Ok I want to give a short critique of the characters in the story. I felt some characters were blatant st
ereotypes created for the sake of a laugh. It made me feel not much effort was put into making worth while memorable characters that really had something to offer the audience aside from the same old song and dance.
Tiana:
Her character and character design are cool and sweet. I like that she is working to pull herself up by the boot straps, and that she is a strong lead with a very smart personality.
But, I think she actually acts out of character by fallin
g for the prince because they literally fall in love in less than one night and not to mention when they are first together she doesn't even like the prince all that much cause sh
e sees him as a free loader. In fact, I almost feel like the only reason she falls for the prince is cause he falls for her first.
I think all her costumes are nice, my favorite is the flapper costume.
Prince Naveen:
Ok first off, his design isn't bad but his all around personality is very week. I can't really find any redeeming qualities about the character. at different point in the film I feel like he changes personality. And where the hell is Maldonia? I am sure it may be a real place but there is no background given on this other than he is a prince and his parents forced him to leave home and go out and do something for himself.
In fact, his whole purpose of going to New Orleans is to meet a rich girl and marry her cause mom and dad cut off his trust fund. Later in the film when he and Tiana are interacting you can see why Tiana d
oesn't like him that much cause he comes across and a selfish, self absorbed player that doesn't know how to do anything for himself. In fact there are several instances in the film where he basically lets Tiana do all the work and expects her to wait on him while he does nothing. That kind of irritated me. Yet for some reason in one night he redeems himself and Tiana falls in love with him.
I know they tried to make Naveen a different race or, what ever, for the film, but he may, as well, had been black. I felt like they still ended up using the lazy black guy stereotype in a round about way. But that is
just my opinion. In the end lets just say I wasn't in love with Naveen.
Charlotte "Lottie" La Bouff:
I actually loved her character. I heard a few people say she was annoying but I feel like she played a key roll in keeping the movie from being to deep and depressing. Her character really brightened up the film and gave you a break from Tiana's circumstances. I felt Tiana's character was very serious and kinda down and Charlotte added some balance to that with her bubblyness.
I also really liked her character design. She reminded me of a teenage Darla DImple. (Cats don't Dance a amazing and underrated film) minus the bad attitude and wanting to rule the world.
At the end of the film when she realized she wasn't going to be a princess and instead turned herself to supporting Tiana as being a Princess it made me feel like Charlotte was a genuinely good person and that she was Tiana's best friend. In a since it surprises me that Charlotte and her dad were not helping Tiana to realize her dream by helping her family from the start because they didn't come off as selfish rich folks.
With that in mind it would have made Tiana's struggle to have her dream come true kind null and void because she could have easily been supported by her child hood friend and then just paid them back. Maybe I am over thinking this. I guess it would have defeated the purpose of her becoming a princess and we would have had a completely different story.
Ray The Cajun Firefly
Ok I am sorry but this was one of the absolute ugliest character designs ev
er. There was nothing appealing about the design what so ever. I felt like that kept me from being able to enjoy his characters role in the film in any way. I didn't even feel bad when He died. I w
as just thinking thank God they got rid of that ugly ass bug.
I got the impression they were trying to do what Hiyao Miyazaki did in Princess Mononoke when all those little tree spirits were guiding them through the forest except these fire flies were loud and unpleasant as they sung out loudly about "going down the bayou" to get to Mama Odie's house. I honestly would not have missed this character if he wasn't there.
Louis, a jazz-singing alligator:
This character reminded me of a cross between the gator from All Does Go To Heaven and one of the gators from Fantasia. Only difference was they were more interesting and smarter that Louis.
When they first encounter Louis I actually thought of Baloo the bear in turns of personality. They even have the fun song as the frogs sit on his back and they ride down the river just like in Jungle Book. After that though his whole personality changes and he becomes more like the cowardly lion than an alligator. His bad since of direction and scaredy cat personality really just made him a through away character in my opinion. I think if they had given him the personality of the fire fly and left the fire fly out all together I would have really liked him. But they didn't.
One scene that was intended to be funny was him falling in a patch of plants that had thorns and stuck to hims butt. the the fire fly proceeds to pull them out. Yeah that scene was WAY too long and not funny.
Mama Odie:
honestly I was expecting this character to play a bigger roll in the film when they originally brought her
up. like maybe they would had her actually help them fight the bad guy or something. Instead she just sang a song about how if tiana and naveen hook up they can both become human and when they didn't understand her double talk she told them to do something else. She only comes back at the end of the film when they have there frog wedding.
Frog Hunters:
The only reason I am mentioning these characters is cause they totally changed the films feel about mid way through. All of a sudden I felt like I was watching a warner brothers cartoon with the stupid hill billies trying to catch the rabbit. they to were very ugly and unappealing in design and I felt like there was no real purpose for them in the movie except to try to get a laugh. The played no real role in progressing the plot of the film and after they were gone they never came back.
Doctor Facilier, aka "The Shadow Man:
I actually thought he was an interesting villain. I really liked his character design and he was by far more interesting than Naveen. I really enjoyed the special effects as well but as I watched I couldn't help but think of the both Scare from lion king and medicine man from El Dorado and his magic tricks.
It didn't take away from him though. I enjoyed his animation the way he moved and his voice as well. I wish he had had a little more development though cause it wasn't till very late in the film that they reveal his motives for turning naveen into a frog. He basically wanted to marry the fake Naveen into charlottes family so he could get there money and use it to take over New Orleans.
My question is why didn't he just impersonate Naveen himself instead of getting Naveens companion to do it. Especially if he planned to Kill the companion anyway. I didn't see how having Charlotte marry the fake naveen and then killing the fake naveen afterward with a voodoo doll made since cause how would he have access to there fortune if he himself was not apart of the family. Even ursula in The little Mermaid had the balls to out right marry the prince herself. She didn't have anyone do the dirty work for her.
Lawrence, Prince Naveen's companion:
I really have nothing to say about him cause Like I said before The shadow man didn't really need him in my opinion. I think he was a throw away character.
Other:
there are some other supporting characters in the film but I have no opinion of them really so that is it.
