INSTEP Magzine

This film has no tagline, or perhaps Google has failed me, but I do see why it might not. How can you quirkily sum up in one line a film upon the shoulders of which self-righteousness rides shotgun? I mean, all I wanted when I popped The Princess And The Frog (PATF) into my cheap Chinese DVD player was 91 minutes of laughing, singing along to fun, not 91 minutes of rolling my eyes so far back into my head I could digest them any second.

But it's just a cartoon! You might think to yourself, or if you are anything like PATF, you will be very politically correct and call it an animation. Which got nominated for an Oscar. And has already won a bunch of awards. Why, the BBC and Time gushed about how a new day was dawning in Disney with its "first African-American princess" prior to PATF's release .

I too had gushed about PATF, but for very different reasons. This was old, old school animation; it was borne by the guys who had made The Little Mermaid, which has to be one of best Disney films ever. PATF was a fairytale with a twist, both which I admit I am a sucker for. The princess kisses the frog and turns into a frog herself! Can you think of a funner storyline? Plus there is the Disney proclivity for making things end happily - cue the little mermaid actually not heartbroken and dead at the end of the 1989 version.

But PATF took a different route than a lot of other Disney fairytale adaptations. It had a vintage feel to it, with the regular 2D rendering of characters and scenes sometimes interspersed with crowds shown as flat silhouettes; very Mickey Mouse of yore. The way the scenes and settings panned out were just a little more complex than in older Disney ventures. The heroine of this particular story had more planned out for herself than setting out to marry a handsome prince, or to reform a good guy gone bad, or simply waiting in her castle with her rotund king father, occasionally sneaking out for a ride on a magic carpet. Tiana, the 'princess' in PATF is an aspiring chef with her sights set on opening a restaurant of her own, with no time for princes or dancing or love.

However, why does anyone think that makes Tiana different from any other Disney heroine? Ariel, Belle and Jasmine were all headstrong girls who did exactly what they liked. They too had a strong BS radar, save for Ariel sometimes who can be forgiven because she was a kid. Tiana is as spunky as all these other girls and her story like theirs takes a turn when she falls in love with the spoilt, self-absorbed Prince Naveen.

The only difference here that has been banged upon since before the release of PATF is that Tiana is "African-American", or, she is not Caucasian. And I suppose that is what is bugging me the most, the fact that if ethnicity is not or should not be a dividing factor between people, why make a big deal about it at all? People are just people, when it is constantly pointed out that the USP of PATF is the heroine's skin tone, then doesn't it actually just highlight the differences the world is trying so hard to eradicate today?

In the same vein, by trying to give Tiana a unique personality which is ambitious yet compassionate, the directors have unconsciously channeled every single character Julia Stiles played in the chick flicks she was so popular for in the early '00s. In other words, maybe you should just watch The Prince And I - but that will probably embitter you for life instead of just a couple of hours.

PATF tries too hard but if you do crave the kind of innocence only Disney can conjure up, watch The Lion King instead.

– Amina Baig

*DON'T BOTHER
**LAST RESORT
***WORTH A WATCH
****COLLECTIBLE
*****AWARD WORTHY