History WesternAnimation / ThePrincessAndTheFrog

* BlackGuyDiesFirst: a variation- Ray the ethnic stereotype is also the first to die.
** Cajun isn't an ethnicity! it's a dialect based in a region of the American south that has very prominent French ancestry. Anyone, black, white, or otherwise, who grew up in that region would be considered Cajun. Also, Ray is voiced by a white actor, and he dies AFTER Dr. Facilier.
*** You are confusing ethnicity with race - they're not the same thing. "Cajun" is defined as an ethnicity, that is, a group of people who identify with each other through a common heritage.

** What? There's no indication that Ray is black. He's actually voiced by Jim Cummings (a white guy) and furthurmore, Cajun isn't an ethnisity it's a dialect from a heavily french based region of the American south. Also, he technically dies after Dr. Facilier.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Naveen wished to be "free", and what did he get?
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* CelebrityVoiceActor: Surprisingly averted for a Disney film with the cast mostly being made up of character actors and actual voice actors. A few cameos aside, the biggest name in the cast is JohnGoodman!

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Ray, the incredibly offensive Cajun stereotype who also dies first.

** To be fair, though, he was distracted by the geography...a-and the topography, and the coreography!

** The shadows are also reminiscent of the animated "creatures" seen in [[TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Oogie Boogie's lair]] and one of them even looks like Jack Skellington!

TheNostalgiaCritic put it on his list of Top Villain Songs (#9), despite the movie being only a couple months old at the time and his own hatred of music by Randy Newman. He acknowledges that a big reason for it is [[AudioErotica Keith]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim David]].

!!The movie itself provides examples of:

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!!The politics surrounding the film provides examples of:

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** A better example might be Ray, the incredibly offensive Cajun stereotype who also dies first.

* NightmareFuel: Specifically, when Dr Facilier is [[spoiler: dragged screaming into a tombstone by his "friends."]]

* ObviouslyEvil: Tall, freakishly thin, likes skulls and crossbones, ''moves independandly of his freaking shadow''...

* RichInDollarsPoorInSense: Subverted. Naveen is pretty resourceful for a guy who's been turned into a frog. But the ''idea'' behind the trope is why his parents cut him off from the family fortune.

** [[spoiler: Ray isn't almost dead. He is dead.]]
*** [[spoiler: He survives far longer than an insect should be normally able to before finally breathing his last. He got to hear that Naveen and Tiana are staying together after all.]]

* AmericanAccents: Most of the accents sound more Dixie than Yat, though Tiana uses "y'all" as a singular noun, which is more of a Yat tendency. Ray has a Cajun accent. [[ShoutOut Who Dat!?]]
** Ray's voice actor, JimCummings, actually lived in New Orleans before he began his voiceover career, where he worked constructing Mardi Gras floats alongside actual Cajuns. This explains how he was able to pull off the difficult accent.

* AMinorKidroduction: The movie begins by showing Tiana and Charlotte as children being read the source material of the movie by Tiana's mother.

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: Besides the return of traditional animation to Disney, the casting of Keith David as the movie's villain sold a lot of people on seeing the movie.

** But don't male frogs croak to attract females? This troper thought it was a biology joke, since it hadn't happened to Naveen before he met Tiana.

*** Although she cleans it up in the space of about half a second.

** He got the freedom to [[IncrediblyLamePun hop from place to place]], that's what he got!
*** No he didn't. He got turned into a frog and locked in a jar. He only managed to get out by ouwitting Lawrence. Hardly freedom if to be locked away and have your blood taken every few hours.
** More specifically, he wished for "The Green", thinking it was money. It turned out it was him being a frog.
*** Granted, Facilier ''did'' display some money to trick Naveen into [[IncrediblyLamePun leaping]] to that conclusion...

** DisproportionateRetribution: Really, all the prince did to him was act mildly condescending and unintentionally get him imprisoned inside a tuba. I think Lawrence was more jealous and greedy than truly resentful.

** Fearing this fate, [[spoiler: threatening to break the talisman also works as this for Facilier. He loses his cool with this twice: first with Lawrence (but he recomposes himself), and then with Tiana (who succeeds in destroying the talisman).]]
** He also [[spoiler: kills Ray for trying to break it.]]

** Also, many people thought Louis himself would be this. At best, he's a vague homage, or even a subversion.

*** That's debatable too because the scene also showed [[CharacterDevelopment the transition of Tiana and Naveen's relatioship.]]

** Actually, it seems less like a lie and more like sarcasm. Lawrence did just finish calling him a charlatan.

* CampGay: [[spoiler: Lawrence as Naveen.]] Come on. You saw it.

* CarnivoreConfusion: Oh boy. Louis the 'gator does not want to eat frog-form Tiana and Naveen unlike his fellow alligators. His stated preferences are for New Orleans cuisine --human food. Meanwhile, despite being driven to eat bugs, Tiana and Naveen manage to keep their tongues away from Ray once Tiana cooks them all some swamp gumbo.
** Louis even lists frog legs as something he'd like to eat.

* CelebrityVoiceActor: Surprisingly averted for a Disney film with the cast mostly being made up of character actors and actual voice actors. Hell, the biggest name in the cast is JohnGoodman!
** Well [[TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah Winfrey]] (Tiana's mother) is a bigger name, but it's to Disney's credit that they didn't make a big deal of it in the promotion.
** Famous New Orleans chef, Emeril Lagasse, who has a brief appearance as Marlon, one of the gators Tiana and Naveen first encounter in the bayou, surely counts, doesn't he?

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Dr. Facilier wears a black Baron Samedi-esque outfit while Mama Odie wears white, which is the traditional color for voodoo garb. This also fits with the way they represent shadow and light respectively.
** Purple, traditional hallmark of comic book villains, is part of the Doctor's costume and no one else, even though it's one of the standard Mardi Gras colors (Purple, Green and Gold).
*** The person who wrote the color script made a conscious decision to include the three Mardi Gras colors: Facilier has purple in all of his scenes (since, of the three colors, purple is the most "unnatural"), the scenes in the swamp with frog Tiana and Naveen are green, and Mama Odie's scenes are awash in gold.

* CreatorCameo: Directors Rob Clemens and John Musker appear on a Mardi Gras float tossing beads. Walt Disney himself appears at the parade, and in the ending watching the wedding procession and as a customer at Tiana's [[strike: Place]] Palace.
** The directors also appear in Doctor Facilier's villain song. If you look at the floating masks behind Naveen's chair, two are barely recognizable caricatures.
*** Friends on the other side... of the FourthWall?
*** Self parody of CorruptCorporateExecutive?

