Ribbiting Deductions

Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 5:02 AM | Posted by Juwen
Watched two movies in the cinema yesterday. Princess and the Frog was not bad and I really like it that they have gone back to old-school hand-drawn 2D animation much like every other animated Disney movie before 3D came to the picture. I thought it was an attempt somewhat to revive the Disney Renaissance that started with Little Mermaid followed by a string of animated musicals that gave Disney it's huge share of profit and not to mention the hearts and minds of many young girls who would get their parents to hit the repeat button on the DVD player every time. This one was probably one of the last barriers that Disney needed to break for their animated musicals, having and African-American princess so to speak. It is interesting to note that during the entire Renaissance that they didn't start with an American setting or story, though pretty much Americans did everything else. For example: Little Mermaid - Denmark, Beauty and the Beast with Hunchback of Notre Dame - France, Aladdin - Arabia, Lion King with Tarzan - Africa, Hercules - Greece, Mulan - China, Pocahontas - America. Although Pocahontas's setting was in America, there were no truly American influences, just the British. So I wouldn't count that as American. Princess and the Frog is all about the early 1900s in New Orleans and there is only one thing that came up in my mind.

Jazz.

Music had predominant jazz influences and was very nice as well. Though I wish they had a little bit more musical element to the movie but otherwise it's good. Good dose of laughter plus truck loads worth of valuable messages make this fairy tale like every other fairy tale Disney has done. Now, because of the messages that are to be portrayed in the movie and given it's African-American background, it comes to no surprise that Oprah Winfrey had a small role to play as the mother of the would-be princess. No prizes for why I think she deliberately picked that role. Also, the music were written and composed by the one and only Randy Newman, the same composer for the Toy Story series which gives the lyrics an extra kick.

Now, the million dollar question. Is Princess and the Frog of the same caliber as its predecessors? I would say close but no cake. Why? It seems to tick the right boxes but I think something is missing for it to be really great. I'm not sure what it is but I'm pretty sure that something is missing. Don't get me wrong, watch it because it's good. If you like any of the movies during the Renaissance then this is pretty close and you will like it. I'm just saying that I don't think it's quite the same like-able hit movie as those in the Renaissance. But pretty close. Just watch it. On DVD. Unless you are in Australia. Then go to Hoyts.

Then there is Sherlock Holmes. The more I think about it the more I think Robert Downey Jr. plays certain character profiles really well. This new look at the infamous London detective makes Robert fit perfectly for this role. So eccentric yet composed. Not a bad movie again with a pretty star studded cast to it. But it's one of those shows where if you really want to get a sense of closure, you really have to pay attention to the movie details as some events don't seem to make sense until further down the line. Sometimes much further down the line. And the director was smart enough to leave room to make a sequel at the end in case this movie sky-rocketed in the box office earnings. Which it did.

Something totally unrelated. Kudos for Bing for the video. Something for me to think about if and when I start tutoring again or in the distant future that I lecture on how to engage the students more than the conventional way of lecturing or tutoring. Long vid but I think worth the watch.


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