I know I said my next post would be about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but Kim and I attended a midnight showing of Disney's new traditional animated film, The Princess and the Frog, last night, and I had to write about it.
The film was tremendous! The animation was beautiful, the songs were great, the acting was good! I'm going to keep this post spoiler free since the film is new, but the movie was very inspiring for me. The story was good, the humor was more contemporary, but still funny. It felt like a true return for Disney, a return to their roots. This film offers more to both sexes than most Princess films. For one, the Prince was actually an interesting character, and the Princess herself wasn't a complete girly-girl. All of the secondary characters were interesting, and brought something to the table.
The effects animation in the film was spectacular! The use of CG was minimal, only to help accentuate certain lighting effects and other minor things. The colors were vibrant, and the backgrounds gorgeous. Each character had their own unique quirk to the way they were animated, and it was very effective!
One of my favorite characters was Lois, the alligator. The animation on this character was quick, energetic, and exaggerated, and the voice they chose for this character really stood out. Every scene with this guy in it was a joy to look at. Really the whole film was, but Lois really appealed to me. Another great character was Charlotte, a friend of the main character, Tiana, the animation on Charlotte was extremely energetic and snappy, reminiscent of characters like Darla Dimple of Cats Don't Dance, and just about every character in the Emperor's New Groove.
But above all, I loved the villain, Dr. Facilier, the Shadow Man. The animation on this guy was a lot like Lois, exaggerated and energetic, but while Lois was snappy in his movements, the Dr. was smooth and loose. His facial expressions were neatly done, and his lip-sync was interesting to watch. Keith David lent his voice to Dr. Facilier, you may recognize the voice as the arbiter from the Halo series. and this was clearly a good choice. His voice has power and intimidation working in it's favor, and I had no idea he could use it for anything even remotely referred to as singing. But he did, and it was great. The character reminded me of Oogie Boogie, from the Nightmare Before Christmas, from the purples and greens used for him, to the voice, even down to his musical number.
As a whole the film was just amazing, it felt great to see Disney return to traditional animation. I hope this movie does well, so the studio will be encouraged to continue doing so.
I highly recommend this film to anyone, and if you have an appreciation for traditional animation I DEMAND you go see this film. I'm already wanting to go for a second viewing!
Next will be Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
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