Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere, you should know that Disney is about to release a African-American princess in the new movie “The Princess and the Frog”. Many of us in the African-American community were a little thrown back when we first heard the story line, the names and the occupation of the characters. Disney listened to the community and changed those things that a lot of people felt would have been the wrong name for the main character of this movie.
The film, which began production under the working title The Frog Princess, will be an American fairy tale, Broadway-style musical set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. A prince named Naveen from the land of Maldonia is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. The frog prince mistakes a girl named Tiana for a princess and has her kiss him to break the spell.
According the Wikipedia.org entry for The Princess and the Frog controversy was surrounding the movie way back in early 2007 when it was learned the main character was going to be called Maddy, which some people said sounded similar to “Mammy” and her job was to be a maid, like Cinderella and Snow White. Later the title of the movie along with the name of the character changed from “The Princess Frog” name Maddy to “The Princess and the Frog” with Maddy being changed to Tiana.
Being that I have 3 daughters from ages 12 to 6 I felt that Disney made a good change to the title of the Movie, and the character changes also, it’s good that we can create change because we care. I think that Disney has done a great thing by creating a character that is African-American. I just hope the marketing budget in line for this production is worthy of the character they have created.
Some names associated with the many characters in the movie range from virtually unknown Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls), & Michael-Leon Wooley to well know John Goodman, Terrence Howard, Keith David, & Oprah Winfrey. The movie is set for release on December 11, 2009 in all theaters, but if your the type who has to see things before the general public you can visit New York or Los Angeles from November 25, 2009 through December 10, 2009. In New York it will be showing at The Ziegfeld Theatre get your tickets here. In Los Angeles it will be showing at The Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, CA order tickets here.
These special tickets are (The Royal Package includes a Reserved Seat, Princess & Frog Mardi Gras Beads, & an Exclusive Limited Edition Collectible Lithograph. Each ticket includes the movie and the Ultimate Disney Experience. ($50.00/Ticket))
From the trailers I have seen the movie looks awesome and I can’t wait to take my kids to see this 2D animation by Disney.
Jayson