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: "Don't make me light up my butt!" Ray vs. Facilier's minions. That is one BadAss Firefly.
** [[spoiler: And Tiana destroying the Talisman.]]
--->'''Tiana''': [[spoiler: [[InsistentTerminology "It's not slime! It's]] ''[[InsistentTerminology mucus]]''!"]] Particularly because she gets over her {{Squick}} at being a frog and embraces the utility of her condition.
*** YourMileageMayVary. For a lot of people that came off as pretty [[{{Narm}} narmtastic]].
** "Friends On The Other Side" is pretty much Dr. Facilier's crowning moment, especially at the end when he tells Naveen to blame "my friends on the other side".
** A better Crowning Moment for Facilier would be when [[spoiler: his shadow stops Tiana from destroying the talisman (the first time she tried).]]
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Tiana, Naveen, and Ray vs. the three frog hunters.
** Also, Louis' flashback to when he first tried to play in a jazz band. [[{{Understatement}} "It didn't end well...."]]
** This scene, which is impossible to convey properly in text:
--->'''Charlotte''': Back into the fray!
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7rsQp_L-EA so here's a video]]
** And, right before that last one:
--->'''Charlotte''': You know, I was startin' to think that wishin' on stars was for...babies...and CRAAAZY people.
** And, a few minutes before that when turning down the advances of a man attending the ball:
--->'''Charlotte''': Travis. When a woman say 'later', she really means 'Not ever.'
*** YourMilageMayVary; this troper felt too sorry for the man to find it funny.
** To viewers from Louisiana the scene where Naveen says he is from a land far away which Ray interprets as meaning Shreveport is beyond hilarious.
** Even after seeing it over and over in the ads, it's still hilarious:
-->'''Naveen''': I am Prince Naveen!
-->Naveen is squished by a book.
-->'''Naveen''': [--...of Maldonia.--]
** During [[spoiler: Dr. Facilier's VillainousBreakdown after his talisman is broken, his "Friends" soon show up to claim their due. He gives an exclamation of "FRIEEEEEEENDS!" with a ''pricelessly'' apologetic/horrified grin.]]
** And there's the part where Naveen [[spoiler: practices his proposal to Tiana]] while Evangeline is out. And Ray is watching...Ray quickly looks at Evangeline, then at Naveen, his light turns a faint red color...
-->'''Ray:''' Whoa, there, cap'n! ''You makin' goo-goo eyes at mah girl?!''
** My absolute favorite part of the movie was during the scene where the dog was chasing Tiana and Naveen. The guy in the octopus costume looks at this, looks at his 8 glasses of wine, then dumps them all out as if to say "I think I've had enough."
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: How can we have the other Crowning Moments without a Moment Of Heartwarming with [[spoiler: Ray being united with his love, Evangeline after his death?]]
** "If I can mince, you can dance."
** During Naveen and Tiana's dance and Louis's solo, Ray using leaves as coloured gels while his butt acts as a follow-spotlight.
** [[spoiler: "Because Tiana... she is my Evangeline."]]
** Naveen is willing to [[spoiler: selflessly give up his own personal freedom by marrying a woman he doesn't love]] so that Tiana can realize her dream of owning her own restaurant, even if it means that [[spoiler: he can never be with her]]. ''Damn'', somebody give that frog a hug!
*** Don't forget Charlotte, who spent the entire movie pursuing her dream to marry Naveen and be a princess. [[spoiler:Upon discovering that Naveen and Tiana have fallen in love with each other, she is delighted for her friend's happiness and offers to turn them back, no strings attached.]]
** The part where Naveen [[spoiler: uses some spare wire and a bracelet for a makeshift engagement ring to propose to Tiana with]] definitely counts.
** [[spoiler: "My dream wouldn't be complete... without you in it."]]
** [[spoiler: "I'll get a job. Maybe two. Maybe three!"]] His expression, the motivation behind the sentence and the fact that this is being said by a pampered prince who never did ''anything'' by himself in his life of luxury, makes this troper feel warm and fuzzy.
** Tiana and Charlotte's opening sequence, as well as helping her at the party. See NoSympathy for that one.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: It's hard to pick one with such a good soundtrack, but "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4pStVNQc4M Friends On the Other Side]]", "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJAUe_RX4 When We're Human]]", and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjfFiWutOu0 both]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCxYuEQuMU versions]] of "Down in New Orleans" get particular mention.
** Don't forget "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DectIkcKRY Dig A Little Deeper]]"! Mama Odie's voice actress was even backed up by a ''real church chorus''.
*** Add "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nCCqHO17bA Ma Belle Evangeline]]". The song is so heartwarming and sweet!
**** Also from Ray: "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2LIKT414Tg Gonna Take You There]]". It was short but very catchy.
***** Especially when linked with good memories; this song was played daily from the Mark Twain Riverboat at Disneyland, at least during November '09, making it a permanent reminder of Disneyland.

* DisappearedDad: [[spoiler: It is suggested that Tiana's dad died at some point between her childhood and teenage years, perhaps while fighting in [[WorldWarOne World War I]], since at one point we see a photo of him in a WWI-style uniform on Tiana's dresser.]]
** [[spoiler: Not only is he wearing a uniform, but there's a Distinguished Service Cross on the frame. Since that's a step below the Medal of Honor, Tiana's dad probably died doing something significant.]]
*** [[spoiler: Since he earned the cross while still alive, he might as well have died in a non-heroic way.]]
** Not necessarily, [[spoiler: that particular honor can be earned posthumously, just as the Medal of Honor can be earned while still alive, the distinction is that the Cross is for distinguished service while in the line of duty while the Medal of Honor must for earned in action that goes "above and beyond the call of duty". Not to mention the fact that he was a black soldier serving in WWI and even if he did perform actions that merited the Medal of Honor being awarded such would still be very difficult to achieve.]]
*** It is, however, [[spoiler: rather hard to pose for a photograph wearing a posthumous [=DSC=].]]

** Yeah, but they pulled a Bambi right afterwards. [[spoiler: Oooh, look! He's a star now! Don't worry, here's a ''wedding!'' Nothing happened!]]
* {{Disneyfication}}: Subverted; the popular image of Mardi Gras in New Orleans is quite different from how the locals view it, so viewers who DidNotDoTheResearch are likely to think it was Disneyfied when it really wasn't.
** Subverted to a certain extent with the film's portrayal of voodoo: while Dr. Facilier's voodoo doll follows the traditional Hollywood view, plenty of nods to actual voodoo practices are present. For example, Faciler's powder-blowing is based on an actual voodoo practice, as well as the veve drawings, Baron Samedi getup, Mojo "talisman", and his tit-for-tat with his friends on the Other Side. And the fact that Mama Odie's sidekick is a snake is especially significant to her role: snakes are symbols of change and growth in voodoo.
*** This symbolism caused some minor Fridge Brilliance feelings. [[spoiler: When Prince Naveen is being Transformed into a frog, he is tied up by snakes. Snakes are a symbol of change. While the growth aspect is not immediately clear, the transformation causes huge character growth in Naveen. Thus, it was symbolically shown that a character transformation would happen at the beginning.]]
*** Facilier's Voodoo is closer to Louisiana Voodoo than any other branch (which makes sense). This is the one branch that actually does involve dolls. Mama Odie's version is closer to traditional African Voudoun.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Before the movie even came out the fangirls were measuring Dr. Facilier for a pair of leather pants. Admit it, you KNEW it was going to happen. Let's see if fangirls will design Tiana a PossessionSue gown, or be tutoring Naveen on [[SlashFic slash]]. To quote Naveen himself, "He was ''very charismatic''!"
** Actually, some fans are taking a third option and pairing off Tiana and Facilier due to the scene near the end where he gets way too close to her for comfort and whispers seductively in her ear.
*** [[{{Squick}} Is it okay to start screaming uncontrollably?]]
** The fact that Dr. Facilier looks like [[TheProudFamily Oscar Proud]] also overlaps with some.

