 13, 2006, it was revealed that Randy Newman, who is responsible for the music of five Pixar films, would be in charge of the music in the film instead of Alan Menken and his new lyricist Glenn Slater. This change was due to John Lasseter not wanting the public to feel Disney being repetitive, as Menken was also working on another Disney fairy tale film, Enchanted. During the Walt Disney Company's annual shareholder meeting in March 2007, Randy Newman and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band performed a song from the film called "Down in New Orleans", while slides of pre-production art from the film played on a screen. Other songs include "Almost There" (a solo for Tiana), "Dig a Little Deeper" (a song for Mama Odie), "When We're Human" (a song for Louis, Tiana & Naveen [as frogs]), "Friends on the Other Side" (a solo for Doctor Facilier), and "Gonna Take You There" and "Ma Belle Evangeline" (two solos for Ray). An end credit song called "Never Knew I Needed" performed by Ne-Yo. [19] [edit] Voice castOn December 1, 2006, a detailed casting call was announced for the film at the Manhattan Theatre Source forum.[20] The casting call states the film as being an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age, and provides a detailed list of the film's major characters, including the leading character, who at that point was to be called Maddy. Disney later officially confirmed this.[19] In February 2007, it was reported that Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose were top contenders for the voice of the princess, and that Alicia Keys directly contacted Disney's studio chief Dick Cook, telling him that she wanted the role very much.[21] It was later revealed that Tyra Banks was considered for the role as well.[22] On April 19, 2007, it was confirmed that Anika Noni Rose would be voicing Princess Tiana.[23] On July 5, 2007, it was reported that Keith David would be doing the voice of Dr. Facilier, the villain of the film.[24] [edit] Promotion and releaseOn April 20, 2007, E! reported that the title of the film could possibly be changed from The Frog Princess to The Princess and the Frog, and that the lead character Maddy may be getting a name change as well.[25] On May 4, 2007, USA Today published an article regarding the film in which they referred to it under the aforementioned title, The Princess and the Frog, and referred to the lead character as "Tiana" rather than Maddy, supporting the earlier reported name change possibilities.[26] On May 8, 2007, BET and other online sites reported that Disney spokeswoman Heidi Trotta stated that some of the original release information was incorrect, and confirmed the USA Today names "Princess Tiana" and The Princess and the Frog to be correct. Trotta stated "Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney’s rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity."[27] On August 4, 2008, the official website was launched with the first teaser trailer of the movie. On May 9, 2009, the official trailer was premiered on The Disney Channel. The Blu-Ray Disc edition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which was released on October 6, 2009 included a six minute preview of the film. The film will premiere in theaters with a limited run in New York and Los Angeles starting on November 25, 2009, followed by a wide release on December 11, 2009.[28] The film was originally set to be released on Christmas Day in 2009, but was changed due to the competitive nature of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel being released the same day.[29] [edit] Pre-release receptionBefore the movie was released, William Blackburn, former columnist at The Charlotte Observer, voiced his criticism stating that the "story is set in New Orleans, the setting of one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community" and felt the choice of this setting was "insensitive."[30] At the same time, Tiana's arrival as the first African-American Disney princess has resounded strongly with mothers of young daughters, a reversal of the normal reaction to a Disney character.[31] A founder of an Atlanta mentoring group, asked about the significance of the Tiana character, said, "If any other company had done it, I don’t know if it would have had as great an impact as with Disney. We’ve watched their movies all our lives."[31] [edit] SoundtrackThe film's soundtrack album, The Princess and the Frog: Original Songs and Score, contains ten original songs and seven instrumental pieces. The music, a mixture of jazz, zydeco, blues and gospel sounds, was composed, conducted and arranged by Academy Award-winning composer Randy Newman. The soundtrack will be released on November 23, 2009, the day before the limited release of the film in New York and Los Angeles. The songs are performed by various artists, most of which lend their voices to the characters in the movie.[32] [edit] Tracklist
[edit] Marketing"The Princess and the Frog" will be supported by a wide array of merchandise leading up to and following the film's release. Although Disney's main marketing push wasn't set to begin until November 2009, positive word-of-mouth promotion (notably from African-American mothers) created demand for merchandise well in advance of the film.[31] Princess Tiana costumes were selling out prior to Halloween 2009, and a gift set of Tiana-themed hair care products from Carol's Daughter sold out in seven hours on the company's website.[31] Other planned merchandise includes a cookbook for children and even a wedding gown.[31] [edit] Video-gameDisney announced on June 4, 2009 that they will release a video game inspired by the film in the fall of 2009 exclusively for Wii and Nintendo DS platforms. It will be an "adventure through the exciting world of New Orleans in a family-oriented video game," and will feature favorite moments from the film and challenges for Princess Tiana.[33] [edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links
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