There is something odd about the animation of the film, I can’t pinpoint it exactly. But it looks a little like a dvd-sequel. I don’t want to be harsh, cause some dvd sequels actually have pretty good animation, they are crappy because of the stories. But doesn’t all the characters look too rounded and cute? I know it’s Disney but even the bad guy seems kind of more rounded than Jafar or Scar. Everyone has bright big eyes, perfect teeth and rounded/cute faces.

The humor looks a little hit and miss too, but it’s too soon to comment on that.

The part I really like is that little scene with the crocodile. That looks awesome and charming. It actually looks like something they’d include in a classic Disney movie, and I’m not talking about 90s Disney, but 40s Disney here.

Okay…one more thing… I don’t think JL would last one episode on Celebrity Apprentice. Not that that has anything to do with the post.

Seriously…. so what you have a Crocodile who plays the sax and a Cajun firefly wth a big butt…so what. The dialog I’ve heard here seems really lame. The jokes are on par with something far beneath what I’ve always expected from Disney. I’m still excited to see what the 2-D JL “Disney” will be like. Though thus far it’s only slightly beginning to look like a lame attempt at a Dreamworks pseudo-adult/juvenile piece.

Not feeling it…

I’m going to go ahead and tell everyone here that this film is incredible and will not disappoint. There is nothing to fear. And that alligator is fantastic!

It’s not art when characters are limited by stock expressions. “Up” looks 20x more genuine. Boggles the mind.

Some of the characters seem to be stereotypes from this bit..and I much preferred the animation from the beginning of Enchanted to this.

It would be more interesting to do an animated feature about New Orleans recovering from Hurricane Katrina and what is going on there now.

looks good cant wait …go disney!!

Looks like Jeaun-Bob the frog got a new acting gig! :D

It’s hard to talk about the animation quality, because this VIDEO isn’t of very good quality. Especially when taping a tv screen! But I am excited, of course. The firefly still looks annoying though.

How anyone can judge this film good OR bad, based on that clip is beyond me!

Let’s wait a bit, shall we folks?

the design on the firefly is absolutely horrible. did anyone even bother to look at an actual firefly? they would have been better off using jimminy cricket with an xmas tree bulb taped to his butt.

No songs. PLEASE….no songs!

Hmmm. I’m not at all convinced in this one. I am not at all crazy about some of the designs here, and the story feels a little thin. I dunno.

I’ll see it, of course, but I’m thinking it may not be the blast that we were hoping for.

I have a question: Why do you guys keep picking on Lasseter? I don’t think he actually goofed up yet.
I said it before and I say it again: I wish we didn’t have this comment feature.

Sues, I don’t think he seemed all that enthused or excited on Tinkerbell. It smacked of fake, especially compared to his 100% sincere endorsements for Miyazaki’s work. This looks to be somewhere in between. Keep in mind that he tried to shelve Tinkerbell at one point.

As for the movie, I pray it does well at the box office. Maybe then we can get them to do something original, because those clips are really underwhelming me. The villain isn’t compelling, the humor falls fault, and the animation worries me (though why people feel the need to blame Don Bluth for every bad hand drawn film, I’ll never know).

But, then, perhaps my opinion will change as new footage is revealed. Honestly, though, I’d rather cel animation come back and try to do more mature stories than the same old “princess” stuff.

Lacklustre.

I don’t know if this movie will be good or not, but I have to give credit to Disney just for producing it. At a time when Hollywood has declared that “2D is dead”, and with competition in the animated film market bigger than ever before, not to mention the impossible task of addressing all the contradictory demands for “fairly” portraying the African American characters, the fact that Disney went through with this project shows a lot of guts. Maybe all the money they made from those crappy sequels gave them the fiscal safety net they needed to take such a risk.

I honestly agree some of the previous posts on the fact that you cannot judge animation (or anything else on that matter) from a poor quality clip recorded off of TV with a video camera.

But -sigh- I hope the firefly’s humor get’s better than that, I must say.