** YMMV as this seems to be more of a case of HiddenDepths

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Ray the firefly, who is one of the most helpful and sympathetic characters in the movie.
** Louis has also become this to [[FurryFandom fans of cartoon animals]].
** Charlotte.
** Dr. Facilier, full stop.
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Oh ''lord'', Naveen!
** And totally on purpose! According to the commentary, they were down to three options for Naveen's voice so they ''gathered together female members of the crew and asked them to pick the most attractive voice.''
** And Facilier doesn't count? EvilIsSexy.
*** It's KeithDavid. It goes without saying.

* EveryoneIsSatanInHell: Some viewers' reactions to the prevalence of voodoo in a children's film. MoralGuardians began claiming the film was made just to introduce children to voodoo practitioning.

** Make? He breaks it off of the tree and starts playing!

** Of course, it looks an awful lot like several of the animators from ''TheProudFamily'' may have worked on this...Mama Odie looks an awful lot like Grandma Proud, and Facilier looks like Oscar Proud on NightmareFuel.
*** Dr. Facilier's lead animator was the creator of the Proud Family.

*** Though played straight to an extent with Lawrence, Naveen's double-crossing butler. Though counter acted by the fact that real BigBad Doctor Facilier is built like a stick.

* FatIdiot: Both subverted and played straight with Louis. While he's shown to have a poor sense of direction (Something that Ray points out all alligators have), he is rather skilled in trumpet playing. Ya know, for an ''alligator'' who has never taken any music lessons.
** He does mentions that the river is "the best school of jazz", so it's easy to conclude that he learned by listening to concerts in steam boats. He probably got his trumpet from one!
** And think for a minute just how an Alligator would get that fat.
*** FridgeHorror, you strike again.

* FetishFuel: Tons, but Naveen being tied up by snakes, wincing in pain while Facilier's voodoo talisman bites his finger to get his blood has been very well received by the fangirls.
** Facilier's seductive tone of voice and how close he gets to Tiana physically during the above mentioned CircleOfExtinction has spawned a lot of Facilier/Tiana fanart.
** In other words, perfect Disney Tradition.
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Dr. Facilier.

* FiveManBand
** [[TheHero The Heroine]]: Tiana
** TheLancer: Naveen
** TheSmartGuy: Ray
** TheBigGuy: Louis
** TheChick: Charlotte. Or Evangeline

* FourthDateMarriage: The relationship Tiana and Naveen create is so sudden, you can pinpoint the exact moment Naveen falls in love with her. For those who are wondering, it's 53:06 . For Tiana, it takes [[{{Understatement}} much]] [[ObliviousToLove longer.]]

* FridgeBrilliance: "Big Daddy" LaBeouff is a very big fellow, shall we say, who sure does love his beignets. [[spoiler: Dr. Facilier's plot is to kill him by stabbing the heart of a voodoo doll once his daughter is wed to the fake Prince Naveen. This is certainly a pretty stealthy way to kill anyone, but no one would find a heart attack on a man LaBeouff's size to be suspect.]]
* FridgeHorror: In Mama Odie's house, Tiana and Naveen pass a jar containing two eyeballs and a set of teeth. Mama Odie is blind and has no teeth.
** If the film is set in the late 1920's, what will happen to Tiana's restaurant when the stock market crashes in 1929???
** And, if her restaurant survives that, there's still a [[WorldWarII War...]]

* GenreSavvy: Tiana, Charlotte, and Naveen are all familiar with the fairy tale in question, with the girls willing to try kissing the frog to solve the problem. Also, Facilier knows enough about a DealWithTheDevil [[spoiler: to be ''very'' worried about what will happen if he fails to please the shadow demons.]]
** But is it really this trope at work with Facilier? [[spoiler: He mentions that he has a lot of debts to his Friends on the Other Side, so it's highly likely that they had told him he had reached his 'credit limit.']]
** The only one who could actually harm his friends (besides Mama Odie) was Ray. Instead of gloating, he [[spoiler: takes care to kill him on screen.]]

*** Tiana's response is slapping him, and telling him to keep himself away from her. [[SarcasmMode Subtle.]]
*** Made even better by the fact that we don't actually see the trunk's interior. Imagine where Naveen's limbs might have been... or worse, his ''tongue''.
*** In a DeletedScene? They wake up CUDDLING!

** Don't tell me you weren't thinking it too:

** Did any of you forget this little exchange with Mama Odie and Ray?

---> * puckers up, then his throat expands*
---> Naveen: That's new.... * suggestive grin*

** Tiana: Just... one kiss? Naveen: Just one.... * perverted/suggestive tone and grin* Unless you beg for more * licks lips*
** What about when Tiana and Naveen are tied together by their tongues and Louis comes to help by [[spoiler: tying their tongues around each others' bodies?]] According to Ray's reaction, it was entirely intentional.

* [=~Hey, It's That Voice!~=]: John Goodman as Eli [=LaBouff=], using a Southern twang, JimCummings as Ray using the [[PowerpuffGirls Fuzzy Lumpkins]] voice with a slightly stronger accent (DarkwingDuck fans will recognize Jambalaya Jake), and Oprah Winfrey as Tiana's mother. To a lesser extent, [[{{Dreamgirls}} Anika Noni Rose]] and [[{{Gargoyles}} Keith David]]. [[{{Halo}} The latter, of course, making Doctor Facilier the Arbiter.]] Or [[SaintsRow Julius Little]]. Or [[{{Gargoyles}} Thailog]], or [[MassEffect Captain Anderson]] or [[TheThing Childs]] with a side order of smarminess.
** So wait, are you saying that [[spoiler: [[MassEffect Captain Anderson]] killed [[BaldursGate Minsc]]]]? It's a BioWare Civil War! D:

