The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 American animated family film loosely based on E. D. Baker's novel The Frog Princess, which was in turn inspired by the Grimm brothers' fairy tale "The Frog Prince".[3] It is the 49th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics line, and the first of these films to be traditionally (2D) animated since 2004's Home on the Range. The film was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, with songs and score composed by Randy Newman and featuring the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey,[4] Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard. Princess Tiana is also notable as Disney's first African-American princess.[5]

The film, which began production under the working title The Frog Princess, is an American fairy tale, Broadway-style musical set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. A prince named Naveen (Bruno Campos) from the land of Maldonia is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier (Keith David).[6] The frog prince mistakes a girl named Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell. The kiss does not break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodooqueen of the deepest, darkest part of the Bayou, Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis), while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley) and a hopelessly romantic Cajun firefly named Ray (Jim Cummings) along the way. The film opened in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on November 25, 2009, and released in wide on December 11, 2009.[7]

In 1912 New Orleans, a woman named Eudora (voiced by Oprah Winfrey) is reading a story to her daughter Tiana (voiced by Elizabeth M. Dampier) and her daughter's friend Charlotte La Bouff (voiced by Breanna Brooks) about the Frog Prince. Charlotte finds the story romantic, while Tiana proclaims she would never kiss a frog.

Years pass by, and Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) becomes a beautiful young woman who works two jobs so she can save money to start her own restaurant, fulfilling her late father's dream.

Elsewhere, Prince Naveen (voiced by Bruno Campos) arrives in New Orleans from his home country, Maldonia. Naveen's parents have disinherited him due to his extravagant lifestyle, so he must either get a job or marry someone independently wealthy, such as Charlotte (voiced by Jennifer Cody). Charlotte's father Eli 'Big Daddy' La Bouff (voiced by John Goodman) is hosting a masquerade ball in Naveen's honor. Charlotte hires Tiana to make beignets for the ball, giving her just the right amount of cash needed to finally buy an old sugar mill that she wants to convert into her restaurant.

Meanwhile, Naveen and his valet Lawrence (voiced by Peter Bartlett) run into the shady Dr. Facilier (voiced by Keith David), a voodoo doctor. Inviting them into his emporium, Facilier convinces them he can make their dreams come true. However, neither man gets what he's expecting; Naveen becomes a frog, while Lawrence is given a voodoo charm that makes him look like Naveen. Facilier intends for Lawrence to marry Charlotte, after which he will kill Eli 'Big Daddy' La Bouff and claim his fortune.

At the ball, Charlotte flirts with “Naveen” as Tiana learns she may lose the mill to a higher bidder. Adding insult to injury, her costume is accidentally ruined. Charlotte, feeling sorry for her, gives Tiana a princess costume and a tiara so she can rejoin the ball. After Charlotte returns to the party, Tiana makes a wish on the Evening Star, only to find a frog sitting next to her. The frog is Naveen, who asks Tiana (believing that she is a real princess) to kiss him and break Facilier's curse. Tiana agrees, in exchange for the money needed to outbid the other buyer. However, instead of Naveen turning into a human, Tiana is turned into a frog herself.

The pair narrowly escape to a bayou, where they encounter Louis (voiced by Michael Leon-Wooley), a trumpet-playing alligator who longs to be human, and Ray (voiced by Jim Cummings), a Cajun firefly who longs for a sparkling light he calls Evangeline. They offer to lead them to the good voodoo priestess Mama Odie (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), who can undo the curse. Along the way, Tiana and Naveen begin to develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Facilier makes a deal with the voodoo spirits, offering them the souls of the people of New Orleans in exchange for finding Naveen.

Mama Odie tells the frogs that Naveen must kiss a princess before midnight in order for them to become human. Tiana and her friends return to New Orleans to find Charlotte, the princess of the Mardi Gras Parade. Naveen tells Ray he loves Tiana and is willing to give up his dreams for her, but before he can tell her directly, he is taken by the demons and brought back to Facilier.

After Ray tells Tiana that Naveen truly loves her, Tiana goes to the Mardi Gras parade only to find “Naveen” (which is really Lawrence) marrying Charlotte. Tiana escapes to a graveyard to be alone, while Ray and Louis are able to rescue the real Naveen and steal the charm. Ray finds Tiana and gives her the charm and attempts to hold off the demons so she can escape, but Dr. Facilier mortally wounds him. Facilier confronts Tiana and offers to make her restaurant dream come true in exchange for the charm. Realizing she would rather be with Naveen, Tiana refuses and uses her tongue to snatch the charm from Facilier and destroy it. The angered spirits claim Facilier himself as payment for his debts and drag him into their world forever. All that was left was a tombstone with Facilier's frightened face on it.

