The Princess and The Frog Film Response

This is definitely one of the movies that has lowered in esteem for me upon second viewing. The music was better than I remember it being, in fact I loved it, and I thought a couple of the characters (specifically the alligator and the little firefly) were HILARIOUS. However, the movie’s biggest crime was the extreme underdevelopment of the characters. This underdevelopment was present specifically with three characters, Tiana, Naveen, and Dr. Facilier.

It is no shock that in a 90 minute movie, a few characters are going to be pretty flat. Characters like Charlotte La Bouff I would never expect to undergo any major developments. That’s why when she is just her hilarious, spoiled self the entire movie I love her. But those three characters mentioned above were the main characters and I would typically expect to become more invested in them than I did. I left the movie with the same defining characteristic of each character as I left.

Tiana was an extremely flat, albeit likeable, character. In fact, she was a fantastic princess. She is one of the only major characters Disney has given us who “had her priorities in check.” She is extremely independent and hard working, and in constant pursuit of her goals. However, the audience was really left with only one impression of Tiana – she is hardworking. That was consistently presented as her predominant personality trait, with another one not really overtaking it throughout the film, so that is why another extremely flat character, Naveen, presented the biggest issue for me.

I really disliked him. He was beautiful, had a harming accent, and had some funny moments, but the filmmakers gave me no justification as to why Tiana all of a sudden fell in love with him. He starts the movie as a philanderer and spoiled prince and pretty much constantly drops lines that reminds the audience of this status until all of a sudden he wants to propose to Tiana?! We saw no reason for why their personalities would ever click other than that they were in close quarters for an extended period of time. Which, though probably works in real life, doesn’t seem like a good enough justification for a movie romance. Because Tiana is presented as SUCH a good catch, it doesn’t really line up that she would go for a guy like Naveen.  

The third flat character was Dr. Facilier. He was super entertaining. However, I felt that, compared to other villains in the Disney sphere, he just didn’t seem that evil. Sure, he has “friends on the other side,” but his death at the end seemed to be pretty harsh considering all he really seemed to do was turn Naveen into a frog. And, because Naveen was, frankly, so dislikeable, his transformation didn’t hurt me as much as Tiana’s (which wasn’t even Dr. Facilier’s fault!). We never really got an explanation as to why Dr. Facilier wanted money, and I just felt that he was an extremely underdeveloped villain as he didn’t come across as that villainous at all.

Overall, The Princess and the Frog has some hilarious moments and excellent music. The princess is probably also one of the most relatable, beautiful, and likeable characters because the only quality she is defined with is her diligence. But her flatness seems to be a complete mismatch with the flatness given to us in the prince’s character. And the villain was just not evil enough for me to feel justified by his death or to be super invested in Naveen and Tiana’s escape.