When The Walrus Walks At Midnight…

Yeech, I haven't updated all week! Well, I haven't had much to say in the past week. School was okay, but not great. I didn't do much other than that, other than watch movies and do homework. On Friday I went to a rally for a bunch of schools, including mine. Honestly, the parts that stand out the most was the pizza and singing Never Gonna Give You Up with Caroline on the bus ride there.

So now it's Sunday again, and I said last week that I was going to compare the Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang book to the movie. Not for any particular reason, though, and it's definitely not that I'm obsessed with something new this month and hopefully it'll last longer than the last thing aheheheheh. However, I can't find my copy of the book. However, I can get ahold of The Princess And The Frog and the book it was kinda-sorta-not really based on with minimum effort, so that is what I will do today. Because I am bored and the Internet connection is kind of &#^%ing me at the mo.

Ah, yes, The Princess And The Frog. It's not exactly common knowledge, but the recent Disney movie was actually based on a book by E.D. Baker. And by "based on," I mean that the idea is the same, but it, in truth, has next to nothing to do with the book.

I own a copy of the book, as well as the first two sequels, and they're pretty good. It's about a defiant princess named Emma who kisses a prince-turned-frog while wearing a magic-reversal bracelet from her aunt Grassina and subsequently gets turned into a frog. She and the prince, Eadric, have to find the witch who cast the spell in the first place and then get her to undo it if they ever want to be human again. A really average story, but it had great humor and, not to toot my own horn or anything, the sophisticated vocabulary and storytelling techniques really excited little me. I always was rather pretentious.

The movie holds the same basic idea, but deposits the characters in 1920s New Orleans, rather than the fantasy world of Greater Greensward (and, trust me, it's very green). And before you ask, no, I'm not going to tackle the politics around the film, because I'm more concerned with the story.

First off, Tiana and Emma are as different as windows and doors which is an expression that I just made up and rather like. Emma perfectly fits the tried-and-true "clumsy, rebellious princess" role so common to those types of stories, while Tiana is more like Mulan. By which I mean, she has a specific goal in mind and won't give up on it—no exceptions! (Before the character development fairy flies in and dusts the movie with her patented Character Development Fairydust.)

There were also several exceptions from the Disney tropes taken with the movie. Sure, Tiana only has one parent, but it's her dad that's missing, and we are given an explanation for that. (Charlotte is a different story.) Also, Dr. Facilier doesn't fall to his death like many, many Disney villains. Also, (spoilers hidden; highlight to see) Ray's death. Good Lord, Ray's death (Oh, the cries!). Perhaps they're building up to that Snow White and the Seven Warriors movie I've heard mentioned. It's also focused on the "work hard to make your dreams come true" Aesop, compared to other Disney princess films.

In fact, a lot of the movie deviates from set stereotypes. From the Aesop the rich, blonde Charlotte actually being a good person, instead of the antagonistic "Libby" we're so used to. Oh, but there's still a LOT of shout-outs to the classics, as Disney seems to be wisely trying to go back to their roots. Not that there's not more than a few shout-outs in any recent Disney or Pixar movie. I could spend half an hour reading through a complete list of 'em.

In conclusion (because my cat is demanding attention NAO and I'd rather like to wrap this up), the book and the movie are both great in different ways. I'd encourage avid fantasy fans to seek out The Frog Princess, but if you're not a fan of the Disney princesses, The Princess and the Frog isn't for you.

Avidly shipping Dr. Facilier with Mother Gothel,

Omnia <3

(DISCLAIMER: I am not an actual movie critic, I'm just a bored teenage blogger. Any resemblance to actual critics, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and stop looking at me like that!)

Me and my books