Naveen is explaining the situation to a bewildered Charlotte when Tiana finds them both. Tiana reveals that she loves Naveen and would spend the rest of her days as a frog to be with him. Moved by this, Charlotte says she will kiss Naveen anyway so he and Tiana can be together. But the clock strikes midnight before she can kiss him. Louis then meets up with the frogs, holding a dying Ray in his hands. Despite what happened, Ray shows happiness for the two before he dies. A funeral is held for Ray, after which another star shines brightly next to "Evangeline.”

Contented to live together as frogs, Tiana and Naveen are wed by Mama Odie. As they kiss, they are turned into humans, because through their marriage, Tiana is now a princess. The two return to New Orleans where everyone celebrates the wedding and Tiana and Naveen finally buy the restaurant. “Tiana's Palace” holds a gala opening, underneath the two shining Evening Stars.
Cast

* Anika Noni Rose as Tiana "Tia", a waitress and aspiring chef who dreams of owning her own restaurant one day. She believes in working hard, not waiting on a prince to come. Throughout the course of the movie she learns that what she wants is not what she needs and what she needs is her friends and Naveen. In the end, she and Naveen get married and open her restaurant.[8] She is the heroine of the film and is notable as Disney's first African-American princess.[5] Originally, Tiana was supposed to be called "Maddy."
* Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen, the 20-year-old handsome, smooth-talking, and fun-loving prince of Maldonia who comes to the French Quarter for the jazz scene and with whom Tiana and Charlotte both fall in love. Due to being new in the city, he is persuaded by the shady Dr. Facilier into taking a tour of his emporium, which results in a curse transforming him into a frog. Naveen learns throughout the course of the movie that money is not everything but friends and love are. In the end, he marries Tiana and helps her achieve her dream of getting her restaurant. It is not clear at the end whether or not his parents have restored his fortune, but it is presumably so.
* Jennifer Cody as Charlotte "Lottie" La Bouff, a southern débutante. She is spoiled but very kind and is Tiana's best friend. She desperately wants to marry a prince and be a princess. Charlotte is a little bit slow on discovering exactly what has been going on throughout the movie but still is one-hundred percent supportive of Naveen and Tiana's relationship.[citation needed]
o Breanna Brooks voices Charlotte as a child.
* Keith David as Doctor Facilier, aka "The Shadow Man", the main antagonist of the film. He is both a palm reader and a voodoo practitioner who tricks Naveen (by using deliberately misleading slang) into making a deal with him that turns the prince into a frog. As Facilier explains in the movie, his powers are limited in that he cannot conjure things for himself. He is also dependent on his 'friends from the other side' who take the form of the voodoo masks in his emporium and with whom he has to bargain for favors. He is somewhat afraid of these friends due to his debt with them. He attempted to pay it off by offering his 'friends' all the wayward souls of New Orleans after he would become the richest man in town. His shadow is able to move of its own free will and move objects like the voodoo spirits, suggesting it may be a familiar spirit given by his "friends". Supervising Animator Bruce W. Smith cited Facilier as the lovechild of his favorite Disney Villains Captain Hook from Peter Pan and Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians. With his top hat, cane, suit and (temporarily worn) skull make-up, Facilier bears a resemblance to depictions of Baron Samedi, a Haitian voodoo spirit.
* Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie, a blind voodoo priestess who serves as the film's Fairy Godmother. She lives in an old boat nestled atop a giant mangrove tree in the bayou and owns a pet snake named JuJu. She cooks gumbo in a huge bathtub in her home and is able to see the past, present and future in its swirls. Her voodoo theme is sunshine.
* Jim Cummings as Ray, a lovesick Cajun firefly who knows Mama Odie and offers to help the frogs get to her. He is in love with the Evening Star, which he named "Evangeline" and thinks is another firefly. He has a Cajun accent. Sort of a running joke often shows him as Louis' superior.
* Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis, a jazz-singing alligator who is comical, manic, high-strung and plays the trumpet. His dream is to become human so he can join a jazz band. This character is very loosely based on jazz musician Louis Armstrong. The trumpet featured on the motion picture soundtrack is played by Terence Blanchard.
* Emeril Lagasse as Marlon, an alligator
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Ian, an alligator
* Peter Bartlett as Lawrence, Prince Naveen's pompous and jaded valet who has been pushed around all his life and is clearly annoyed with the carefree prince's antics. Deep down, he is jealous of Naveen's fame and life. When the two meet Dr. Facilier, the fiendish voodoo magician convinces him to become his ally after he predicts through tarot cards that in his future he would be "the man he always wanted to be".
* John Goodman as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff, a wealthy and friendly Southern sugar mill owner and father of Charlotte La Bouff.
* Oprah Winfrey as Eudora, Tiana's mother.[4]
* Terrence Howard as James, Tiana's late father, who instills work ethics on Tiana. A brief glimpse at a picture on adult Tiana's nightstand shows him in a military uniform. An attached medal suggests that he may have died during World War I.
* Don Hall as Darnell, a frog hunter.[9]
* Jerry Kernion as Mr. Henry Fenner
* Corey Burton as Mr. Harvey Fenner