* HiddenDepths: While deliciously suave, Facilier seems like a standard Disney villain until [[spoiler: it turns out his actions are him trying to pay back the Friends On The Other Side so they don't do something horrible to him. Doesn't make him much more sympathetic, but definitely more complex and relatable.]]
** Facilier seemed genuinely frustrated and bitter with his lot in life, (likely due to being black in 20's New Orleans). Probably what sparked his original deal with his "Friends", and after that just [[DarkReprise dug a little deeper each time...]]
*** This gets obvious when he is convincing Lawrence to follow his plan, saying how he (Lawrence) should be tired of being in poverty while the big shots only get richer and richer. The expression in his face pretty much tells that he wasn't speaking much about Lawrence as he was about himself.
*** Facilier was apparently supposed to be a Creole, and hence an ethnic minority to boot. Free African Americans and Creoles of mixed ancestry would have been lumped in under Jim Crow laws after the Civil War. The ''[=LaBouff=]'' family were probably Creole too, but would have been considered "French" and white.
*** Facilier also had economic motives as well as racial ones. New Orleans is run by a capitalist white patriarch, and [[spoiler: by turning everyone into just souls for his "Friends" to collect]], he's equalizing everyone--no more class system. The undertones are clear because he teams up with Lawrence, who is obviously unhappy with his role as a servant and would like to move farther up the totem pole.
** Naveen also seems like a smarmy, cheesy "no-account, good for nothing" as Tiana calls him, but he displays resourcefulness, adaptability, scientific knowledge, and multilingual knowledge, plus a willingness to learn. To say nothing of his musical talents, which mainly enhanced his image as a himbo.
*** Combine this with the fact that a lot of his behavior is used as a mask to hide deep insecurities about literally not knowing how to do ''anything'' for himself due to his parents spoiling him most of his life and then kicking him out and he almost goes straight into [[TheWoobie Woobie territory]]
** Charlotte, [[spoiler: despite her lifelong dream, takes about a second to decide to kiss Naveen with no strings attached for Tiana's sake. She may be TheDitz, but she doesn't even have to ''think'' before sacrificing for her friend.]]
*** [[spoiler: Not only that but, when the kiss doesn't work, she seems genuinely upset and repeatedly tries to make it work.]]
*** Not to mention that after Tiana's accident at the party, Charlotte immediately leaves Prince Naveen on the dance floor to help Tiana clean up and change her dress. She also offers Tiana a ridiculous amount of money for beignets. This may just be Charlotte having no concept of the value of money, but it gives Tiana enough cash to buy her resturaunt.

* HollywoodVoodoo: Well, that is already explained above, at DidNotDoTheResearch. But Disney did a better job than usual, by even mentioning Hoodoo. Facilier sings he knows Voodoo and Hoodoo, but Voodoo is a religion, and Hoodoo a practice of that religion. Well it RHYMES, so who cares? Be glad he didn't go Shizzle mah Nizzle.
** Actually Hoodoo is a completely seperate (but related) system. Hoodoo is Souther USA African Folk Magic (more of a magical system), while Voudun (Voodoo, Vudu, the various spellings) is a syncretic Afro-Catholic religion.

*** Facilier makes use of Voodoo dolls, usually the only known object in Voodoo. But the use of this object is only used in Louisiana Voodoo. So that is again a thumbs-up for Disney. But they do exaggerate it a bit.
** They also give themselves a bit of an [[AuthorsSavingThrow escape hatch]] in the next line--"I've got things I ain't even tried." Facilier isn't stuck on any one tradition, he'll work with anything and anyone that can give him power.

** B-b-but Dr. Facilier is ''very charismatic!''

** That line was most likely Disney's way of assuring audiences that Ray was Cajun and not using a stereotypical inbreed hick accent.

** Disney magic, of course.

* IncrediblyLamePun: "Hop to it!"

** Does that make him an {{Expy}} of [[{{Enchanted}} Nathaniel]]?

** [[ParentalBonus Think about]] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar the shape]] [[DoubleEntendre of a]] [[AccidentalInnuendo candle]]. [[BrainBleach You're welcome]].

* LesYay: Charlotte dreamily sighing that Tiana is "as pretty as a magnolia in May" sounds strikingly similar to the way Naveen swoons over "the way your eyes light up when you talk about your dream." Then there's the IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy-vibes when Charlotte's about to kiss Naveen...

* LoveAtFirstSight: Averted. Tiana and Naveen encounter each other, briefly, early in the movie when they are both human. She is visibly unimpressed and he gives a "can't win them all" shrug.

** [[spoiler: Well, Evangeline is the "evening star"]] - and what is the evening star actually ''called''? [[GreekMythology Venus.]] FridgeBrilliance!

** Inverted with his "Friends on the Other Side", who are on the Other Side, but not really anyone's friends.
** Mama Odie is an inversion too; she's not really odious.

** Also "Evangeline", since it's the name of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem about a woman looking for her lost love. It's also the name of a parish in Louisiana.
*** Specifically, "Evangeline" is meaningful in that the Longfellow poem is about an Acadian woman looking for her lost husband after they were separated in the ethnic cleansing of Acadians from their homeland that started in 1755. Some Acadians migrated to Louisiana after this and over time became known as Cajuns. Of course, Ray is a Cajun firefly, so the name of his true love is ethnically significant.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: Anyone else wish that the [[spoiler: funeral]] had been given an awesome, New Orleans style jazz number?
** This is more of a case of RealityIsUnrealistic. The scene was shown with traditional New Orleans [[spoiler: funeral]] music for test audiences and they complained that it was [[SoundtrackDissonance inappropriate]]. The crew then changed it to something more somber.
** No duet for Tiana and Naveen? Seriously?
*** "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ1WV3HVGPo Does this Count?]]"
** No show-stopping Mardi Gras set piece? It's New Orleans, and the holiday is a plot point! Come on!
** We get a film about voodoo, the bad guy is pretty much a genuine Bokor in all but name, a major plot point revolves around [[spoiler: stealing souls]]... and you're telling me there are NO [[spoiler: ZOMBIES]] in this movie?!
*** Those voodoo dolls came [[spoiler: during the DarkReprise of the VillainSong]] out of the ground. Does that count?
** [[spoiler: [[SchmuckBait What, we didn't get to see Naveen transform into a frog? Not even a]] [[ShadowDiscretionShot shadowed one?]] [[JustifiedTrope I understand you want to fake the audience out and it may]] [[NightmareFuel scare the ever loving crap out of non]] NightmareFetishist young children, but come on.]] [[CrazyPrepared Don't worry, I have the]] BrainBleach and MST3KMantra spray on standby, just in case you get [[{{Squick}} disturbed]] [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant by that.]]
*** [[spoiler: [[FetishFuel At the very least, it would have inspired a whole new generation of transformation fetishists.]]]] [[RunningGag In other words, perfect Disney tradition!]]
*** According to the directors, a more elaborate transformation was animated, but they felt it took away from Facilier's big moment. So they replaced it with the shot of Facilier singing "Don't blame me: You can blame my friends on the other side." Unfortunately, said scene is not in the deleted scenes on the DVD.
** Some were half-expecting a showdown with the two voodoo magicians during the climax. It would've certainly helped Mama Odie's short screentime.

