Finally we’ll get to see a black princess in an animated film, something that would have been helpful to my self-esteem during my childhood ten or fifteen years ago. Disney is set to release The Frog Princess in 2009, the first 2-D animation film since big-ears released Home on the Range in 2004. This fairytale musical will focus on the story of Maddy, a young girl growing up in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age. Disney hasn’t given many details, but the original story is about a girl who rescues a frog that turns out to be a handsome prince.
I remember my father buying me a series of fairy tale books once that illustrated a black Repunzal, a black Little Red Riding Hood, and a black Snow White. I read these stories maybe once or twice, but I never got the same joy from reading those books as I did from watching tapes of The Little Mermaid or Cinderella a hundred times. And every Halloween when I saw all the other girls dressed up as Jasmines, Snow Whites, and Belles, I always wondered why I never looked or felt right in the same costumes (well my mom never bought me the real Disney princess costumes, let’s just say she liked to improvise with whatever was in her closet).
New Orleans is a nice touch. Thumbs up Disney, but why did this take so long?
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Entries
July 26th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
First of all this is ridiculous! YES, it’s about time that Disney has comeup with a black disney princess, but why on earth is it not going to be animated like the rest of the movies like cinderella, the little mermaid, and so forth? This movie is going through a hand drawn process! What is that about? And the new orleans setting?! i dont agree. it’s like saying african american belong in New Orleans…disney nice effort but tighten up!
October 5th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Are they really hand drawing this cartoon?? I can’t WAIT!! I have missed the hand drawn cartoons so much, because those were always my favorites. Everyone knows that the earliest Disney movies were the best, and since they were hand drawn, this one should be too, so that it can make the “Best” category like all the other princess movies. My sister (coincidentally named Tiana, no lie) said that she’s hoping for it to be awesome, because she’s having a baby, and is glad that it’s coming out in time for her little girl to watch it while she’s still young and believes in magic.