Very little footage is shown in this clip, yet for some reason a lot of people are crying foul on the whole project. The VideoGum blog had nothing but scathing comments regarding the clips, which I found to be bizarrely and extremely reactionary. Let’s. Just. Breathe for a second. And wait. More and more I fear for our collective patience, our inability to hold off on making insanely broad judgments. 30-second teasers are causing people to scream ‘bullshit’, when in reality they are just not indicative of the whole. This is a simple truth. Anyway, for my money, I did like this small, small piece of footage. The animation is rubbery and full of expression, making great use of the 2D style. And if there are songs, it does not mean the film will be a failure outright. That doesn’t make sense. Now, if the songs are poor, then that’s an actual problem. Musicality does not equal garbage, people.

Everybody here are rooting for this film, James R. Everybody hopes it’s not “more of the same”. Some people jumped the gun and already condemned the movie based on these short clips. The movie’s pedigree says it’ll be another Little Mermaid or Aladdin (except with frogs instead of people – that’s the “twist”).

James – It’s not jealousy, its more like disappointment. When Disney has a chance to come back after a long hiatus of not doing 2d animation they do so by relying on old things that worked for them in the past instead of maybe trying something new. that is probably in part why Pixar (although too commercial for my tastes) is continually successful with the films they release, because they are actually breaking the mold, taking risks. I wouldn’t consider doing another feature animated film about a princess a risk. None of this undermines the talent that went into making it, but I’m not gonna go out of my way to watch it.

This looks rather interesting!

Lets Hope for the beast is all I can say !!!

Let’s look at the Disney canon for a moment. Songs are and were a part of the classic hand drawn Disney movies. You might not like that but there it is. My goodness, there were songs in Enchanted and darn good ones if you ask me (which no one is).

As far as the squishy, squashy, stretchy element – is it possible that the Disney artists are celebrating the 2D-ness of the whole affair and are reveling in it? Perhaps we’re seeing the most of it in these clips?

You can’t judge a feature by a couple minute clip but you can find something to be optimistic about in it, and I find plenty.

Like it or not, this is the type of movie people EXPECT to see the Disney name on. Animated musicals are where the company has always done well, and generally when they stray from that forumula, the public doesn’t like it as much. Tarzan did well, but it was a very popular story and while the characters didn’t sing (much) it still was pushed based on its music, and Lilo & Stitch had no character singing but was heavily sold on the “Elvis angle”. Atlantis, Treasure Planet, etc, all had no interest from the public. Walt was able to make several Singing Princess and Talking Animal movies that were all successful, so why can’t Ron and John?

And I think the DTV look that people are seeing may be related to the shadowing, tone matting, whatever you want to call it. Seems like those became popular after Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and they were able to figure out a way to do it cheaply so that it ALMOST looked as good as it did in WFRR, so they stuck it on all the DTV animation to make it look like it had more production value than it really did. Looks like they’ve decided that thats how they are going to do their 2D from here out.

Ok, so.. as much as I don’t like the prince, frog and bag guy designs, I won’t say from now that this movie is going to be horrible. After all, Musker and Clements are indeed great directors, and even if it has a lot of songs, if they’re as great as Aladdin’s, there’s nothing wrong for me.

But what did stand out in this clip was the calm passive careless tone in Lasseter’s words. I couldn’t believe his eyes as he said such generic comments like “this story has so much in it: the French Quarter, a really great bad guy”. At the end, the way he says “we’re returning to HAND-DRAWN animation” might give the clue that the technique itself is more important in this case than story or drama. It’s kind of a philanthropic gift for the poor nostalgic fans.

My expectations may be too high, but I guess just another beautifully done 2D fairy tale wouldn’t do. “A hand-drawn film this well done” is NOT brand new folks, it isn’t as fresh as any of Lasseter’s other company’s stories, or as Miyazaki’s or Persepolis.

Love the animation on the frog form of Prince Naveen. Looking forward to seeing the animation on Mama Odie. :) This film seems so promising.

Welllp.

