The Princess and the Frog

It was great to see traditional animation again, especially done as well as it is in The Princess and the Frog. Sure, the computer stuff is good, but for and old guy like me, the traditional stuff can't be bettered.

There's a lot more that's traditional about the movie. It has a princess, two of them, in fact. It has a handsome prince. It has a great villain, Facilier, the Shadow Man. It has some dandy music (score by Randy Newman). It has heart and a little bit of soul. You might think that it has a traditional plot, and it sort of does, but it plays around with all the traditions and things are never quite what they seem.

Of course the big selling point for me is the character of "Big Daddy" La Bouf, the trumpet-playing alligator who wants to be human and play with the Big Boys. John Goodman is excellent in the part, but I don't think anyone will blame me if I missed Phil Harris just a little bit. All the voice actors can keep up with Goodman, and I particularly enjoyed Jennifer Cody as one of the princesses and Keith David as Facilier.

Even as old as I am, I grew up with Disney. I've enjoyed a lot of the animated features over the years, and this one's up there with some of the classics.