That Old Bayou Magic: Kiss and Ribbit (and Sing)
It’s not easy being green, the heroine of “The Princess and the Frog” discovers. But to judge from how this polished, hand-drawn movie addresses, or rather strenuously avoids, race, it is a lot more difficult to be black, particularly in a Disney animated feature. If you haven’t heard: Disney, the company that immortalized(使永恆、不滅) pale pretties like Snow White and the zip-a-dee-doo-dah of plantation living in “Song of the South,” has made a fairy tale about a black heroine, a character whose shoulders and story prove far too slight for all the hopes already weighing her down. It’s no wonder she’s soon jumping into the bayou, green legs and all.Skip to next paragraph
But before she leaps, Tiana is just another child of New Orleans. When we first meet her, sometime before World War I, Tiana (initially voiced by Elizabeth Dampier) is keeping company with her mother, a seamstress(女裁縫師), Eudora (Oprah Winfrey), who sews princess dresses for Charlotte (initially Breanna Brooks), the pint-size(小型的、短小) daughter of the richest white man in the Crescent(土耳其、伊斯蘭教) City, Big Daddy LaBouff (John Goodman). Life is more humble back at Tiana’s home, where her own father, James (Terrence Howard, silky as always), an aspiring(有志氣的、抱負的) restaurateur, makes a gumbo(加有秋葵的濃湯) that draws neighbors from their homes and, later, he helps tuck(舒服的裹在裡面) her into bed. Wearing work boots and suspenders(吊帶褲), his sleeves rolled up, James cautions Tiana that it’s fine to wish upon a star, but that hard work gets the job done.
Hard work is a recurrent(定期重複、週期性的) theme in “Princess,” which the directors John Musker and Ron Clements, who wrote the script with Rob Edwards, further underscore(畫底線、強調、伴音) when the adult Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) swans(閒晃、發誓) into the Jazz Age. Though the theme certainly serves the story — like her father, Tiana yearns to open a restaurant — it also displaces race, which the film, given the commercial stakes, cannot engage. Hard work separates her from Charlotte (voiced as an adult by Jennifer Cody), not race (or segregation). It drives Tiana, feeding her savings and dreams. “I don’t have time for dancing,” she sings. “This old town can slow me down/people taking the easy way./But I know exactly where I’m going,/I’m getting closer and closer every day.”
Hard work, though, also makes the adult Tiana something of a drudge(做苦工、乏味工作) and a bore. Like a lot of classic Disney heroines, Tiana is good and sweet and pretty as a meticulously(細心的、一絲不苟的) animated picture, from the top of her sleek chignon [ ] (髮髻) down to her high-stepping shoes. Although she can be a whirlwind of activity, as when she balances multiple plates at the cafe where she works double shifts, Tiana doesn’t have the verve(氣魄、神韻) of the spunky(有精神的、容易發怒的) little girl who bounces through the first few minutes of the movie. What she does have, like most Disney heroines, is a prince charming, Naveen (Bruno Campos), a well-chiseled(輪廓分明) slab(厚片) from the fictional kingdom of Maldonia, who rolls into town with a jazzy(活潑) flourish(茂盛、手足舞蹈) and a devious(彎曲、誤入歧途) manservant, Lawrence (Peter Bartlett).
The prince, disappointingly if not surprisingly, becomes not only Tiana’s salvation but also that of the movie, largely by bringing some slapstick(低俗的鬧劇) comedy and a touch of suspense into the proceedings, along with the expected romance. Though he catches Tiana’s eye, Naveen is soon set upon by both Charlotte, who’s angling for a match, and Dr. Facilier, a villain(惡棍、反派) who, as is true of many movies, easily steals the show. As thin as an exclamation(叫喊、驚嘆) mark and just as excited, Dr. Facilier wears spats and a top hat emblazoned(用鮮豔色彩裝飾的) with a skull(頭蓋骨) and bones. Long, inky shadows follow his every step, sprouting(發芽、快速生長) around him like dark thoughts, as in the bravura(令人讚賞的演唱或演奏) musical number “Friends on the Other Side.”
Gorgeously animated with bursts of bright purple and acid green — the realistic lines of the characters explosively give way to increasingly jagged(缺口), graphic and surreal(超現實的) shapes — this number erupts(噴出、爆發) early in the story, setting false expectations for the rest of the movie and its songs and animation. Despite some ensuing(接踵而至的) comic relief, largely in the hefty(肌肉發達的) form of a musical alligator, Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), and a snaggletoothed(暴牙、牙齒參差不齊) Cajun firefly, Ray, the film sags(下降、蕭條) without Dr. Facilier and his menace(威脅恐嚇). That’s even the case after Tiana, in a sparkling fairy tale moment, kisses a frog and becomes one herself, a transformation that carries her on an extended journey through the bayou and, yes, into her own heart.
There are some lovely and odd interludes(插曲) on that voyage, notably in the strange, swampy(沼澤的) residence of an ancient conjurer(巫師), Mama Odie, who, gumming her lines and charming her pet snake, urges Tiana to “Dig a Little Deeper” (written, like most of the forgettable songs, by Randy Newman). Big girls and little know what happens next, but, my, the movie takes an awfully long time getting there. That finale([ ]中場), like the story itself, represents progress of a kind, I suppose, even if this princess spends an uncommonly long time splashing around as a frog. A frog whose green hue suggests that, if nothing else, Disney finally recognizes that every little girl, no matter her color, represents a new marketing opportunity.
本片故事背景是發生在１９２０年代充滿爵士音樂的紐澳良地區，主角是一位才１９歲的女孩 Tiana，每天卻必須接兩份工作來幫忙家計，她居然遇上一隻會說話的青蛙，他的身分其實是 Naveen 王子，被邪惡的壞巫師 Facilier 變為青蛙，依照大家所熟悉的童話故事，深深一吻可以讓青蛙變回王子，但是本故事中卻不是這樣，反而變得更糟糕。如今 Tiana 和青蛙必須去找尋另一位善良的女魔法師 Odie 幫忙，才能重回人形。本片中的女主角 Tiana 是非裔美籍，也就是說她是迪士尼動畫中首位黑公主。