Skip to content

the princess and the frog

The Princess And The Frog DVD Review

When we heard that Walt Disney Animation Studios had decided that hand-drawn animation should not have died with the poorly received “Home On The Range” and that they were reviving the the Princess genre as well, with the first African American Princess to boot, too say that expectation were high is an understatement. The Princess and The Frog may have failed to meet those expectations, but it’s a solid effort on the road back for the mouse.

Disney called back a lot of the animators they had let go, rebuilt a whole new slew of animators desks, this time with a special new computer program that makes hand-drawn animation more efficient, and placed John Lasseter on notice – something magical had better happen.

Well there was magic, but not at the box office. I think a combination of a bad release date (it should have been a holiday offering) and poor marketing choices by Disney, led to some of the poor results. But it still brought in over $240 million at the world wide box office before it was pulled to make way for the DVD.

We all wanted the The Princess and the Frog to be a great film. Instead we got a movie that was slow in places, and with a story that lacked focus. But the animation was great, the music quality, and the characters are memorable enough to be featured in the parks for years to come.

Upon watching the film again I think it’s a big step over the films we had been seeing from Walt Disney Animation (although “Meet the Robinsons” is an underlooked gem if you ask me). I definitely see the foundation for more great films to come from Disney. They’re not back to “Beauty and the Beast” quality yet, but they’ll get there.

Bonus Features

The single disc DVD comes with these exciting bonus features:
• Deleted Scenes
• Audio Commentary by John Musker and Ron Clements (co-writers and directors) and Peter Del Vecho (producer)
• “Never Knew I Needed”- Music video by Ne-Yo

Games and Activities

• What Do You See: Princess Portraits — A bayou-style quiz tests viewers’ knowledge of all of Disney’s beautiful princesses. Ray’s firefly family creates twinkling portraits of each princess and if
the player correctly identifies her, they can enjoy a tongue-cheek mini re-telling of that character’s story.

The Blu-ray Combo Pack edition comes with additional bonus features, including:

Backstage Disney
• Magic In The Bayou: The Making of A Princess — Co-writers and directors John Musker and Ron Clements take a freewheeling, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Disney’s newest animated film as it grows from an initial concept to a lavish animated film set in the enchanting world of New Orleans and the surrounding bayous.
• The Return To Hand Drawn Animation
• The Disney Legacy
• Disney’s Newest Princess
• The Princess and the Animator
• Conjuring The Villain
• A Return To The Animated Musical
• Bringing Life to Animation with an introduction by John Musker and Ron Clements.
• Deleted Scenes introduced by the filmmakers
• Art Galleries — A collection of storyboard art traces the visual development of The Princess and the Frog’s rich gallery of
characters and settings.

The Princess and the Frog on Blu-ray Blu-ray Combo Pack is priced at $44.99 SRP (US) and $51.99SRP (Canada), and the Single Disc DVD is priced at $29.99 SRP (US) and $35.99 SRP (Canada).

The DVD hits the shelves on March 16th, but you can pre-order it today.

A couple video previews of the special features on the DVD below the cut. Also some fun facts from the movie

Read More »The Princess And The Frog DVD Review

An “UP” Night at the Oscars

Congrats to the well deserving crew up in Emeryville that worked on Pixar’s “UP”. It brought home two Academy Awards last night. One for best animated picture and one for best original score. I thought it was a nice touch that the people from Pixar… Read More »An “UP” Night at the Oscars

The Princess and the Frog gets DVD Release Date

Mark your calendars for March 16 as Disney’s newest princess makes her DVD debut and joins the other classic Disney princesses on a shelf near you. The Princess and the Frog not only marked Disney’s return to hand drawn animation, it marked the return of the musical adventure. If you saw it in theaters, then you’re probably still humming along with the great songs. If not, you will be shortly.

As Disney has been wont to do recently, you can own The Princess and The Frog in either a Blu-ray / DVD combo pack with a digital copy or as a single-disc DVD. Both are available for pre-order now.

The full press release and DVD details are below the jump:

Read More »The Princess and the Frog gets DVD Release Date

Interview with Andreas Deja

With The Princess and the Frog opening in more countries overseas, such as the UK, it’s time for a second wave of publicity for the movie. For instance, here’s a fun little interview with Disney Animator Andreas Deja, who was the lead animator on Mama… Read More »Interview with Andreas Deja

Disney recalls The Princess and The Frog Jewelry

Federal consumer safety regulators have announced a recall of 55,000 “The Princess and The Frog” children’s pendants sold at Walmart stores. Two models are being recalled due to high levels of the toxic metal cadmium. In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, importer… Read More »Disney recalls The Princess and The Frog Jewelry

The Princess and The Frog passes $100 million

Okay, technically it’s still only at $99,248,026.00, but it’s going to get there real soon, especially if you go out and see it this week. Yes, you there who still haven’t seen the latest from Walt Disney Feature Animation. What are you waiting for? Actually,… Read More »The Princess and The Frog passes $100 million

Frog Princess slips off the Royal Lillypad

I think Disney knew they faced a formidable foe this weekend with James Cameron’s Avatar. But I don’t think they realized how deep into the Disney demographic it would reach. Although Avatar was PG-13 I saw families bringing much younger children in to see the… Read More »Frog Princess slips off the Royal Lillypad