* MoralEventHorizon: Dr. Facilier might be all charming, affable, goofy and charismatic, but his promise to feed ''a whole city'' worth of human souls to demons in exchange for power and willingness to murder an innocent human on a whim brings a red-hot branding iron with "Monster" engraved on it dangerously close to his forehead.
** Goofy? No to mention how he kills the most sympathetic character in the film, and merely wipes his nose at it.

** And just before she kisses Naveen, Tiana keeps telling herself "Okay, Tiana, you can do this, you can do this, its just a little kiss, a little kiss..."

* {{Narm}}: "It's not slime, it's mucus!" First, mucus is slime, second, this is a reference to an injoke between Tiana and Naveen so [[spoiler:Facilier dies]] without knowing what in the world she was talking about, third, the injoke wasn't funny to begin with, and fourth, despite the music following that statement, is that really the way you want this movie to climax?
* NarmCharm: It's almost too easy, to the point of cliché, that [[spoiler: Ray ends up as a star alongside Evangeline. And yet... it's sweet, and it's fitting, and it works.]]
** [[spoiler: During the Ma Belle Evangeline dance, when Ray sings "Look how she lights up the sky", and Naveen looks to Tiana and sees a very cartoony sparkle in her eyes. And yet, it's just too adorable a moment to feel awkward.]]
** Hell, the whole movie is a throwback to the unashamedly corny Disney animated movies of old. And it's the best Disney movie in ''ages''!
*** This troper never found those movies "corny", but YourMilageMayVary, I guess.

** Overall, Disney did an excellent job making this movie look like something it ''isn't'' in the [=TV=] spots, putting emphasis on butt jokes, fart jokes, and Louis and Ray at their goofiest. Ray was even made out to be a [[StarWars Jar-Jar]]-esque [[TheScrappy annoyance]]! Meanwhile, there was very little mention of what makes the film awesome: the music, Facilier, Tiana's [[YouGoGirl spirited attitude]], ect. This backfired on many of the very fans they should have courted.

* NightmareFuel: During the "Friends'" song, Faciller's face starts flashing in an almost psychedelic fashion.
--->'''Facilier:''' I HOPE YOU'RE SATISFIED!"
** The spirits/ghosts/shadows/whatever Facilier sends to catch Tiana and Naveen were really, ''really'' creepy. Not to mention that they move silently and swiftly and you can't prepare with anything.
*** At least one of them appears to disturbingly resemble [[SlenderManMythos the Slender Man]].
** The very creepy sculpture beside Facilier's door, anyone?
** The alligators.
*** HighOctaneNightmareFuel: [[spoiler: Screaming "I just need a little more time!", Dr. Facilier is dragged by the ankle of his shadow into the fang-rimmed maw of a monster voodoo mask which transforms into a tombstone engraved with an image of his screaming face]]. "ARE YOU READY??"
--->[[spoiler: [[AlasPoorVillain I'M NOT READY!!]] ]]

** You just ''know'' you're in trouble when your VillainSong gets a DarkReprise.
*** Just take a look at [[spoiler: Facilier's]] face at [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zby1aPIl3Qs&feature=related the 24-second mark]]. [[spoiler: Even though he was going to offer the city as a buffet to his "friends", [[AlasPoorVillain you still feel pity for what's about to happen]].]]

* ParanoiaFuel: Your child may develop a fear of shadows after seeing this movie.
** And God help you if you have African masks hanging up somewhere in your house.
*** [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant Bom-bom bom-bom bom-bom-bom-bom-bom...]]
*** It doesn't help that those masks are pretty creepy-looking ''on their own'', without the connotations this show gives them!

** Alternatively, it could be viewed as an [[AvertedTrope averted case]] of [[WritingAroundTrademarks writing around trademarks]]: Tabasco is made on an island off the coast of Louisiana, and is more readily available and preferred. Furthermore, the [[IncrediblyLamePun shots]] of the bottles don't over-emphasize the label.

* ReallyGetsAround: ''Strongly'' implied for Naveen, as strong as one can imply in a G-rated movie.
** He even says at one point that he has dated ''thousands'' of women. [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud Unfortunately,]] it's when he's trying to [[spoiler: propose to Tiana.]]

* RedEyesTakeWarning: ''subverted'' with Juju the snake. Facilier has PurpleEyes.

** But gives way to CrowningMomentOfFunny when [[spoiler: Louis goes into full "gator-mode" at the end.]]
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation: The film is clearly a ([[{{YourMileageMayVary}} successful or otherwise]]) attempt to make a film with the style and quality of writing and music of the mid 90's Disney. They even brought back writers and producers from {{Aladdin}} and other such films.

** Charlotte plays this straight. And at the end, she's learned exactly nothing.
** It's never really stated whether or not Charlotte is ever really dumb so much as Ditz though, so YMMV as to whether or not she needed to learn very much at all.
*** Charlotte isn't lacking sense; she believes in wishes and she's highly emotional, but she doesn't do anything that would mark her as being dumb. In fact, having her 'learn something' from Tiana and Naveen would have undermined the moral of the story-- if you spend your life wishing for what you want, you'll be stuck waiting forever, but ''being a dreamer doesn't mean you're a bad person''. Despite her emotional swings, Charlotte is probably the truest (non-animal) friend any of the Disney Princesses have ever had.

* {{Ruritania}}: Naveen's homeland of Maldonia seems to be a vaguely Mediterranean variant.
** Is it Ruritania or {{Qurac}}? He could just as easily be Middle Eastern as anything else. Naveen is a possible MostTriumphantExample of AmbiguouslyBrown.
*** I have to admit that I always thought Naveen was from one of India's Princely States. This has more to do with his [[NaveenAndrews name]] than anything else, though.

**** That's because the costume was intended to be a shout out to her.

** Cinderella's Coach is a toy in Charlotte's room

** Mama Odie's put-upon snake sidekick: a benevolent version of Sir Hiss from ''Disney/RobinHood''?
*** Or, y'know, [[Disney/TheJungleBook Kaa?]]

** Anyone else notice that during Facilier's song and dance number he strikes a pose very reminiscent to the recently deceased [[MichaelJackson King of Pop]]?
*** In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdQs7zPC_mg this video]], it is confirmed Dr. Facilier was inspired by Michael Jackson as well as JimCarrey, Jack Lemmon, and Usher. Oh, and when creating Dr. Facilier, Bruce W. Smith was imagining what the love child of [[CrackPairing Captain Hook and Cruella de Vil]] would be like.
**** He's also definitely channeling some Cab Calloway in his moves, and the first part of his song is somewhat reminiscent of "Minnie The Moocher."
** And Naveen's dancing shows influence from both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

** Theres a scene where Charlotte dances with Naveen. It uses the bit of animation previously seen at the end of both SleepingBeauty and BeautyAndTheBeast.
*** With regards to Charlotte, part of the point of this scene is to evoke the scene where the Prince dances with Cinderella since Charlotte wishes to be such a princess. Her gown is also based off of concept art from Cinderella.

