The Princess and the Frog

After some straying from what they do used to best, Disney is back with a classic film, both in terms of its hand drawn animation rather than CGI, and also the storyline and music. This film is classic Disney through and through.

The Princess and the Frog is set in 1920s New Orleans, complete with a big jazz back drop and also voodoo still being prevalent. Tiana is the first African-American Disney heroine, although she is not a princess in this film. , Tiana is a young waitress who hopes to fulfil her late father's dream of opening a restaurant in New Orleans that will have the ability to bring together people from all walks of life. Whilst a dreamer, Tiana is also determined that hard work will be rewarded with her restaurant. She works all hours to get the place her, and her Dad, dreamed of.

She finally has enough money and finds a waterside building, which is derelict and in need of a major overhaul.

Just before the restaurant opens visiting prince Naveen arrives; his naivety leads to being cast a voodoo spell by Dr. Facilier during one of the huge musical/visual numbers. This leads to Tiana crossing his path, and also been drawn into the voodoo spell, with both becoming frogs. From here the journey really begins with the characters being led to the local swamp where the meet three supporting characters that really steal the show --Louis, a jazz-playing alligator; Ray, a Cajun firefly; and a 197-year-old voodoo priestess . Between these three they convey a raft of emotions from out-and-out laughter through to some quite touching poignant moments, especially for Ray. It’s a roller-coaster of a ride. The pace of the film never lets up, New Orleans provides a very colourful back-drop, it's musically spot-on for Disney, and there is even space for a couple of neat twists along the way. Disney original animations are back. Pixar has shown them the way with CGI, but for hand-drawn animation this is spot on.

The voodoo elements near the end may be slightly worrying for very young viewers, although equally the undertones may go right over their heads!! This aside it really is a perfect family film, and does look spectacular on Blu-Ray as the colourful feast really does come alive; for me animation is where Blu-Ray often shines best.