For those who miss Traditional Animation

[Thursday Next]

Los Angeles (E! Online) - As it steps into the future, Disney is borrowing a page from its past.
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The house that the mouse built will be returning to its hand-drawn roots with The Frog Princess, slated to hit theaters in 2009, Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday.

Set in New Orleans' French Quarter, the feature-length musical will follow in the tradition of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio in that its creators will rely solely on drawings rather than on the computer-generated imagery that has become the industry standard.

Taking a cue from its more modern predecessors, however, The Frog Princess will feature songs by 17-time Oscar nominee
Randy Newman, who most recently was up for Best Original Song for "Our Town," from the CGI-fueled hit Cars. The singer-songwriter won the Oscar in 2002 for "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters Inc.

"We're really proud and excited about this," John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Disney and Pixar, said at the company's annual shareholders meeting. Disney snatched up Pixar Animation Studios in January 2006 for $7.4 billion in an all-stock transaction, although the Bay Area-based Pixar still operates as a separate unit.

"Like many of Disney's most popular fairytales, it has elements of magic, fantasy, adventure, heart, humor and music," Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said. "The film's New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture."

The story, which will feature the usual whimsical Disney touches, such as a "soulful singing alligator" and voodoo magic, was created by John Musker and Ron Clements, the minds behind The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, and will be produced by Disney animation veteran Peter Del Vecho.

The fairytale's heroine, Maddy, will also be the first African-American princess in the Disney cartoon canon. Meaning, not only is Disney making a significant step in reflecting the diversity of its audience, but Maddy will soon be joining Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan and the others on a lunchbox or t-shirt near you, as well.

Whether Disney's return to the drawing board is the start of a trend remains to be seen. Lasseter said nothing Thursday about the studio planning a lineup of hand-drawn projects, but if the nostalgia factor runs high in 2009, you can bet other animation houses will want in on the old-school action.

Audiences will still be able to get their CGI fix many times over before the 2-D Frog Princess meets her prince, of course. Disney's Meet the Robinsons, is due out Mar. 30, DreamWorks Animation's Shrek The Third lumbers into theaters May 18 and Bee Movie is on tap for Nov. 2, Pixar's Ratatouille is slated for June 28…and that's just an incomplete list from this year.

Disney's return to hand-drawn animation is also going to require that the company hire more artists who can wield a pencil and ink as easily as the current crop can navigate a Mac.

[Catspaw]

Cool! Thanks, Thursday! I like the older Disney stuff, so this will be a movie that I'll definitely want to see! I don't know if I'm a big fan of adding to the Disney Princess line-up, since some of them are classic (like Cinderella) but I guess if you can add late-comers like Mulan, you can add new people too!

[trinity4888]

I think that it's awsome that they are going back to the tradition of hand drawing their cartoons. There was always a warm feel about the old disney stuff. And that's not even drawing from my childhood because my parents were on this odd Anti-Disney kick (weird I know). There just seemed to be a lot of love and time put into the old movies that isn't there now. Everything is done on computers nowadays.

[Trixie Belden]

*merged thread "Princess and the Frog"*

Has anyone seen it? I might, but I might not. My mom is somewhat concerned with the whole voodoo aspect. I want to see it personally. This princess is really pretty and it has an interesting plot. Disney has never had an African American princess, so this is a big change.

Share your thoughts!

[Trent DeWhite]

I went to see it with my siblings yesterday... wasn't my favorite movie ever, but it was definitely an entertaining film. I particularly appreciated the modern-day twist to the classic fairy tale story.

Jim Cummings' character was especially amusing.

[Catspaw]

I saw it with my brother (yes, he is a very long-suffering brother ) and I did enjoy it, though I was disappointed in the voodoo elements. Though it is very clearly portrayed as wrong, if that's any consolation. I really enjoyed the songs and the storyline stuff that didn't directly involve the bad guy. The music, the visuals, and the basic plot were good, if not totally spectacular.

I didn't realize that Jim Cummings played Ray the lightning bug until after I saw the movie! I was very happy to discover it later, of course.

[Sapphire]

I haven't seen it yet. I hope to soon.

[Laurie]

I want to see it only because I love the animated Disney movies, but I'm not going to until after the holidays.

[V-lady]

I hope to see it eventually. It looks funny. It also has the New Orleans theme which would probably make it funnier since my parents grew up there and I've been there many times.

[Elrohir]

It's a good movie. Not quite as good as Aladdin or Lion King, but it's worth seeing.

I happened to really like the voodoo elements simply because they are clearly portrayed as evil. I don't really understand why people object to magic even when it's portrayed negatively. That's like if someone's anti-war and he objects to an anti-war movie because it portrays war, regardless of the fact that it's portrayed negatively.

[Laurie]

I asked a friend of mine (who is six years old) who had seen it and she said it was kind of scary. Of course from a six year old perspective it would be scary. I still want to see it.

[Elrohir]

Alice in Wonderland always freaked me out when I was little.

[Marvin D.]

I doubt I want to watch from all the reviews.

[American Eagle]

This is a few months old, but I'm going to bump it. I watched this movie a while back, and was disappointed.

Positives

• Miscellaneous. Some cool music. I really liked the Almost There (especially the meaning behind it). The story has some interesting aspects, there's a rather sad part, with scattered humor mixed throughout.

Negatives

• Voodoo. Arrg! People, beware, if you're going to watch this movie, don't expect it to be very promoting of Christianity. The "bad guy" is a witch doctor, and he sings a long titled Friends on the Other Side. Several scenes involve demons, occult or other such things. "Shadows" come to find the main characters. The characters go to find a "good voodoo lady", and she has lots of occultic things around for "good" reasons. I could name other things, but you get the idea.
  I'm not sure where this fits in with other Disney magic. Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc., all involved witches or spells, but this seemed to make it real. They didn't have someone eating a poisoned apple, they had people calling on demons and selling souls.
• Some immodesty, slight language, etc., but the above is what ruined the movie.

Rating

[Sam15]

I think the prinscess and the frog is dumb.

[Termite]

Some immodesty

....How is there immodesty in a Disney movie?

[American Eagle]

Some immodesty

....How is there immodesty in a Disney movie?

Uhh, how do I say this properly. Cleavage.

[AIO Psyche]

*thread merged*

* Post originally contained the poll "Did you like The Princess and the Frog?"
Results:
Yes (5 votes)
No (1 vote)
Never saw it (4 votes)

As a Walt Disney World Cast Member, I have to know......

I loved it. It was sweet, had loads of heart, was beautifully animated, had a strong story, great voice acting, and the music was fantastic! I always loved the Disney animated musicals of the 90s, and this most certainly is a step in the right direction. After the last several projects the studio turned out, this was a breath of fresh air. And it's about time we had a black princess!!!!!

And who can we all thank for the re-rebirth of hand drawn animation?

The now head creative chief of Walt Disney Animation Studios, John Lasseter. Having led Pixar through hit after consecutive hit, he was an amazing choice to turn the animation studio around.

This years Tangled, which is based off of Repunzel, looks fantastic too! The reviews I've read are comparing it to Beauty and the Beast. Can't wait!!

So, what did you guys think of the Princess and the Frog?

[StrongNChrist]

Loved it. I mean, it's not their best production but it was still really good And it was about time they did one with black people...

[AIO Psyche]

I cried so hard when Ray died!!!! And then, I cried even harder when he ended up as a star beside Evangeline.........