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The first footage from Disney’s The Princess And The Frog has hit the internet. Am I crazy, or does this look like the worst direct-to-VHS faux-PC kidsploitation piece of shit classic-Disney attempt to separate parents from their money in the name of cynical “multiculturalism” and little girls’ often-forced fascination with princesses EVER, and that is really saying something? Basically, this is going to make a ton of money next holiday season. It looks HORRIBLE.
Even if you give a shit that it’s hand-drawn, and who seriously gives a shit that it’s hand drawn, it looks like one of those milking-it “sequels” to Aladdin that even Robin Williams wouldn’t lend his voice to. And the characters: a predatory French frog, a “jazz-playing alligator,” “the French Quarter,” a “Cajun firefly,” all sound like an ingenious parody of how Disney could best fail at their first attempt at adding an African-American princess to their $$$$$$ “Disney Princesses” franchise. But no, it’s REAL. And it’s not even funny! Not one second of that first look was remotely amusing, and the frog’s line about the princess begging for another kiss (slurp) was disgusting in a kid’s movie. If I were a parent, I would honestly boycott the shit out of this, because even if it’s not racist (or at least exaggerating of stereotypes), it’s extremely condescending. This looks like the worst pop culture thing to come out of Hurricane Katrina. (Via /Film. Only they’re salivating over it.)
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You think Disney might have done this on purpose? You’re probably right that it’ll make money, but I’ll bet a lot of people will criticizie it. Then Disney can say “OK…we made a movie with an African-American princess, and everybody hated it.”
I actually really miss 2D animation. Hope this doesn’t kill it off for good.
I like that the “Cajun firefly” has jacked up teeth. That’s funny and appropriate because all real Cajun people have jacked up teeth too!
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I used to feel sad that hand-drawn animation had been pushed to the side in lieu of computer animation. But considering their respective contributions this year are Up (looks fantastic) and this (whoops), I’m kind of wondering if it wasn’t an animal in need of putting down.
Don’t blame the medium for the crap that gets wrung through it. I mean… hand-drawn 2D animation gave us Spirited Away. It also gave us this. 2D animation doesn’t melt people’s brains. People melt people’s brains.
Damnit, Disney. This is why John Kennedy Toole killed himself.
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But, of course, CoD’s stereotypes aren’t racist.
I said it.
i touht dat cod was call of doty becauz dats wat i play all da time
Ouch. This looks like “To Catch a Predator: Frog Edition”.
Also, someone tell that tired old queen Steve Whathisface from E! to hang it up already.
NO. as a new orleanian, this is NOT the worst pop culture thing to come out about hurricane katrina. it’s just NOT. go check out the trailer for streets of blood or whatever the fuck that val kilmer/50 cent crap movie is and remember the fact that k*ville existed. sorry. this just isn’t exploitative to that level. hell, i’m even sort of looking forward to it, just because, since it’s set a hundred years before the flood even happened, there won’t be a single goddamned reference to hurricane katrina in the damn film. the WORST is going to be listening to people talk about how it’s only set in new orleans because of hurricane katrina, how “exploitative” is that, blahblahblah, just like you did, because SHUT UP. not your place to call out who’s exploiting whom in this mess.
Good points. I’d say the next fallacious “Disney made this movie because of this” press to come out will be “Look, America’s first black president, SO first Disney black princess!” with an underlying tone of “Yes, black people, you’re welcome! I’d say we’re even now!”
Fuckeveryonecan’twejusthavegoodkidsmovies
I like hand-drawn animation, but yeah, this looks pretty awful.
I really don’t understand your hate on this one, Lindsay. I can remember seeing previews of “Finding Nemo” and thinking it would suck balls, but then it turned out awesome. And even if this one is crap, the vast majority of children’s media today is unbelievably condescending anyway. There are probably better targets for your vitriol.
Nah. I think a movie that is shitty in its rendering, plot, and for its perpetration of -isms is well deserving of hostility.
Well, it looks a lot better than Chicken Little. That piece of crap was the nadir of Disney animation, so this looks like a win in comparison.
those first 10 minutes or so of Enchanted were AWESOME because they were hand drawn and I, for one, welcome our Disney multicultural princesses.
hmmmmph.
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“We’ve already had our Disney multicultural princesses”? Like oh, cool, we’re done now, no need for anymore, anybody! Put your brown crayons away!!
You can randomly select footage from any Disney movie and it would look shitty as hell. I’ll wait for an actual trailer to reserve judgement.
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Is this the only thing you’ve ever seen from Disney?
