The Princess and the Frog and Up

So, my first semester of college is over and done with. Rather bittersweet if you ask me. So far I've been home two days, and pretty much all I've done is watch movies with my mother, lol. I suppose now would be a good time to say SPOILERS ALERT! :D In case anyone cares.

First was Up. I loved it! The first ten minutes made me cry, and I loved how it didn't have a typical romance or anything. The animation was lovely, as is to be expected from Pixar, and the characters were all so funny and engaging. Pixar seems to have their formula down pretty well, and while I'm waiting for them to do something completely out side of the box, Up was a step in the right direction.

Now, The Princess and the Frog . . . what can I say? I am so happy that traditional 2-D animation is getting some love again! For Disney's return to their traditional format, I think it delivered. Seeing as the movie was risk in and of itself simply because it was 2-D, Disney seemed to avoid taking too many risks concerning the plot devices and the animation itself. I loved the vintage animation when Tiana was singing about her restaurant, it was a nice contrast to the very bland, very quintessentially Disney canon style the rest of the movie had (but again, they didn't seem to want to take too many risks with this being their 'return' to 2-D), the design of frogs included. Especially bland were some of the background characters, particularly the trio of girls Naveen was wooing towards the beginning of the movie; they really bugged me for some reason. Charlotte, however, was very thoughtfully animated. Her personality was apparent in everything she did, and it was really a treat to watch. Her voice acting also cracked me up in a good way.

Aside from Charlotte, Dr. Faucilier (spelling?) was my favorite. I wish, as I think most people do, that there was more of his background and more of him in this story. I think he was a great character, and some of his potential was wasted on a slightly hurried plot. Much of the second half felt like a climactic play, in which cause and effect directly move the plot forward and every line and all the action are absolutely key as far as the audiences understanding is concerned.

Ray the firefly was one character I was fully prepared to hate and tag as annoying, but I found I actually didn't mind him so much. The whole Evangeline thing was very cute, and the whole ending up as a star thing actually made me a little teary!

Overall it was a cute movie and I think it should have enough commercial success to fuel at least one more 2-D animation from Disney! (The Snow Queen, anyone?) Whether it will be the start of a retro-revolution is hard to say at this point. It was certainly better than many of their failing features from the early New Millenium (such as Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire; both of which I personally like, though they're not my favorites by a long shot!)

The next movie my mom wants to watch with me is Moulin Rouge, a definite favorite of mine :) I wonder if she'll be able to make it through the twenty minute whirlwind in the beginning. . .

Well that's it for now. Bye!

P.S. Christmas in a week, yay!