The Princess And The Frog

I wanted to see The Princess And The Frog when it came out, but I also thought the trailers were poorly made in the sense that they made the movie look racist. The movie isn't racist (it is historically inaccurate, though; I honestly doubt the 1920s would have allowed a rich white girl and a poor black girl in Louisiana to be lifelong best friends).
The thing is, I always thought The Frog Prince was a stupid story. I loved fairy tales when I was a kid (I still do) but Frog Prince never really did anything but annoy me. My favorite part was the golden ball the princess was playing with at the beginning of the story. It sounded neat. Why didn't I have one of those?
So here was a movie that, on first glance, was a racist movie about a boring story.
I'm so glad I was wrong. The Princess And The Frog is awesome! It's barely related to Frog Prince and everybody wins (except the gold ball, who doesn't appear in this version).
It's about a girl named Tiana who wants, more than anything in the world, to open her own restaurant. Her best friend, Charlotte, wants to marry the visiting Prince Naveen, who wants to marry a rich girl so he can continue to live frivolously because his parents have cut him off. Naveen's servant wants to be a prince and the Shadow Man wants to pay a debt he owes to his friends on the other side.
Oh my god, the Shadow Man! He is So Cool. He's sinister as hell, but he's also totally stylish and charismatic. His villain song (which I think is called Friends On The Other Side) is fucking epic! (Can you say "fuck" in a Disney movie review? ...Maybe you can't but I can!)
Anyway, Naveen and his servant make a deal with the Shadow Man and things go all higgeldy piggeldy. ("Higgeldy piggeldy means a real mess.")
Comedy relief comes in the form of a jazz loving alligator named Louis and a Cajun firefly named Raymond (but his friends call him Ray). He was another totally misleading aspect of the previews. They made him look like he was all fart jokes and gross out humor. Turns out he is the source of the two most cry-inducing parts of the movie. Ray is awesome.
Although I do prefer Louis. I wish he was my friend.
Actually, I think what makes The Princess And The Frog work is that every single character is completely likeable. Even spoiled rich girl Charlotte, who talks a mile a minute and, unlike every other spoiled rich girl Disney's ever created, honestly cares about her best friend. Charlotte has layers. It's amazing. And you love Charlotte's dad before he even finishes saying one word. It takes one syllable to recognize John Goodman's voice, and anybody who doesn't love John Goodman has no soul.
I guess "likeable" isn't really the word for the Shadow Man. It's not strong enough. He's too awesome to just be likeable, and he sure as hell ain't loveable. I don't know what you'd call it. He's creepy but damned if you don't admire the guy. He's a good villain.
Of course, then there's Tiana and Naveen, who aren't bad characters at all but they have the same problem a lot of leads have when they're surrounded by a crazy fun supporting cast: they're just not as interesting. I don't think I really realized that 'til this morning, though, so it isn't a hinderance to the movie.
And I guess Disney got really sick of people complaining that their princesses never do anything, because Tiana works her butt off.
I can't think of a good way to end this review, so I'm just going to let it peter out.

End of line.
-Sally