Haha, actually yes. Are they all that racist?
I see your Cajun Firefly and raise you a Songs of the South.
I win.
This movie better have shades of True Blood or I am gonna be pissed.
maybe disney could stop drawing princesses to look like bratz dolls, but i think pocahontas sealed our fate on that one– i liked the story of little mermaid because it ditched the original sexist/altruistic story; i do not yet know the overall plot for this one, but i say it has possibilities– like back when disney chicken little was originally screenwritten as a girl chicken…
Are you kidding? Lose your voice so you can get legs to spread for a man? Definitely not sexist. Betty Friedan was mad she didn’t think of it first.
I think inko8 may be referring to the fairy tale’s ending in which the mermaid commits suicide for the greater good of her man, but yeah, what you’ve mentioned is rough stuff too.
Yes, only to find out that said voice was the only thing the man was interested in.
TD got it right. i was, in fact, rejoicing that the cartoon rejected the HCA ending. the disney version had flaws, but ariel was a smart, independent character who had a first love and maintained healthy relationships with her friends and family ultimately due to the altruism of a father for his child. so much better than the give-up-your-life-for-a-jerk-who-barely-knows-you’re-alive HCA ending, you see? but since you took it there, is it really about “spreading for a man,” or is it about departing from childhood, or converting/losing one’s religion? or coming out? i could do this all day…
Relax, “technojeremy,” I was just being facetious. What is with all these seriousgummers lately! But in any case I do think there are some elements of LM that can be construed as vaguely sexist, even if they were unintentional.
(the old “relax, technojeremy”)– i do miss the old days, when i was psychic, and could tell when people are being sarcastic on the internet…/sarcasm
Ha! Says the girl who posts essays in Gabe prose to refute/lecture commentors. Though it is entertaining to see how often you write to Gabe “directly” … very entertaining
I’m going to reserve any judgement until I see the full trailer – besides John Lasseter is on board for this one and he has a pretty incredible track record.
I’ll reserve judgement.
People who think they have everything figured out based on a glimpse are sometimes outpaced by reality.
this movie’s got nothing on Song of the South. or those birds from Dumbo.
those birds ruled.
Just because cartoon characters have accents doesn’t mean they’re racist. This isn’t Song of the South, people. Kids react to funny voices.
also, i would like to point out that cajuns are white. so anyone who is listening to that firefly and thinking that it’s on-par with the crows from dumbo, or that it’s mocking african americans, no. they’re mocking white swamp-folk.
I have a soft spot in my heart for anything Disney, so… I am going to wait and see how this turns out.
We’re all going to wait and see, but this is how Disney chose to introduce it for the first time…and it just looks really cheap and slapdash, like it didn’t have to be as good.
The biggest problem I have with this is the same one I have with almost every movie set in New Orleans, which is that it thinks Cajuns live there. They don’t.
ORLY? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun
Cajuns are traditionally more rural, while New Orleans was founded by rich people from Spain, France and England. The only person I met who spoke Cajun wasn’t from New Orleans; his family lived in the country.
while it’s true that cajuns mostly live west of the city, you can’t say that there aren’t any cajuns in new orleans. there are plenty of them. my boyf is cajun and he’s born and raised new orleans, though his whole family is originally from new iberia. it’s modern america; people are leaving the countryside in droves anymore. really, traditional cajun lifestyles are dying out. it’s sad.
agreed.
That’s John Lasseter, the genius behind Pixar, which has really good track record, so I wouldn’t be so quick to judge.
BTDubs: This IS peddling to racial tendencies. It was cool that they’re going back to hand-drawn; it’s cool there’s a first black princess (kind of depressing there was a black Prez before a black main Disney character) but the fact that they had to change the plot of the movie because people were crying “Racist!” at the fact that Tiana’s original name was Maddy and that she was a housekeeper shows what’s wrong with things.
Am I hoping this turns out OK? Yes, I really like Lassater’s approach. Am I fearing the worst? Of course.
(Still- Maddy is a perfectly acceptable name! It has no relation to “Mammy”! I’m not going to get into how Tiana is actually more racist…)
Technically wasn’t the first time Disney presented this was with a teaser of the film? It was the princess out on the balcony with the frog egging her for a kiss…either way wait it out man.
“Witch doctor?” Jesus White Power Christ. I don’t even know where to begin. Other than to say that it’s not a movie about New Orleans until Robert DeNiro eats Mickey Rourke’s soul like a hard-boiled egg. Allons!
