Disney Keeps 2D Alive

I have been looking forward to The Princess and the Frog for months, but not for any real expectation of cinematic greatness. Instead I wanted Disney to prove that 2D animation is still viable in the world of 3D animation. And prove it they did. However, only in 2004 it looked like Disney had given up on 2D animation altogether when it shut down their 2D studios in favor of 3D. Following the acquisition of Pixar, they reopened the studios to make The Princess and the Frog. Instead of pandering to what they believe modern audiences want (as they have been with film after film about cute lost dogs) they returned to what they do best—retelling fairytales.

This is not to say that they didn’t have an eye on modern sensibilities. This was not the traditional Frog Prince. It was the princess and the frog where the “Princess,” Tiana, kisses a frog, Prince Naveen, and instead of the frog prince turning into a human, she turns into a frog. It is clever and in keeping with modern sensibilities influenced by the success of Shrek where fairy tale stereotypes are turned on their head.

But the film, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker of Aladdin and Little Mermaid fame, does retain much that Disney is loved for—a magic-filled world, catchy musical numbers, love triumphing evil, and a nasty villain who will stop at nothing to separate the protagonists. Although it includes all of these things, the strength of this film relies on its lush visuals of jazz-filled New Orleans and the Bayou swamps, and its effective storytelling. The writers actually wrote a believable love story that developed throughout the movie as we witness Tiana and Prince Naveen’s personal growth brought on by the different challenges that they face.

The strong story was supported by talented voice actors in Anika Noni Rose (Tiana) and Bruno Campos (Prince Naveen) who have wonderfully expressive and believable voices that seemed to fit their characters as both human and frogs. I’ve become much more conscious and critical of voice acting now that I’ve had the challenge of voicing Gaby in Post-Nup, and so often I am disappointed by the acting in animated films. However, happily Disney picked the actors not based on their names but on their acting ability.

The music was good, but none of it extraordinary, although I admit that as an artist, I always notice the visuals more than the music. And the visuals were extraordinary, particularly in the musical sequences when the animators were able to be more abstract and spectacular. My favorite was a song that Tiana sings about her dream of owning a restaurant and it morphs into an art deco sequence straight out of an advertisement from the 1920s.

My main complaint of the film was that I felt that in its style of animation it was trying too hard to differentiate itself from 3D animation. This was evident in the technique called “squash and stretch” which was used too liberally throughout the film. This is when the character has an elasticity of body parts that is not possible in real life. An arm will appear to be one foot long and then it will stretch to 3 feet long to reach something very high. It is a technique that helps makes things look cartoony and was prevalent in animation in the first half of the 20th century particularly in Warner Brothers cartoons. I felt that Disney was trying to call on our nostalgia for the golden age of animation but they took it too far. The constant bouncing and stretching of characters was disorienting and my eye never quite knew where to rest.

Despite some annoyances with the technique, leaving the theatre, I was uplifted by the thought that mainstream 2D movies are not dead. And neither is Disney.