.jeri.

Look at me go - two posts in one day. I'm so proud of myself.

Cyndi and I went to see this one at the cheap theater a little while back. I was very interested in this movie when I first heard about it because I was so happy that Disney was going back to some traditional animation, but then I saw the trailers and really didn't care to see it. As it turned out, the movie got nominated for an Oscar and several critics liked it a lot, so I gave it a go. I think Disney and Pixar in general are bad with movie trailers, or perhaps it's just coincidence that their good movies all have uninteresting trailers. At any rate, while I wouldn't call The Princess and the Frog my favorite animated Disney feature by any stretch of the imagination, it actually was a good little flick.

I'm glad Disney's been going back to the well of fairytales for some of its movies. I always liked the story of the Frog Prince when I was young, and didn't mind Disney's spin on the story, in which the girl is the one who transforms - into a frog - rather than the prince (at least until the movie's end). Louisiana was the perfect setting for their rendition of the story and provided a great atmosphere and inspiration for the music and side characters.

This movie really does look quite nice. From swamps to parties, the colors and little details are great. I especially liked the daydreaming song in which Tiana envisions life in the restaurant she would one day like to own, which flattens the images and looks like old-fashioned Art-Deco posters.

Honestly, though, The Frog Princess does suffer from a lack of originality at times. The character of Dr. Facilier (the villain) might have been more frightening if I hadn't already seen all of his moves by the Oogie Boogie Man in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The villain's threatening monologue song wasn't very interesting to me because I felt like it bore too much resemblance to the other film.

A lot of people liked this movie a lot better than I did, but that's okay. I didn't expect to like it at all, so the fact that I generally liked it was a nice surprise. It still doesn't compare with the creativity or emotional pull that a Pixar movie has, but it's good enough to show us that Disney has the potential to return to good form.