I think you are all missing something very important in this trailer, and it is that THERE IS A PRINCESS OF NEW ORLEANS. Did I sleep through the part of History class about the Cajun Monarchy that ruled New Orleans? And there’s apparently a place in close proximity that the frog prince was prince of? What the fuck are they even talking about?
No. As they say in the clip, the frog *thinks* Tiana is a princess, probably because he first glimpses her in a ballgown and tiara or something like that.
The footage isn’t great, but it’s not bad enough to say “this looks terrible.” And are you REALLY hating on people who miss hand-drawn animation? That’s just sad. Hand drawn is the shit, and at the LEAST has a place in today’s cinema. There’s no reason it can’t coexist with CG.
Anyhoo, yes. John Lasseter’s behind this, which means it’ll at least be “pretty good.” IMDB the dude if you don’t know his name. Lasseter’s almost singularly responsible for Pixar being what it is.
OK, I don’t get your pre-hate on this one, Lindsay.
- I think the film looks decent – it’s a kids’ movie, after all!
- Teasers are rarely representative of the quality of the entire film.
- I love hand-drawn 2D! And I love that this film looks so old-school Disney! It’s not that it “didn’t have to be as good” – it’s just a more classic animation style, a la Aristocats.
- This movie has the potential to have some really great music.
- I can definitely see where people are coming from about always having the Cajun firefly with the jacked up teeth, though – I mean, honestly now, that’s just lazy characterization.
I don’t really get why they felt the need to change her name from Maddy, and I found people’s outrage, calling it a “slave name” and whatnot FAR more offensive than the name. I do find it ….interesting…. that they decided to apparently go to the opposite extreme with Tiana, a very modern name, in terms of African American popularity. Why not something time period appropriate/historic (this is the Harlem Renaissance era, right?) like Zora.
Last but not least, I thought the bit with the frog at the end “*bloat*…that’s new.” was pretty funny. So yeah, what might really be unfair about this movie is people not being fair to it. Give it a chance!
Cultural stereotypes aside, this will be a landmark film for Disney. It is not only a real to traditional 2D animation but it will also feature their first-ever African American heroine. Some of the characterizations may be heavy-handed and stereotyped, but it is a cartoon. We’re not looking for adult-caliber character depth here. Kids will have a great time with it for certain.
You know what Lindsay, this entire post was a flat out failure.
Make this the Friday Fight, please.
Or you can make it up.
Everyone make up a racist disney movie plot.
Banter!
I think we could all take a page from “technojeremy’s” book and consider RELAXING a little bit. Lindsay hasn’t come to my work to slap the dick out of my mouth in like forevs, and disagreeing is cool, but no need to get all technojerr about it.
Gretchen, stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen.
Seeing Steve Kmetko now makes me sad… It’s time to step away from the camera, baby.
“Who cares if it’s racist? It’s for kids!”
Gross.
Disney is going to turn the French Quarter into the next Times Square
the french quarter already sucks ass.
I guess if you don’t like the mix of antique stores and strip clubs…
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Please stop breeding.
Motion to change the name of the WMOAT section to this: “This Shit Ain’t Trying To Be No Citizen Kane, Y’all” (TSATTBNCKY for short).
OH LORDY. this little piece of the film looks lame, and it probably will be solely because it’s DISNEY and they are just very sad at this point. as for racism, well duh. it’s a disney film, y’all! woody allen and disney could have their retirement parties together, which would save money in our troubled economy.
i love the lemming posters on this site. i think this was written/directed by the aladdin, hercules, little mermaid writer/directors. that enough gives it some cred and a chance to be great.
I think the author of this article and many of those who commented are people who have an immediate pessimistic view on life.
Now that the official trailer has come out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6DmEgtibOg&feature=player_embedded) and even viewing these short clips,you have to admit that this new film looks like the beautiful superb films from the DIsney past. The animation is beautiful and outstanding, the comedy is hilarious, the characters seem superb, the story seems captivating, recent reviews are great, the villain looks and seems evil (It’s a miracle!), the art is beautiful and although no music is displayed, the scenes that seem to have a musical relation are great!
I don’t know about you, but the PRINCESS AND THE FROG seems to be the best possible way to end 2009 at the cinemas and start a whole new world of Disney Animated Features!
THANK YOU MR. JOHN LASSETER : )
It’s lovely how Disney made their first black princess so light-skinned. I guess they didn’t want to scare away the bigots; maybe they’ll think she’s just really tan?
I was more interested in Up, which was playing for 5 seconds in the beginning than the rest of the video.