The Princess and the Frog
In The Princess and the Frog, Disney introduces its first African-American princess and abandons computer-generated animation in favor of the hand-drawn, 2-D techniques that defined its golden age.
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
(G)
***
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Disney debuts its first African-American princess.
The Princess and the Frog is “Disney at its old-school best,” said Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. For its latest family feature, Disney has gone back to the drawing board, rejecting computer-generated animation and instead using the same hand-drawn, 2-D techniques that defined its golden age. Yet this “old-fashioned charmer,” set in 1930s New Orleans, also provides a surprisingly “fresh twist on a classic fairy tale.” Not only does Disney introduce its first African-American “princess,” but its filmmakers portray her as a modern woman who learns that a happily-ever-after ending comes not from princes and fairy godmothers but from ambition and hard work. Still, Disney’s version of diversity can seem awfully bland and homogenous, said Justin Chang in Variety. In true Disney fashion, the film “grafts easy stereotypes and funny accents onto warm, likable” characters, such as a jazz-loving gator, and uses cultural clichés like voodoo to indicate its bayou setting. The Mouse House may still be learning how to adapt to changing times, said Lou Lumenick in the New York Post. But “there’s more than enough magic” in this classic tale to enchant audiences both young and old.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why are Americans using ‘buy now, pay later’ apps to buy groceries?
Today's Big Question A 'layaway program, but reversed'
-
Trump moves to gut PBS and NPR in latest salvo against the media
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The president's executive order targeting two of the nation's largest public broadcasters comes as the White House seeks to radically reframe how Americans get their news
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beat
speed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study