** The shadows are also reminiscent of the animated "creatures" seen in [[TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Oogie Boogie's lair]].
*** And one of them even looks like Jack Skellington!

*** [[spoiler: ''Burial At Sea of the Firefly''?]]

** Lawrence getting his head stuck in a tuba may be a possible shout out to ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', where the same thing happens to [[ButtMonkey Lefou]].

** SteamboatWillie, anyone?

** Is it possible that the end when [[spoiler: Naveem and Tiana transform after their froggy wedding]] is a ShoutOut to the way that Odette's transformations were animated in TheSwanPrincess? Or is [[Tropers/{{Loracarol}} this troper]] reading to much into the swirling of water?
*** It's not water! It's mucous!

** The music (by New Orleans native Randy Newman) is extremely location-specific and culture-specific, to the point that [[ViewersAreMorons viewers unfamiliar with bayou music]] said it [[AluminumChristmasTrees didn't sound catchy enough]]. Which implies that there are people who didn't get "Friends on the Other Side" [[EarWorm stuck in their head]].

* SoulJar: Dr. Facilier's amulet, though probably not granting him immortality, as in the traditional definition of this trope, still fits since he appears to have sold his own soul to the Friends on the Other Side for the source of his powers. [[spoiler: You break it, you bought it!]]
** That's a legitimate Vodou fetish. A skilled bokor (witch for hire) can trap souls in a ouanga (spirit talisman) to fuel his own magic. However, he can only hold onto the spirits for so long, because all souls belong to Bondye (the one true God) and have to go back to him. It's still considered dark magic because you're interfering with them going to the afterlife.
** Could be a ShoutOut of sorts to {{Anastasia}}. Though it's unlikely that Disney would praise [[TwentiethCenturyFox their competitors]], the similarities are hard to ignore; Rasputin made a [[DealWithTheDevil similar bargain]] for powerful a magic item and [[spoiler: destroying the object he bargained for had pretty much the same effect.]]

** Even better, Dr. Facilier's name is a pun on "Easy" which references TheBigEasy, but also ...one who makes things easy. Lawrence takes him up on that offer, and finds to his dismay that taking the easy way is not the same as the right way.
*** The core [[AnAesop Aesop]] of the movie is "Work hard to EarnYourHappyEnding, because wishing can only take you so far. The villain of the movie is a magician who relies on his friends' magic to accomplish his goals. What better name for the villain than Dr. "Person Who Makes Things Easier"?
** Tiana's name is one letter away from Tiara. [[MeaningfulName Hmm...]]
*** Tiana's name literally means "Princess."
** The realtors shared the joint costume of a donkey. The ye olden term for donkey is 'Jack ass', as seen in [[{{Disney/Pinocchio}} the second film the studio made]]. [[JerkAss Guess how they treat our heroine. Go ahead, guess.]]
*** Bonus points because the one in the head tried to break the news to her gently the hind one interrupted and put it bluntly.
** Louis is a jazz playing alligator. "Gator" was a slang term for jazzman in the 20s.
*** To be more specific, Louis is a ''trumpet'' playing Gator, combine that with "gator" being a slang term for a Jazzman and you get a multi-layer reference to LouisArmstrong. These are ''far'' from the only similarities the two share.

* TarotMotifs: When Doctor Facilier reads Naveen and Lawrence's fortunes. [[spoiler: We clearly see TheFool, Three of Pentacles, and the Tower in Naveen's hand, while Lawrence is almost a replica of Ten of Wands.]] And it's not overdone, and [[ShownTheirWork it works!]]
** Although the [[AncientEgypt Eye of Horus]] on the back of the cards is a bit confusing. You'd think it'd be a bit too late for Facilier to try to get protection from evil.
* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Ray's death and his being reborn as a star next to his (at first thought imaginary) girlfriend Evangeline at the end. Honestly, how many Disney movies can you think of where they ''actually'' kill one of the central ''good guys?'', and an animal sidekick at that?]]
** The DarkReprise of Almost There. Anyone who has come so incredibly close to a personal goal, then had it snatched from under them due to a stupid little detail can attest that it hits close to home.
** Any scene regarding Tiana's late father, James (particularly the scene where she and her mom get choked up and hug remembering James), may also qualify.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Oh, come on, Lawrence would have been a much more interesting character if he had received more development. When Facilier shows him his tarot readings, he has a pretty decent FreudianExcuse (he was pushed around by everyone including his family and the prince). And then in one scene after that [[NobleDemon he actually offers to give his amulet back to Facilier and not go through with his plan]]. But none of that comes up again after those scenes, after which he does nothing except passively go along with Facilier; and he doesn't even get a real resolution at the end of the movie.
** Lawrence does get a resolution at the end. [[spoiler: He is arrested for the villainous acts that he was WILLINGLY committing while screaming that it wasn't his fault because it was all Facilier's idea. The fact that he tried to abandon the Doc's evil plan once is the fact that he tried ONCE, then he never felt the need to question Facilier again. Any noble ideas that he had were pushed aside in favor of his gaining money and respect, both of which he desperately wanted and pompously felt he was entitled to.]]
** Dr. Facilier's issues with his Friends on the Other Side would have made a perfectly good story on its own. Dr. Facilier is basically Disney's version of Dr. Faustus. He had unimaginable demonic power at his fingertips, and all he could think to do was [[spoiler: scam a butler and get some money. When his debt is finally called in, he begs for "just a little more time."]]
*** Facilier directly says that he can't conjure anything for himself. And his "Friends" are quite stingy with their power.
** Are you really wanting them to make sequels/prequels to this? The main pair got the focus just like in every romantic film, they did think about expanding on a few of the side characters but it took focus off the main story so got the ax. Sometimes you have to make hard calls to keep your story on track.

* TooDumbToLive: Facilier's plan is to hand over an item [[spoiler: of dire personal importance]] to a stranger. The item in question is so astonishingly fragile that if a frog drops it on the ground, it goes to pieces. [[spoiler: If your life force was tied to one particular fragile item, would you hand it over to a short balding man you just met?]]
** Facilier's soul wasn't actually bound to the amulet itself - the amulet was just a particularly important tool in a larger plan, [[spoiler: the failure of which DID end up costing him his soul]]. It is a good question why he didn't just use it on himself, though.
*** Although he didn't elaborate on [[MagicAIsMagicA the mechanics of voodoo]], Facilier did mention that he couldn't use his magic on himself, which is why he had to gamble on Lawrence's success. Although, given that he basically has an army of {{Living Shadow}}s at his disposal (so long as he keeps his friends appeased), taking the BalefulPolymorph + MoreThanMindControl + GuiseWillBeGuise combo route to accomplish his ends does seem needlessly complicated, still keeping to the trope.
* ToothyBird: Naveen still has his teeth even when he is a frog. Ray the firefly also has teeth, albeit wonky ones.
** The animator for Naveen said they based his design off of African species of frogs that have teeth.

