#17: The Princess and the Frog

I realize this is American animation, not Japanese anime, and that its geared toward children and family viewers instead of more mature audiences like most stuff I watch. But I LOVED this movie. So it counts.

It was beautifully animated and brilliantly written. In fact it was one of the best films to come out of Disney in a long time.

And it was old skool hand drawn style. I miss hand drawn animation.

And I've missed watching and falling madly in love with Disney movies. I was raised on them. I saw them in the theaters, owned all the toys from them, reenacted scenes from them in my living room, knew all the songs from them, read all the storybook tie-ins of them.

I believed in them. Even though they gave an unrealistic view of women and men and princesses and princes and the roles that each play in the world. Even though they were mostly fantasy fairy tales that all ended in happily ever afters, and seemed to say that girls would only live that happily ever after if they found their Prince Charmings and married them, I still believed in them.

They were bright and shiny and happy and musical and fantastical and wonderful and I loved them.

But I grew up and became more cynical and analytical and stopped believing so much in fairy tales. I didn't lose my love for Disney altogether. But my views on them changed. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Snow White were out because the main female leads were weak and dependent. Mulan and Beauty and the Beast were in because their heroines were strong and intelligent and did what they needed to do.

Like the heroine of The Princess and the Frog.

She is strong minded. She is hard working. She isn't wishing on stars, she is holding two jobs to earn the money to make her dreams come true. She is realistic and still sweet and beautiful and drawn in Disney princess style.

I liked her alot. Almost as much as Mulan (though the Chinese soldier girl is still my ultimate Disney heroine). I liked her world and her music and her goofy, useless Prince Charming, and her Cajun firefly friend and her Jazz playing alligator friend and everything.

I laughed. I cried. I laughed some more. I cried again. I gushed about it online. Other people gushed back online. It was lovely.

The whole experience watching it was lovely.