I gotta say, I liked the frog a lot, especially when he got smacked and he said, “Of Maldonia…!” Tiana…mmm. TBH, it’s not as bad as everyone else is saying. Pretty entertaining tidbits but that’s all that there is, “tidbits” so IMHO you can’t really judge a lot of the tiny things they show.

Some of my non-animation acquintances saw it too during their lunchbreak. They were all excited because they thought “Ah finally, this is how animation supposed to be.” I tried to point out various other stuff that they liked–Miyazaki, Pixar and whatnot, but their response were, “Ah, but, this is Disney, see…it’s gotta be more like this.”

>>Not even 5 seconds of it shown & the jury has decided already that it’s a stinker.>>

There’s a difference between judging what you see and talk about expectations and doing fundamental judgements about the whole movie. I think the first is legit and the second is not. Personally I always try to adjust at the things I see and try not to condemn the whole thing. Anyway, it’s not really important, if it’s good one can always change his opinion after seeing the film. If somebody decides not to see it because of the promo, well, that’s their problem. Maybe they are right if they don’t like classic Disney or 90s Disney at all, but if they do, they should give it a chance.

Also Roman got it right about the DTV look, the shadowing is part of it.

These comments are indicative of the poor track record of the “animation fan base” predicting the success/failure of upcoming movies.

Look, I realize WHY you’re all reacting the way you are—fear. Fear that the movie won’t be good. Fear that this will be yet another death knell for 2D. We all seemingly have an emotional stake in wanting 2D to do well, and are terrified that this “test case” will let us all down.

And so you are amplifying the importance of anything you’re seeing in a 20-second clip. Amplifying it to a stratospheric level, and projecting the tiny bite-sized crumbs you’re seeing into vast judgements of the entire film.

But here’s the truth. You CAN’T judge an 80-minute movie—good OR bad—based on 20 seconds. Or a 2-minute trailer. This goes both ways–remember how excited we all were when we saw the first trailer for “Phantom Menace”? Remember how great it made it seem? And remember how awful the actual film was? Conversely, I remember well how overwhelmingly negative the reaction was to the first images we all saw of “Finding Nemo,” with loud predictions of its failure announced by seemingly everyone. All of it misguided.

And we are especially doing this with P and F because a lot of hopes for the “return of traditional” are riding on it.

We are automatically predicting its failure, because we don’t want to be crushed and disappointed. It’s a defense mechanism. But it’s also an irrational way to judge how a film will be. Many of you have been very wrong in your dire predictions before, and you would be wise to learn from past mistakes and wait until you’ve actually SEEN the movie before rendering judgement.

I like the animation that I’ve seen. Its also too early to tell, and the clip is so short, small, and grainy. I really hope this film does well. If anything it’ll help train new animators, and with any luck they’ll hop over to CG and bring their wonderful 2d sensibilities with them.

As someone working on this film, all I can say is I couldn’t be more excited to hear all of your reactions AFTER you see the movie. These few clips do not show enough do this film justice in scope. I really DO believe that this movie sits up there with classics like “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid”. Sure it had story problems earlier on, but what movie doesn’t. The very talented story crew at Disney has done an amazing job and I think the story is FANTASTIC! I strongly believe it’s the best to come out of Disney for years.

I think the problem is that it feels like 90′s Disney. No better. No worse.

And there’s a reason 90′s Disney fell out of favor– because it was done to death.

What they need is another Snow White. Simple story, simple characters, and emphasizie that we’re seeing moving drawings. Everything that I’ve seen on Princess and the Frog is overly polished… as if they’re still trying to compete with CG.

Well, it’s not CG– and that’s something to be proud of, not something to try to hide under layers and layers of effects, tones, and hi-lights.

The 90′s are over.

Songs alienate the adult audience. When Lilo & Stitch came out and had a great soundtrack WITHOUT songs, I couldn’t believe it. it seemed so fresh to me. And let’s face it. Most guys groan d sink down in their chairs when some lame song starts up for no reason. I personally think it’s a cheap storytelling device as well.

And really, why are so many people in animation into musicals? I don’t get it.