* TrickDialogue: Ray overhears Naveen practicing a proposal to Tiana, but believes he's trying to move in on Evangeline. Which leads to a minor CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* TheUnintelligible: Two-Fingers, one of the frog-hunting rednecks, speaks with mumbles and grunts. Darnell and Pa have no trouble understanding him, though.
** In some scenes, he's only speaking very quietly rather than unintelligibly.
** Also Ray. Seriously does anyone understand what he's saying most of the time?
*** [[YourMileageMayVary Vot' kilomètrage peut varier]] on dat one, podna.

* VillainSong: "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6yw2SmG674 Friends on the Other Side]]". KeithDavid should get bonus points for making this song ''define'' CrowningMusicOfAwesome.
** TheNostalgiaCritic put it on his list of Top Villain Songs (#9), despite the movie being only a couple months old at the time and his own hatred of music by Randy Newman. He acknowledges that a big reason for it is [[AudioErotica Keith]] [[EvenTheGuysWantHim David]].

* WartsAndAll: Naveen to Lawrence. Boy, does he regret it.
** [[spoiler: Amusingly, Naveen asks Tiana if she loves him, "warts and all", making it more literal than figurative "warts and all"]]

** Well, the cat was only seen in the prologue, before an at least thirteen-year time skip, so...
** it also might just be an indoor cat. We don't really spend much time in the La Bouffe's home.

** Aha! She does fall in love with [[IncrediblyLamePun a white prince]]!

** It was still enough to convince Disney to greenlight more 2D animation.
*** Maybe, maybe not. ''King of the Elves'' was cancelled and pre-production on ''The Snow Queen'' ended very soon after the box office numbers began to drop. Hopefully DVD sales will be strong.
*** But there's still that ''WinnieThePooh'' film! WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong?!

* YouFailHistoryForever: Despite taking place during the Prohibition, there's an awful lot of wine drinking in this movie, especially at Charlotte's party. Then again she might just be [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney rich enough to get away with it]].
** Prohibition only outlawed the ''sale'' of alcohol (and infamously didn't do a very good job of it). It's hardly a stretch to think that the richest man in the city had a number of bottles from before 1919.
*** Especially in New Orleans.

** The Cajun fireflies are stereotyped with missing teeth and being "simple". Ray's subplot makes him look like a CloudCuckooLander, though the whole thing is about him being a firefly and has nothing to do with his ethnic group. And of course, [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight that worked out for him in the end.]]
*** The three frog hunters might have been Cajun as well. One of them makes a reference to "sauce piquante", and their leader has a slight Gallic growl to his voice. But then, [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys the French are acceptable targets in their own right]].
**** Averted with most of the white characters. They're noticeably wealthier and more privileged than Tiana and her family, but they're not depicted as arrogant.

** One might say that it is mentioned so much in the film that it ends up almost being {{Anvilicious}}.
*** ...except that Tiana's a major workaholic, which curiously turns out to be her major character flaw.
**** Technically her flaw was that she cranked the "all work and no play" mantra to such a level of intensity. Note that at the beginning of the movie her father tells her that wishing is just fine but to be sure to also put hard work into making dreams come true. Later in the movie, she insists that her father told her that wishing does no good at all and only hard work matters. Also, her father told her to "never forget what truly matters" (love), but Tiana has forgotten as an adult.
**** [[AnAesop The intended lesson]] is somewhere in between; you have to work hard to achieve your dreams, but if you lose track of the other good things in life in the process, you may end up LonelyAtTheTop. As Mama Odie tells Tiana, her father, who she's put on a pedestal for his hard work and dedication, was also "a loving man, family through and through."

** The huge poofy dresses probably don't help.
** It's more like the face; she looks a bit more... cartoonish, compared to Tiana. Then again, she's also a bit of a LargeHam.
*** Her eyes are a bit too far apart and her head's unusually round. Not fat though, if anything it's meant to give her childish features to match her personality, problem is that [[MadEye her face ends up distorting itself badly]] whenever she's not pleased.
** Charlotte's blue dress fits Tiana like a glove, suggesting the size difference between the two has to be negligible.
** Take a look at the image for SpoiledSweet and just ''try'' to call that "fat" with a straight face.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: It's very [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws doubtful]] that blacks and whites would be able to eat in the same restaurant together in the 1920s Deep South... That said, there are a few unexpected nods -- such as Tiana being very obviously from "that" part of town. And when one of the realtors refers to Tiana's "background", and she reacts to that exact word by looking both enraged and about to cry, it's ''painfully'' obvious what he means.
** For sugar barons, the La Bouff family is unusually liberal for Charlotte to hang out with Tiana. Although interracial friendship was certainly not unheard-of, it was certainly not an equal relationship.
*** Sugar barons? I wonder who picks the sugar, and under what conditions.
*** Even in the film it's not an equal relationship. Mr. La Bouff sure does love Tiana and her mother, but only to the extent he'd love favorite house servants. Note that at no point in the movie does he offer to pay for Tia's restaurant...
** Another subtle acknowledgment comes during the opening song. When Tiana runs to catch the trolley, we cut to see her sitting in the back...
*** ...but then, in a scene a few moments later, she leaps onto the trolley's running board - in the ''front''.
*** True, but when we see the trolley's ''other'' occupants, they're all black. Including the driver.
**** In a weird and very subtle example, Facilier's bitter comment about the "living on the margins" and resenting the "fat cats" implies that he may have been the victim of various forms of discrimination in the past. This owes a lot to Keith David's delivery.

