Princess and the Frog Teaser Online

Thursday, July 31, 2008
By: Ryan Ball

Disney will see if traditional animation can draw a crowd when it releases The Princess and the Frog, a 2D family film from Walt Disney Feature Animation that could mark the triumphant return of hand-drawn musicals next year. The movie is slated to hit theaters during the 2009 holiday frame. A sneak peek at the classical goodness can now be seen on the web at www.disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog.

Set in New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog will introduce the newest Disney princess, a young African-American girl living in the French Quarter. The story also involves a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and lots of Cajun charm. Dreamgirls actress Anika Noni Rose voices the role of Princess Tiana, and the movie’s songs and score are written by Oscar-winning songwriter/composer and New Orleans native Randy Newman, who previously contributed to the Toy Story Films and fellow Pixar hits A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc. and Cars.

The story for Princess was conceived by John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules), who are directing the pic. Disney animation vet Peter Del Vecho (Chicken Little) is producing.

Reader Comments

• Joyce :

  Thursday, July 31, 2008

  Thank You Disney. Now our beautiful little African American girls can have a Disney Princess they can relate with. It has been way too long.

• kay : animator : indigoarts

  Thursday, July 31, 2008

  This is wonderful.About time

• Allison :

  Friday, August 01, 2008

  I\\\'m sad that Disney will never move away from the same, boring, formula that has brought them nothing but flops with their classical ventures in the last decade. The medium (be it classical or computer) shouldn\\\'t dictate the level of storytelling, so why can\\\'t Disney try to be a little more radical with a classical film? I\\\'m so sick of talking animal, comedic relief, sidekicks. Just write a good story already and rely less on what has already failed.

• Tanya :

  Friday, August 01, 2008

  Ok, so nothing against African American girls, but... This is ridiculous. The tail is unrealistic as in Europe, there were no African princesses. Why couldn\'t they make a take about some African queen or something? I read many beautiful African tales... Why not base their next cartoon on one of those tales? There is a tale of Pocahontas where the girl is native American, there is Mulan, a girl that is Chinese and the tale is taking place in China... I think that for a lot of people this would be more of a joke.

• TBone :

  Friday, August 01, 2008

  This just goes to show that no matter what you do you can\\\'t please everyone.

• Katie :

  Friday, August 01, 2008

  I\'m glad that Disney is going back to what made them so large in the first place. And for the record Tanya, this film takes place in New Orleans, not Europe. I think this film will be incredible.

• A. McFarlane : Artist/Illustrator : NINE Nappy Productions

  Saturday, August 02, 2008

  Yes, I do agree, it has taken the Disney Co. YEARS to finally give us an African American \'princess\'. Remember: Disney is known for changing stories to suit not only them, but their audience as well (Pocahontas is a BIG one). Going by the trailer, it looks to have the usual comedy, but at least she LOOKS African American - instead of like barbie dolls - just Caucasian painted brown. As an artist and aspiring animator myself, I do give praise for giving the direction to Mr. Clements, who is an old school animator - welcome back!

• Nyachu :

  Wednesday, August 06, 2008

  Way to go, Disney! I have been waiting so long for another traditionally animated film from them. I will be very excited to see this movie.