Because musicals are awesome, Matt.
I don’t mind if there are songs. Songs have gone hand-in-hand with Disney animation since the beginning and if this movie is deliberately going for the ‘classic fairytale’ angle, then let there be songs.
It’s Randy Newman, I trust they will be good.

Amid hates it. Surprise Surprise.
Last time I checked, ‘audiences’ were for the most part NOT animation connoisseurs who want to see ONLY major artistic experimentation with the art form. They’re families with kids.
Disney does its thing and if we’re lucky, it does it VERY well.

Despite my earlier criticisms, I AM still rooting for this movie. I WANT to enjoy this film and I sincerely hope it delivers on the story and the writing. Looking pretty and pimping the 2D angle might be enough to generate enough box office to warrant making more hand-drawn movies, but I hope we see better footage to properly showcase the writing and characterisation soon.

I agree with Amid to some extent, but isn´t Lasseter (the Pixar guy) the one that’s behind these productions? I mean, look at what happened with American Dog. That’s a movie I’ll have paid twice to see in 2D. And if there were story problems then they could have fixed them without getting anybody fired and changing things completely. I know things are not always perfect and there are creative differences but to me it looks like different ideas have little chances at Disney, with or without Lasseter. I’ve read recently about a lot of cancelled projects at Disney and all of them were interesting and experimental. Movies like Fraidy Cat, My Peoples. Frog Prince or Wild Life.

So all of those had story problems? I’ve read one of the reasons why Fraidy Cat was rejected was that people now don’t know who is Alfred Hitchcock (the movie was supossed to be an homage to the director of Psycho). How dumb is that?

I guess we are lucky The Princess and The Frog has been done at all, instead of being rejected for being potentially offensive to black people.

I like what I have seen of “The Princess and the Frog” so far and am eagerly looking forward to seeing this film. Go Disney Animation Studios ! I’m in agreement with all the other people who have posted above pointing out that it’s too soon and too little footage to form a strong judgement about the film’s probable success (artistic and/or financial) based on viewing these few fragmented scenes.

At the same time I do agree that is misguided and narrow to pin all the hopes of “the return of traditional hand-drawn animation” on one movie from one studio. If it’s “all about story” and not about the tools or the medium used then why would the success or failure of one film say anything definitive about the continuing validity of hand-drawn animation ? This is such a stupid, irritating idea. If people blamed the failure of a live-action movie on the type of cameras or the film stock used to photograph it , or if a CG animated film’s failure was blamed on the software that was used then any sensible person would scoff at that naive notion, but here we go again with people talking about : “can ’2D’ make a comeback ?” as if the tools used to make a movie are the reason it will be a success or failure.

Amid: If Princess and the Frog turns out to be all gloss and no substance, then I would be in complete agreement with you.
But is IS still a little early to condemn this as just another meddling-executive-driven film when only a handful of people have seen the full thing and those that have say it’s a LOT better than this footage shows.

Everyone is going to have their own opinions on what constitutes ‘heart’, but I am willing to absolutely give this movie the benefit of the doubt.

“Seeing work like this merely reaffirms how out of touch they are with the contemporary animation scene and what audiences want to see in a hand-drawn film”

Disney doesn’t make films to please the “contemporary animation scene”, and Amid what do you know what audiences want to see? Persepolis, Waltz with Bashir, Spirited Away never drew the large audiences like the big Disney films of the 80s and 90s (unfortunately!).
I watched Ponyo and I must admit that the style looks very Miyazaki and technically it doesn’t look any better or worse than his previous films. PatF looks like the best of the 80s Disney films, nothing more nothing less. And I bet you more people will want to watch PatF than Ponyo. Amid, if you know so well what audiences want to see where is your blockbuster project?

Well, I saw the film at a screening (through movietickets.com) last night, of which something less than 30% was full color animation; and the rest surprisingly — given the audience — was pencils and boards. It was a lovely treat for an animation buff to be able to attend a movie in this stage of its development.