** Yannow, that makes the aforementioned psychedelic flashing of Facilier's face during "Friends on the Other Side" make a whole new sort of sense.
*** Marijuana may have been legal, but that doesn't mean it was fashionable or socially acceptable. I imagine it was only used by derelicts.
*** Actually, marijuana gained widespread acceptance in the black community during prohibition, especially in the South. This preference for pot has its roots in the fact that blacks would face much harsher consequences if they were caught with alcohol that whites would, and so they sought to get their high from another substance. In a city with a large black population like New Orleans, marijuana was very widespread.
** The entire "Prince Naveen" element is especially problematic. As cosmopolitan a city as New Orleans has always been, it is still part of the "traditional" South (as people who know the city will always remind you). And the South in the 1920s was not only racially prejudiced (as was the North at that time, more or less), but ''ethnically'' prejudiced as well. Simply being "white" in our modern sense didn't quite cut it: only Anglo-Saxons, Germans, and Scandinavians (and, to a lesser extent, the Scottish and Irish) were considered truly "normal." (The French were respected in theory for their "refinement", and especially so in New Orleans, but most of the time they were viewed as either Catholic, secularist, or practitioners of voodoo, and thus not to be fully trusted in the Protestant South.) It is glaringly obvious that Naveen is from a foreign (that is, non-English-speaking) country, and it is highly unlikely that any "Anglo" Southerner - let alone one as prominent as "Big Daddy" [=LaBoeuf=] - would have been pleased at the thought of him marrying his daughter. But instead, of course, [[spoiler: Naveen chooses to marry Tiana instead, which raises its own troubling issues (since even the darkest European is still European, and therefore not black).]]
*** Then again, the [=LaBoeufs=] obviously have at least some French ancestry themselves - and it's implied that they're Catholic (they ''are'' celebrating Mardi Gras, after all). So maybe New Orleans was never all that "Southern", really.
*** New Orleans, like most of Louisiana, has always celebrated its Catholic and French history. While the rest of the South might be Anglo and protestant, New Orleans is Franco-Catholic, and this includes the more prominent families.
* TaintedByThePreview: This project has been drawing criticism from near-Day One; see UnpleasableFanbase below. Quite a few people were upset to discover that Disney's first black princess will evidently be spending the majority of the film as a frog. However, there are three full musical numbers and a reprise before Tiana gets transformed, and she's human for her most [[TheFinalTemptation critical moment]].
* UnfortunateImplications: Although the movie is set in TheDeepSouth during TheRoaringTwenties and has mostly African-American heroes, Disney is trying very, very hard to avoid this (not that it matters, see below).
** As in this part of the page we're supposed to talk about [[strike:shitstorm]] politics, surrounding the film, there is one obvious, big [[UnfortunateImplications Unfortunate Implication]]: using a black heroine automatically earns your film a vicious UnpleasableFanbase.
** Listen to the lyrics to Randy Newman's songs [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwwhHI_IMog "Sail Away"]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGw_vAnqPI "Rednecks"]] and it's a surprise that his association with the film didn't engender a much, MUCH bigger shit-storm.
* UnpleasableFanbase: And how. As Disney's first Animated Canon film with a black heroine, and with unpleasant memories of ''SongOfTheSouth'' and ''{{Dumbo}}'''s crows lingering, there already has been a lot of nitpicking over how the characters and setting will be portrayed. And it was originally titled ''The Frog Princess'' until complaints that the phrase was an ethnic slur were raised. The debate has now reached the ''New York Times'' in [[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/31disney.html?_r=2&hp=d=all this article]].
** Also commented on and skewered by Larry Wilmore on ''TheDailyShow'' [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-29-2007/frog-princess here]]
** Fans are also cautioning people with horrid memories of Hurricane Katrina to stay away from this film set in the French Quarter.
** Fans are even beginning to complain about Randy Newman being chosen as composer over Disney regular Alan Menken, despite the fact that Newman has composed scores and songs for more films than Menken has (including ''{{Pleasantville}}'', ''[=~Cats Don't Dance~=]'', and several {{Pixar}} titles). Menken had also recently done the songs for ''{{Enchanted}}'', so the producers (quite reasonably) wanted to mix things up a little.
*** The fact that Newman grew up in New Orleans was probably a bigger reason for his selection.
**** Justified, to an extent. Originally Alan Menken was set to work on The Princess and the Frog, but [[ExecutiveMeddling John Lasseter]] himself took Menken off the project & put Newman on. This not only pissed off fans at the time (way back in 2006), but original directors Ron Clements & John Musker wanted Alan Menken in the first place. It's important to note that Alan Menken is not merely a composer, but that he actually did a lot of work on the story of the films he's worked on, including ''{{Beauty and the Beast}}'', ''TheLittleMermaid'', ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' etc.
**** There's also the fact that Randy Newman's music can be considered LoveItOrHateIt.
** There is an extremely ridiculous two-sided argument about Prince Naveen. On one side, people are complaining that he ''isn't'' black and thus little boys don't have a black Disney prince to go with little girls having a black Disney princess. On the other side, people are complaining that he ''is'' black and that Disney should be daring and have their first interracial couple (apparently ''{{Pocahontas}}'' or ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' don't count). Both sides appear to be ignoring the fact that Naveen was made AmbiguouslyBrown and is from a ''made up'' country, thus leaving it to people to make "black" or not, whichever they desire. Furthermore, after Pocahontas and John Smith, there was Milo (white) and Kida (some kind of white-haired crypto-Caribbean) in ''[[AtlantisTheLostEmpire Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'', and before ''that'', there was Esmerelda (dark-skinned gypsy, possibly Spanish) and white, fair-haired Phoebus. Not to mention the fact that from the beginning, before they even decided to have a black ''princess'', the prince was always supposed to be a cocky, lazy, arrogant man-whore. So can you imagine the even bigger controversy if they made him their first black prince?
*** Given that one of the oldest and most unpleasant black stereotypes is the "happy darky"--lazy, irresponsible, and interested only in having fun and making music--casting Naveen as a black would have sent the UnfortunateImplications through the roof.
*** If you look at the examples you've listed you'll note that every couple was white guy, non-white girl, which carries still more UnfortunateImplications, and is one more reason people had a bee in their bonnet over Naveen and his skin color.
*** Of course the opposite would've gave us a ''WhereDaWhiteWomenAt''.
** [[MoralGuardians Christian reviewers]] have been complaining about the use of [[HollywoodVoodoo Voodoo]] in the film, saying that Doctor Facilier and his "friends on the other side" were [[CompletelyMissingThePoint too scary]]. A tad more worrying, however, are the complaints directed towards the positive portrayal of Mama Odie- one gets the impression from these reviews that [[AlwaysChaoticEvil anybody who practices another religion is evil]], [[WallBanger regardless of how kind and helpful they are]].
** Animation fans and especially Disney fans have been waiting for [[NostalgiaFilter the return of 2D animation for years]], but now that it's here... well, let's just say some of them are inexplicably dissatisfied. It's actually kind of sickening. (Some of this could be due to HypeBacklash, however, which ''is'' understandable.)
** A lot of the complainers were claiming the film was important because it was Disney's first minority American heroine. Apparently LiloAndStitch's Hawaiians [[UnfortunateImplications don't count]].
** Neither do [[{{Pocahontas}} Native Americans]], [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} Arabs]],or [[{{Mulan}} Chinese]]. Same for [[HunchbackOfNotreDame A Roma woman]].
*** Actually, they claimed it was important because it was the first minority ''princess.'' Mulan and Lilo weren't royalty, whether or not Pocahontas could count as actual ''princess'' is still up for debate. They do seem to forget Jasmine, though.
*** Pocahontas is a Native American Princess, both in Disney and in actual history, so I don't see how that is debatable. Unless they're trying to say that she is not their kind of princess.
**** The argument is that technically, her father is not a "king", he is a chieftain. Therefore, she is a daughter of a chieftain. The title is the debate.
*** But isn't their whole argument wrong ''anyway'' since Tiana wasn't a princess either until the very end?
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* [[DarkReprise DARKER Reprise]]: [[spoiler: The Friends from the Other Side begin their own singing of "ARE YOU READY!?" to which Dr. Facilier insists he's not, in a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zby1aPIl3Qs twisted reprise]] of Facilier's VillainSong]]. You KNOW you're screwed when your own catch VillainSong gets turned against you!