the princess and the frog

So, I went and saw “The Princess and the Frog” last night, mostly out of desperation to find something to do for the night.  I had heard it was good, but I wasn’t expecting much … it was Disney, after all, and their latest animation hasn’t been anything to write about.  This movie, however, was amazing.  I haven’t seen anything like this put out from the studio since Walt Disney himself produced it — in fact, if he were alive today, this is the exact movie I could see him making.

You seriously have to forget the past twelve or so releases that Disney has had that does any animation (not counting Pixar, of course), and go see this movie, because it is a serious throwback to the Walt Disney animation pictures of old.  The animation was top-notch, mixing art styles both old and new, and I could see influences from a *lot* of classic Walt Disney films, like Pete’s Dragon, The Rescuers, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood, and more.

Everything about the film just blew me away.  It was hilariously funny with original characters and stories — I won’t spoil it for you, though.  The story was great and it deeply used the local culture to a completeness that, again, I haven’t seen since Walt himself made the movies.

I cringed every time a song started up (and there were a *lot* of them, even for a Disney animated film) since I was afraid it would suck, but they were all really good.  I found myself tapping along to them in the theater, I was getting into them so much, which *never* happens with me.

The art style was incredible.  There were some really, really cool sequences with the songs and some of the scenes.  The ones with the Shadow Man just totally made the movie.  And this movie was *not* nubbed down for little kids, either.  It was authentically creepy and scary in parts, just as it should have been.  Extremely well done.

If I had to rank this thing, I’d say it would probably fit in the top five or so of animated films I’ve ever seen.  I’d say it rated up there with Beauty and the Beast, for me.  That seems like a pretty accurate rating — not my #1 favorite, but pretty darn close.

So, suffice it to say, I was incredibly surprised … and the best movies are always ones where you’re totally blown away by your limited expectations, I think.  This movie is an animated film in a class all by itself.  Just an awesome treat, to see Disney put out something good again.  From the very opening title sequence, with the Walt Disney Animation Studios opening, I figured I was in for a good treat, and I was right. 🙂