In a press release last Friday, Disney revealed some new details about this upcoming Princess and the Frog attraction at the ESSENCE Fest in New Orleans. The event featured jazz music and a Q&A with the imagineers who worked on the ride as well as Stella Chase, the daughter of the late Chef Leah Chase, who provided inspiration for Tiana's character. It looks like it was a lot of fun to attend and reminds me of the 10th anniversary event I went to for the film in 2019. The press release features video footage of an interview panel with Stella Chase in which she discloses the positive princess traits that her grandmother brought to the character such as chasing after her dreams and accepting people from all walks of life at her restaurant. These are indeed admirable traits that were represented beautifully in the film, but this interview discussion has very little to do with the ride itself.
Another topic discussed at the ESSENCE Fest in the press release is the new outfit that was designed for Tiana to wear on this ride, which takes place after the ending of the film. Despite being a frog for most of her movie, Tiana has more original looks in her premiere film than any other Disney Princess, so this adventuring gear is just one more historical dress up piece to add to her extensive closet. Costume Designer Ida Muldrow forgoes Tiana's glamorous gowns for a pair of 1920s style khakis, a yellow button-down shirt, red bandana ascot, cloche hat, and hiking boots perfect for navigating the swampy terrain of the bayou. The ride is the first time since Wreck-It Ralph 2 that Tiana is featured with her hair down, an intentional decision to show off her glamorous curls and place emphasis on the versatility of black women's hair and its significance to their identity around the world. The new look reflects how "Tiana was equally at home in the bayou as she was at a banquet". It makes sense for her to wear something more comfortable for this adventure after instead of any of the fancy gowns Charlotte leant her in the film.
One thing that surprised me about this press release is the lack of references to the original Splash Mountain ride. I know it's a controversial topic, but if the ride is being rethemed to be about Tiana, some things will likely remain the same, such as the log flumes and the big drop. How will they justify falling down a big waterfall as part of Tiana's story? It may seem like a silly question for any other theme park ride, but Disney is all about storytelling. Splash Mountain takes you on a complete journey with colorful characters from Song of the South. Similarly, Tiana's Bayou Adventure is supposed to immerse parkgoers in Tiana's first Mardi Gras as a princess alongside friends like Louis. I would have loved to hear more about how the ride would function to tell this story, but the event seemed to focus entirely on the culture behind the ride's retheming. The short film about the research the imagineers did in New Orleans seems to avoid telling us anything about the actual ride. However, I'm sure there will be more specifics revealed as we get closer to the release date in two years.
As a big fan of Princess Tiana, I am cautiously excited for this "new" ride that will replace one I was mostly indifferent to. It was great to see so many people come together to celebrate the film at the ESSENCE festival, and I love how much care they are taking in being authentic to the culture of New Orleans and the 1920s. I just wish I knew more about the ride itself as the press release seemed to discuss everything but. Are you eager for a Princess and the Frog ride to join the ranks of the Disney Parks, or would you rather see something brand new featuring these characters? Let me know in the comments!
Only one month after my recent obsession with Find Me in Paris , the time-traveling ballerina princess drama dropped its third and final season on Hulu today. Though somewhat predictable, this season offered a satisfying conclusion to the show's unique concept that combined dance with science fiction and tied up all remaining loose ends from the previous seasons. We finally learned the truth about Lena's birth and why she's always being chased by anyone remotely interested in time travel. Nearly every character got paired off at the end, even if it meant some questionable decisions on behalf of the writers. The season also offered some of the most beautiful dance sequences in the show yet for its key story moments. While I could have done without the repetitive recap sequences, the final episodes made it clear that this was always meant to be the end and gave the cast and crew many happy memories to look back upon. The final season of Find Me in Paris incorporated the ...
The holiday season has begun, but like many other things this year , it is a mere shadow of its former self. That's why I was so pleased when one of my readers referred me to an animated version of "The Nutcracker" that I had missed during my childhood. The Nutcracker Prince is by far the most accurate version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" that I have ever seen. After my overwhelming disappointment with Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms , I thought that the Barbie movie was the closest I'd ever get to an accurate feature based on this classic fairy tale. I was wrong. The Nutcracker Prince is an animated film released in 1990 with a surprisingly impressive cast of voice talent. Sadly, there's no chance of seeing it on Disney+ any time soon because it was distributed by Warner Brothers , one of the only major film studios that Disney does not own (yet). However, it is free to watch on YouTube for those o...