My one sentence review would be: it’s a worthy entry in the Disney canon, but they’ve got a LOT more work to do, and not just finishing up the animation.

My more considered opinion:

I think this movie has a lot of promise and in the main it was very warmly received by an audience unused to watching pencil tests, who laughed heartily throughout.

I liked a lot of the character design, derivative though some of it seemed — but I don’t know how many new ways there are to design a talking frog, for example. The alligator looks a little too familiar, though how he moves around is rather fun. The lightning bug, who was a huge hit with the audience, as he’s quite amusing, nonetheless looks, from a design standpoint, as if he has flown in from another movie entirely.

The environments and backgrounds are really beautiful, especially when the action moves into the bayou. Really, really lovely stuff, and what we saw of the completed New Orleans is really quite something.

Unlike some who have commented on the snippets above, I did not find the acting to be over the top except when that’s what’s called for. To the contrary I found it to be closer to the classic style of old than most recent Disney fare. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on how you feel about Disney living in the past, versus pushing the boundaries. Can’t they do both? Make films like the classics, but also make more modern or challenging films? Surely they can, but since this is the first one out of the gate 2D-wise post John and Ed, it seems inescapable that it should be an effort that tries to capture that classic Disney aesthetic.

And Amid, as far as them being out of touch — I don’t think they are out of touch at all with what the lion’s share of the paying audience wants to see (certainly, if the whoops and cheers after last night’s screening are any indication). You can “Triplets of Belleville” about it all you want, and I adore all sorts of animation, but even the most meagre Disney grosses put the lie to this notion that the masses are thirsting for more challenging animated product and are rejecting this somewhat traditional and predictable, if beautiful, fare — no matter how much animation enthusiasts like you or I might wish that it were so.

Anyway, story-wise, there’s enough that’s “different” in there to pique the interest of those who are tired of the traditional Disney fare, but unfortunately it also treads many of the same boards as the movies we have seen a dozen times over. I suppose, alas, that given the burden of expectation — it’s going to SAVE Disney 2D animation!!! — it has to to meet the modern expectation of a “Disney animated feature.” The “I want” song lands right where it is supposed to, and so on. It seemed to me, that some of the more familiar elements don’t really sit well with some of the new, but I think there’s room, and time, to smooth this out some.

BUT, there are some pretty large story problems in the first act that loom large over the rest of the film. I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to be hatching spoilers all over the place. Suffice it to say that neither the prince’s, his servant’s or the villain’s motivations are at all made clear; their early development is rushed; they seem to be acting as they do because the plot demands it of them, rather than moving from any basis of character. This lack of development weighs the movie down horribly when it should be flying. Moreover, certain developments later in the film that should really land with elegance don’t because they are not properly set up in the first act. Tiana’s the only character who feels really fully developed, and inasmuch as she’s the protagonist that’s good news, but these other three characters and why they do what they do to each other is really a big piece of the core of the story and I fear the film will not resonate unless these issues are addressed.

It was kind of shocking, really, to see these questions of character and motivation at this point in a project that’s been gestating as long as this one, with these particular people at the helm! Fortunately, there are numerous potential solutions and ways to strengthen these characters, utilizing mainly what’s already been done, and possibly replacing one scene (one of the few which seemed nearly complete, alas) with another which could conceivably be whipped into shape in the time available.

I hope so. A success for this picture is a good thing for animation everywhere. It was a crowd-pleaser last night in its unfinished form, for sure, and if it were finished and released in its present form I have no doubt it would do well, but lots of pictures that aren’t as good as they could be do well. If they can rejigger the first act and clarify those three characters, the picture could really soar, could really stand up on its own among the other Disney classics, and could open the door to loads of new possibilities for the studio.

It looks like a Don Bluth film to me…. nicely animated but boring and cliched!

It’s interesting to read all of the comments on this post regarding “The Princess and the Frog”.

First, I am (like many of you) a fan of Disney Feature Animation. I was thrilled to see DFA get a proper website that honors the history of the studio and its roots. Like many of you, I was equally thrilled when it was announced that John Lasseter was appointed to head up the studio, because I believe he has respect for the legacy he is inheriting.

