Trailer Park Aug 08 2008 @ 11:51 am
TRAILER PARK: The Princess and the Frog
I’m usually the last person to know or care about movie projects that are in development — really, what good does knowing about these things years in advance get me, except for possibly an ulcer? This project, though, is one I’ve been drooling over with all the anticipation of a rabid Batman fanboy for more than a year now.
Depending on how much of an animation fan you are, you may know all or none of the following: In the winter of 2003, Walt Disney Pictures released Treasure Planet, a $140 million beast that flopped harder than some sort of interglactic whale. Ever the short-sighted buffoons (I mean, heck, Lilo and Stitch earned nearly four times its own budget at the box office, that same year!), Disney execs decided that hand-drawn animation was a thing of the past, and cancelled all projects that weren’t near completion, effectively ending the “series” that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had begun in 1937. Additionally, Treasure Planet’s co-directors John Musker and Ron Clements were fired, even though they had singlehandedly saved Disney animation fourteen years prior with The Little Mermaid.
When Disney merged with Pixar, though, this all changed, and the Pixar execs who had joined the Disney board insisted that Disney bring back traditional animation. (I mean, heck, they’re Disney. It’s what they’re supposed to do. It’s sad that the voice of reason in this had to come from the world’s CG pioneers, but really not all that surprising, when you think about it.) The first project that resulted? The Princess and the Frog, a fairytale set in New Orleans during the Jazz Age. Do I have to say that again? New Orleans. During the Jazz Age. Um, could this project get any more awesome? Actually yeah, it can, since Musker and Clements have returned to direct it.
Um…wow. I’m a geek. Anyway, a teaser trailer was finally released the other day, and while it’s not overwhelming, I think it shows some promise. We’re not looking at Lion King-quality animation, but it looks very good, and I’m sure they’ll clean it up further for the final release. I’d say it has a 50/50 chance of not being a great film, but it’s still awesome beyond belief that’s it’s being made at all.
Enough talk…feast your eyes on the awesomeness. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
on Aug 08 2008 @ 1:04 pm 1. Cinexcellence said …
That actually looks pretty good. And yay for physical comedy!
on Aug 08 2008 @ 1:54 pm 2. Luke Harrington said …
I know, right? This is the sort of scene you can only do with hand-drawn animation…which gives me hope for this film. It looks like conceptually, they know what they’re doing.
on Aug 08 2008 @ 2:20 pm 3. Evan Derrick said …
Apparently there is a lot of controversy surrounding this film, and a number of African American bloggers and media critics have been hounding Disney on the choices they’ve made in regards to the picture. Here’s a snippet from BET’s Jennifer Daniels:
“…a movie like The Frog Princess, with its touching tale of a po’ Black chile (sic) being rescued from the Big Black Voodoo Daddy by a great White hope in the pre-Civil Rights Movement South not only offensive and ignorant of history, but highly insensitive as well.”
Animation veteran Floyd Norman had the following reaction (for the record, Norman is African American):
“Ah, life was so much simpler when we worked on The Jungle Book with Walt. By the way, did you know that Bageerah was a member of the Black Panther Party?”
Fun stuff.
on Aug 08 2008 @ 2:50 pm 4. Luke Harrington said …
The thing is, when you’re as big of a juggernaut as Disney is, everything you do is going to offend someone. You have to be diverse and yet be inclusive; you have to celebrate the idiosycrasies of other cultures without stereotyping them; you have to be clever and witty and original but completely inoffensive. It’s all part of the PC straitjacket we have to wear, some of us to a greater extent than others.
The funny thing is, Disney essentially sets themselves up for this sort of treatment, by acting like they’re THE source for family entertainment. Remember all the controversy in the mid-90’s when some bored housewife threw a fit because she thought she saw the word “SEX” in The Lion King? Now imagine she had seen it in The Swan Princess or Anastasia. Would anyone have cared?
The real question is, exactly what do the PC police want? If they make her too poor (the main character was originally a chambermaid named Maddy), people are offended. If they make her too rich (that trivializes the Black American plight!), people are offended. If they make her look “too black” (why such big lips?), people are offended. If they make her look less so (they’re holding up whiteness as an ideal of beauty!), people will be offended. They could avoid this minefield by simply making movies with all-white characters, but then they’d get accused of racism.
Is it really that much to ask that people actually wait until the film comes out, and actually go see it before they decry it as being offensive and immoral? I actually have a lot of respect for Disney that they’ve chosen to go this route and absorb whatever controversy it creates, in the name of creating a body of work that more accurately reflects the American experience. Seeing heros and heroines of all colors on the screen is good for kids of every race.
Ooooookay, stepping off my soapbox now. People are stupid. Go see the film, and if you’re still so PO’ed you can’t see straight, then you can protest.
on Aug 08 2008 @ 3:07 pm 5. Luke Harrington said …
…I love that quote from Norman, though.