There is something surreal, yet magical about watching a Disney film in a room full of tiny Princesses. These little girls in their variety of princess attire illustrated the undying power of Disney and together we eagerly anticipated the latest hand drawn effort The Princess and The Frog. Though I didn’t get the memo about wearing a princess dress, with a foam tiara on my head and a Choc Top in hand I too made a brief return to child hood.

I was transported to vibrant Jazz era French Quarter New Orleans into the world of the feisty Tiana (Anika Noni Rose). Tiana’s a hard working and ambitious girl who dreams of one day owning her own restaurant, a dream passed on from her father. Often shrugging off friends so that she can work the three jobs she needs to make this goal a reality, she is a polar opposite to Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), a cavalier and feckless prince from Maldonia who would rather wile away his days with girls, music and play.

Prince Naveen unwittingly gets tangled with the shadow man Dr. Facilier (Keith David)-a manipulator of the dark arts- and finds himself a frog fraction of his former self.

In a twist on the classic Frog Prince, Tiana meets the newly amphibian prince who promises to fulfill her wish to be a restaurateur for the price of one kiss. Things go terribly wrong and Tiana becomes a frog. Together they embark on an adventure to seek out a way to turn into their true selves. Along the way they meet a quirky cast of characters including a Cajun glow bug Ray (Jim Cummings) and an alligator Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley) who has a heart for jazz. Leave it to Disney to make floating around in a swamp into a romantic and fun adventure. Tiana and Prince Naveen learn a lot from each other on their way to see a white magic priestess Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis) who they hope will reverse the spell.

In the Disney tradition this film is alive with music and does a great job of capturing the food, music, culture and vibrancy of New Orleans. It’s unfortunate that we had to wait till 2010 for Disney to feature their first African American princess, but I was at least relieved by the quality of the character. It is a funny, cute and endearing film that is well worth seeing for another dose of Disney magic.

Review by Denieal Williams.