Second, I have to say that I think it is possible to assess the character designs and set-up of the story at this point without having seen the film, but I think it goes without saying that it is impossible to give a comprehensive review of a film that isn’t finished.

I understand that people working away on this film don’t want everyone to pounce on a couple of minutes of footage, but first impressions are as good away as any to gauge potential interest for this film.

“People love sit back and criticize, makes them feel good”

That’s fabulously condescending (whether intentional or not), but it’s not as good as this:

“Amid, if you know so well what audiences want to see where is your blockbuster project?”

I don’t recall anyone saying to Joseph Campbell, ‘If you know so much about mythology why haven’t you created your own myth?’ as a means of discounting his perspective. There is room in this world for criticism by people looking at a work from an academic standpoint as well as that of a working professional, and the perspective of someone working on the film itself is hardly objective.

In closing, I want hand drawn animation at Disney to thrive, but my early impressions of this film are that it doesn’t give off the sense of vitality that the films of the 80′s/90′s renaissance. Those films took the classic motifs explored in the past and reinvigorated them for the time. I think that it is out of respect for the legacy of DFA that this film is being held to a high standard, and not being assessed on the same level of Disney’s Princesses sequels and Disney’s Fairies DVD (which, for the record have a very strong appeal with “families with kids”).

There is a grey area between “connoisseurs” and “families with kids”, as well as between academics and professionals.

I’m delighted Disney is making this film. And, as noted above, it might be fair to see a film before you “review it.”

In any case, we’ve got some darn good people on this movie. My only regret is the fact that we’ve lost so many darn good artists over the past few years. Much of the blame for this goes to “BoneHead” for declaring hand drawn animation dead.

Though there’s more work to be done, suffice it to say that the film is solid.

Whoever posted under the guise of “Ghost of Animation Future”, along with the few other rational voices that tend to stand out on ‘animation’ websites such as these, really say all that needs to be said about the culture of animation on the internet.

Personally I hate the fact that the animated films of today or any films for that matter have to dump, no longer just trailers, but episodic portions of themselves onto the net. I’m sure it works perfectly well form a marketing standpoint, but the fact that it generates this kind of negativity and mindlessly alleging banter / overzealous ranting (a large portion of it purely negative) saddens me deeply, not to mention spoils the rest of the film. Where the hell is your sense of optimism and passion for the animation medium in all its incarnations? Sure, have a healthy sense of what you like and don’t like, but for *expletive* sake reserve your judgments till you walk out of the cinema. If not purely for the fact most of you know the challenges of making a good short film, so imagine a full length feature, as there are literally armies of talented people behind their creation. Nobody wants to see or be part of a bad film, no one wants to see a tired franchise dragged out over four features and a television series simply because it prints money. There are valid points of discussion here, but honestly, have some amount of respectful faith in the minds and collective passion involved in any creative endeavour, form the commercial blockbuster to the one man student film. These are your piers and their work should be celebrated, not trodden on.

Don’t make sites like this the bane of the animation community on the internet because of the purely negative comments you leave.

The Obvious writes:
“People love sit back and criticize, makes them feel good”
That’s fabulously condescending (whether intentional or not), but it’s not as good as this:
“Amid, if you know so well what audiences want to see where is your blockbuster project?”

In never meant to sound condescending and I’m sure Amid is a real animation connaisseur and lover but I feel he is very much out of touch with what “audiences” want (at least in the western half of the world, and that’s what were talking about here). Of course there is an audience for everything, but let’s face the facts and like it or not, the majority of the people still want to see familiar, safe Disney entertainment.

This film tested off the charts at the two screenings Tuesday night, and this is a very hopeful sign. What matters both for Disney and for the future of hand-drawn animation is that this movie find an audience and succeed. I believe it will, and that this success will be the best thing that has happened for the art of animation in nearly a generation.

Whether Princess and the Frog is the Citizen Kane of animation is beside the point. Its financial success will open doors for animators and the art of hand-drawn animation around the world, and that is something we should all be cheering and welcome with open arms.

