Mithmeoi

I think I’m gonna be one of the few people here that does not give this movie a four star rating. Now I did enjoy this movie but I just felt it was lacking “Disney magic”. I didn’t really feel much for the character, the movie felt a little flat. Now I’m not sure where I want to start with this review. I suppose I’ll go after the music first.

The songs, they weren’t bad but they were just blah. Typical type songs, forgettable, but I find most of Randy Newman’s work kind of bland to begin with. This movie is no exception. Darnit why couldn’t they have snagged Menken? I also don’t enjoy jazz type music or that particular type style so I guess I’m also a bit biased there.

The story, it suffered badly from side-kick-itis. Too many side characters. There is one scene *oop spoiler* where the frogs are being “hunted” (I use the term loosely) by some southern… rednecks I suppose you could call them. It was a pointless scene, the characters were unneeded, and annoying. They could have had Tiana and the prince figure out they love each other through a better way but they just HAD to add in some “comedic” relief. Even though we already have the Gator and lightening bug. On a side note I really really loved the Gator and all his silly facial expressions.

The main characters are like-able. I like the polar opposite personalities the prince and Tiana have. I also like that it’s not just a typical princess movie. The woman doesn’t rely on the prince for everything etc.

The bad guy was pretty cool, I loved his design BUT he wasn’t really creepy or scary enough for the movie. At least my friend and I thought so. He had really great potential but fell a bit short. And most of the other characters in this film were “ok”.

The message in the movie was a good one, but for some reason it didn’t really feel like a Disney movie. It just lacks something, I can’t really put my finger on it. It has all the technical aspects a Disney film has, beautiful animation, good voice acting and decent music, I just think there was something lacking in the story.

This movie is decent, I would say go see it in theaters just to support 2D, but I’m not going to say you’ll be amazed by it. Disney is back, but not quite up to snuff with what they have produced in the past. It is a step up from their last 2D theatrical release, “Home on the Range” But it’s no “Beauty and the Beast”. It’s a fun, decent holiday movie. It’s worth seeing a couple times.