Princess and the Frog’ starts slowly, improves

Like most of my generation, I grew up with Disney films. “Pinocchio,” “Bambi,” Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty” and so on. And like many, if not most, of my generation, I was affected by their worldview. Innocence endures, evil threatens but never wins, and love conquers all.

Why, I often wondered, wasn’t life more like a Disney movie?

In recent years, Disney and all it stands for has changed, mainly because other companies have traipsed into its territory. Pixar offers us much of the same traditional Disney view, but it adds just a bit of irony and slightly edgy humor. DreamWorks thrives on irony and lets its humor pass by so quickly most viewers never understand just how edgy it really is. Twentieth Century Fox is a gag-happy combination of both.

Which is why “The Princess and the Frog” is such a surprise. At its heart, this is Disney tradition at its most basic. The story itself, though a variation on the traditional Grimm Brothers tale “The Frog Prince,” mixes a little “Wizard of Oz” with “Beauty and the Beast” and more than a bit of “Song of the South.”

It’s that last movie, the 1946 blend of animation and live-action, which is most surprising. Based on Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus tales, “Song of the South” isn’t available on DVD. And it appears that Disney is in no hurry to make the movie available. The reason? Perhaps because it makes slavery look … well, fun.

For the first 20 minutes of “The Princess and the Frog,” I thought much the same thing. Set in New Orleans just before and after World War I, the film plays like a minstrel show. I thought it was going to take me to the Camptown Races. It has laughing and dancing black people, happy to be living in poverty and working two jobs just to have a slim chance of getting ahead, while whites waste money on silly dresses and waste time just because they can.

It avoids any sense of racial conflict, and this in a place and era in which segregation wasn’t just personal choice but the actual law. That’s the backdrop for Disney’s film, which follows the story of a young woman named Tiana (voice by Anika Noni Rose) working hard to earn enough money to open the restaurant of her (and her late father’s) dreams.

Tiana gets involved in the struggle of an actual prince named Naveen (Bruno Campos), who has been turned into a frog by the voodoo man Dr. Facilier (Keith David). When Naveen convinces her to kiss him, the unthinkable happens: Instead of him returning to human form, she finds that she now is an amphibian, too.

Pretty soon the two are on the run, trying to find the way back to human form before Dr. Facilier’s dark forces converge on them. They are aided in their quest by a trumpet-playing gator (Michael-Leon Wooley) and a Cajun firefly named Raymond (Jim Cummings). The problem: A real princess must kiss Naveen by Mardi Gras midnight or he (and Tiana) remain frogs forever.

I ultimately ended up liking “The Princess and the Frog.” After those first 20 minutes, which in addition to the Uncle Remus feel offers us traditional cel animation that looks as if it belongs in the Jurassic period, the film gets better. It becomes an animal adventure, with CGI aiding the cel animation (especially during the firefly-swamp scene), and all the traditional Disney touches - innocence, evil and love winning out - are there.

The film isn’t exactly like stepping back into the past, but it’s close. Just be patient during those first 20 minutes. I almost got up and walked out. I’m glad I didn’t.

Below : The German trailer for “The Princess and the Frog.”