Matt Sullivan says:

I think deep down, all of us gripers want to be proven wrong.

So true!!!!

“I can tell you this – Princess and the Frog is going to blow you all away.”

Saying “blow you away,” means in all honesty, this film is not going to be up to par.

Cliched “rad” type expressions do nothing to inspire confidence.

This movie looks better and better with every bit I see. No matter how tired the story might be, and whether I personally hate musicals, god, *look* at it! It’s beautiful! Even if it turns out to be all style and no substance, which I doubt, what style it is! Polished like a gem. I can’t wait to see it, and I hope it does spectacularly well in theaters. The crew clearly gave it their all.

And for everyone saying ‘ZOMG black prenciss! big deal!’… it IS a big deal. We’ve had white princesses since Snow White, from pretty much every studio, with few exceptions. It matters. Black women and girls.. heck, men and boys too, deserve a black feature character who doesn’t have to be a caricature or stereotype, and by all accounts, Tiana is neither of those. It’s about time.

Hi I’m also one of the crew members working on this film and I’ve got to say it really does sadden me how much hating you people are doing on our little film. Not to mention its based on some 10 seconds of out-of-sequence animation clips shot off a blown-out TV screen? Oh well I guess that’s the nature of the anonymity the internet brings, and opinions are opinions, but I just want to say this is very much Ron and John’s film. As far as I can tell the “corporate empire” didn’t really contribute to this creatively at all. They are making the film they want to make, and while I would love for Disney to really break new ground and do something we’ve never seen before, I don’t really think that’s Ron and John’s big goal. I think they just wanted to make a really fun film with wonderful characters and heartfelt moments. That’s all and I think they are succeeding wonderfully. So just know that when you are hating on this film you’re not hating on the Disney empire you are pretty much just hating on Ron and John.

Anyways just trying to spread a little positivity!

I’m a Disney fan and Animation student who was lucky enough to see the special screening of The Princess and the Frog last Tuesday. I’ve been thinking about the movie ever since. Really. It was amazing.

I fail to see why doing a “Disney” movie is a bad thing. No matter how any of you may dislike the genre, the animated musical always has and always will be at the heart of Disney brand, along with the Disney style of storytelling. If they stopped making animated musicals with the Disney flair, I’d be very sad, and I’m sure kids-at-heart around the world would be sad too. What’s wrong with Disney going back to what makes Disney? It’s not like they couldn’t experiment all they want with other films, but PatF is their chance to celebrate the Disney that has been lost for this past decade. And I like it. It’s kind of hard to be a Disney fan if you don’t like their brand.

Besides, all the accusations of “telling the same story over and over” make me want to say this – Well, so has the entire human race throughout all of history. Because really.. the structure and elements of storytelling haven’t changed. If you look at all the world’s best stories through a general enough lens, this is evident (“Hero with a Thousand Faces,” anyone?). But without looking through that overgeneralized lens… Ask any child, and they’ll say that there’s a big difference between the stories of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Aladdin.” And likewise is there a difference between “Aladdin” and “The Princess and the Frog.”

To be honest, it seems to me that Miyazaki’s films are just as different from each other as Disney’s are.. But I digress.

My point is, I’m completely optimistic about this film. It was great at the screening even despite the rough spots (I do agree with alot of what Michael’s review said), and it can only get better from now until release date. All you naysayers need to lighten up! It’s Disney! =D

All I can say is I hope for the best there won’t be a “big lipped alligator moment”. :-)

Hmm…I wasn’t blown away by the trailer but the prince is ok I guess. Let’s just pray it does well. Oh and I love old Disney films, but I really want the Princess and the Frog to be the last princess film. I want Disney to try something fresh and new with 2-D animation.

Maybe it’s because Disney marketing sucks

I must say, I had hopes for this one. However, the minute the word “butt” came out of the firefly’s mouth, it was immediately relegated to the “I’ll catch it when it comes on the Disney Channel” status.