I've been seeing several viral posts recently about historical fashion lately. One was a gallery of women's fashion every year from 1784 to 1970 , and another was a video re-enactment of how women got dressed in the 18th century . These got me thinking about some of my favorite princess fashions. Though princesses are not known to be historically accurate , their fashions drew inspiration from many different places, and history is one of them. If you take a look at the way fashion has evolved over time, you can get an idea of which parts inspired the princess movies and which parts were altered. Something that surprised me in the re-enactment was how many pieces were assembled on a woman to give the appearance of a single dress. Today, most dresses are a single piece, but historically, gowns consisted of a corset bodice and a large skirt with a crinoline underneath. This was something I also noticed about Disney's theme park princesses . Though they look like one ...
Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post . The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11:...
While not technically a princess movie, Wicked is quite possibly the most high-profile release of the year with a princess-like character, G(a)linda. I have been a huge fan of the Broadway show for almost 20 years and know it by heart, so this release was a pretty big deal to me as it was to many other die-hard fans. Many were concerned about the fact that the play was split into two films--one for each act. Now that I've seen it, I have to say that I understand this decision. There is so much that happens in the musical that forcing it all into a single movie would feel overloaded. The longer runtime gives the story a chance to breathe while adding more exposition to enhance the phenomenal characters and plot. As an added bonus, there were lots of Easter eggs referencing the original 1939 Wizard of Oz movie that inspired Wicked as well as an anticipated cameo from two beloved Broadway performers. Wicked is the story of Elphaba Thropp, who is better known a...
When I think of witches, I think of Bewitched , Sabrina the Teenage Witch , and most recently, Wicked . So when Time Princess announced a new visual novel called Vengeance of the Witch, I expected something along those lines, especially after their latest collaboration with Wicked . Instead, the robust dress-up game app pulled the old bait and switch, releasing yet another bland Chinese story about demons . This app contains several other visual novels inspired by Chinese mythology that are way more interesting than this one, including White Snake and Ancient Dreams . If you are looking for a compelling story that incorporates Chinese myths, I recommend playing one of those. The Apothecary is much closer to what I expected from Vengeance of the Witch, as that story actually focuses on magic and sorcery with some compelling plot twists. Vengeance of the Witch tells the story of Qingqing, who is part of a demonic cult that we're apparently supposed to root for. To be fair, it...
When I wrote my series of fairy tale origin posts , one major story that I skipped was "Sleeping Beauty." It wasn't because I didn't care for this story as much as the others, but instead that it had a less complex narrative of changing with the times . In fact, this fairy tale is so simple that no matter how many updates modern adaptations incorporate, it is rarely altered so drastically from its roots to the point of being unrecognizable, except in the case of a ridiculous 2016 horror movie called The Curse of Sleeping Beauty . Of all the movies I argued against depicting the theme of "Be pretty, girls, and things might work out," Sleeping Beauty is the biggest outlier. It is probably for this reason that it is the only Disney Princess movie that did not get a direct live-action remake , but instead a creative reimagining with Maleficent , which focused on the more active villain than the mostly passive princess. Determining how much Sleeping Beauty h...
Yesterday, the Starz network released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding The White Queen trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King...
After reading some of the initial reviews , I was skeptical about Moana 2 . However, now that I've seen it, I can say with confidence that it is an underrated classic like Wish . While it may be an infamous Disney sequel that was converted from a failed concept for an animated series , we've come a long way from the days when Disney would slap three barely finished episodes together and call it a sequel . This is a polished, complete, and cohesive story with theatrical-quality animation and music. I am grateful that Disney finally released something original instead of another live-action remake . Considering the destructive path they've been on lately , this movie is a step in the right direction. It is a return to what Disney does best--beautiful animation, songs, and a thrilling adventure story with a spirited princess-like heroine that is on par with the original film . A few years have passed since Moana's big adventure of returning the heart to Te Fiti so her ...
Although it was overshadowed by some more "popular" moviegoing experiences this weekend, Spellbound is one of this year's most anticipated releases amongst old-school Disney Princess fans. Promising to bring back the feel of classic animated films, the movie was released by the relatively new Skydance Animation Studio and distributed by Netflix . The Disney tie-in comes from its creative team, using the renowned Alan Menken and Glenn Slater for its music and lyrics and featuring many well-known actors for its voice talent, including Rachel Zegler , Disney's upcoming Snow White , in the lead role of Princess Ellian. The movie takes place in a Latin American-inspired medieval kingdom reminiscent of Elena of Avalor . Does it live up to the hype? Let's explore. The premise of the movie, which is shoved in our face from the expository opening song, is that Princess Ellian's parents, the king and queen of Lumbria, have mysteriously turned into monsters, forc...
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