I’m a slight Fairy Tale Friday failure this week. I haven’t watched any fairy tale flicks lately, so I’m going back to one we saw in December last year in the theater, but it is out on DVD now and it’s one I would definitely recommend.
It’s a twist on the traditional Grimm tale, “The Frog Prince.” Hardworking New Orleans waitress Tiana hopes to one day fulfill the dream of her father and own her own restaurant. But the plan isn’t going so well until she meets Prince Naveen—who doesn’t exactly sweep her off her feet in the traditional sense. He’s been turned into a frog thanks to a curse from the nefarious voodoo doctor. When frog Naveen sees Tania dressed in a ball gown he thinks she’s a princess, and her kiss might break his curse. Instead the kiss turns Tiana into a frog as well, and the bickering pair seek out the bayou’s good witch Mama Odie to see if she can make them human again.
I loved the jazz era New Orleans portrayal, complete with riverboats, gumbo and lots of wonderful music. There’s even a romp through the bayou. I think that’s really the reason I still remember the movie, the setting made it stand out. And of course there’s a happy ending: true love and a restaurant.
My daughter, Amber, who’s 10 is definitely not a fan of the traditional princess stories, but even she liked this one. Tiana is spunky and self-reliant and the voodoo scenes are just scary enough to capture a kids attention. I guess Tiana is Disney’s first African American princess, and she does end up a true princess after all, she marries the prince of Maldonia.
Tif, from Tif Talks Books, is the hostess of this great feature, Fairy Tale Fridays. Head over there to see what movie she watched and to share your own thoughts. Next week’s story is “The Three Army Surgeons.”
We watched the movie at the theater and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon associate.
I did like this one, it was sweet and different
I want to see this one, it sounds good. Great review 🙂
I haven’t watched this… Must. Rectify. Soon.
I actually liked this one because it was different from your typical princess tale! And, I was in New Orleans for the first time last fall, so it was super neat to be able to understand a bit of the culture that was portrayed in this movie that I don’t think I would have been able to understand otherwise!