The Princess and The Frog

So, I just found out that there's finally a release date for Disney's upcoming movie The Princess and The Frog! DECEMBER 25, 2009! This is exciting shit!

The movie's website even has a short little trailer, which made me chuckle giddily. I'm ecstatic about this release, because not only is this movie going to be a total nostalgia-trip for me when it comes out (I was raised on Disney princesses, dammit!), but it'll actually be the first Disney Princess movie to feature a black princess. Now, I admit that this love of mine for Disney princesses is sometimes difficult to reconcile with my feminism, because Disney has a history of perpetuating some sexist shit through the princess movies (not to mention all the heteronormativity and stereotypical gender-roles), but the more recent movies, like Mulan and Aladdin, were pretty good in terms of having strong female leads, so I really hope Tiana continues that tradition. Also, it's 2D! Animation has come a long way since The Little Mermaid, but I do miss good ol' 2D animation sometimes. And 20s jazz! It all seems like such an epic combination!

However, a few details seem to have changed since I last looked for info on this movie. For starters, the title's been changed from The Frog Princess to The Princess and The Frog. Also, Princess Tiana was originally Maddy, a chambermaid. This was more in keeping with the original story, in which the princess rejects the frog prince, whereas her chambermaid sees beyond his froggishness and lands herself a beautiful, rich husband as a result of her not being shallow (every girl's dream, right? You don't wanna be kissing amphibians for nothing, after all). In this version, Tiana is rich. She also looks less badass (and, might I add, a little more white) than her original jazzy version. According to Wikipedia, there was controversy over the initial character info, because Maddy was perceived as a "lower-class black-name" and chambermaid is not a Disney Princess occupation. I'm kind of disappointed with this. After all, we've had plenty of sheltered princesses in the past. A lower-class working girl is a heroine I can really get behind, but that's just me.

Still, the trailer gives me renewed hope for this movie. I'll be well into my 20th year when this comes out, but that's definitely not going to stop me from seeing it!