The Princess and the Frog Blu-ray + DVD Double Play | Disney Animated Movie | Perfect for Family Movie Nights & Disney Collection

It only took a couple of huge misses like Valiant and Pixar bringing in all the money and critical acclaim to get Disney back on the right track. That's not to say I'm one of those people who is anti-CG and thinks anything hand-drawn is good just because of how it's animated, but face it, Disney's own CG animated movies are best forgotten. And most of their 2D animated movies after Lilo and Stitch were a joke. I finally watched The Princess and the Frog tonight, after hearing my 3 year old daughter rave about it and how cool the Shadow Man is. And you know what? This IS a pretty damn good movie. To me, it seems like this could've come out in the early 90s along with Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Rescuers Down Under and fit right in. There really isn't much I can say as far as the negatives go with this movie aside from that I wanted it to be a little longer, and that I wish Shadow Man would've gotten more screen time.The story is pretty basic, but still fun. Tiana is a lower class girl trying to save up enough money to buy a building and turn it into a restaurant, which was a dream her father had. She's working two jobs as a waitress, and saves every cent she can, filling a bunch of coffee cans with tips. One day, Prince Naveen comes to town in search of a rich princess to marry since his parents cut him off, and it's either that or get a job. Tiana's friend Charlotte just happens to fit the bill, but before he can do anything, he takes a chance at getting rich an easier way thanks to the sinister Shadow Man. Long story short, Naveen turns into a frog and Tiana turns into a frog as well when she tries to turn him back with a kiss just like the old fairy tale. The two set off to find a way to turn human again before it's permanent, and before someone else marries Charlotte.I really did love everything about this movie. Most of the songs are memorable, especially Almost There and Friends on the Other Side. Though if you think about it, the animation during the latter is an awful lot like the Genie's song in Aladdin- A Friend Like Me. Regardless, the Shadow Man is one of the coolest Disney villains, animated or live action, to appear in a long time. He's kind of a cross between Ursula and Jafar, and the fact that he uses his shadow to control other people via their shadows is just plain rad. I was just disappointed that he got little screen time compared to other Disney greats like Scar, Ursula, Jafar and even lesser ones like Clayton. The animation, while it did have a lot of CG bits here and there (magazine covers and cards stood out like a sore thumb), was beautiful, and the character designs are a lot like those in the early/mid 90s, before Disney started to get weird like they did with Mulan and Hercules. The cast of characters is great, and characters I thought were just going to be comic relief ended up having some truly heart warming moments. What can I say? This is a great movie, and anyone who had doubts about Disney's future needs to check it out.Both the audio and picture quality on the blu-ray are perfect. 'not much else needs to be said here. As for the extras, well, go look at the list of them, 'cause there's a lot and I don't have enough room to talk about them all. But each extra covers nearly every aspect of making the film, though most of them are a bit on the short side. It's good to see that a newer film like this is getting the same treatment as the Platinum and Diamond editions of Snow White and others. If a special edition of this comes out in a few years, I really have no idea what extras they can throw in aside from a retrospective or something. And hey, you're also getting the dvd and digital copy here too, so you can keep the blu-ray at home to enjoy on a nice tv/sound system, bring the dvd in the car for trips, and have an extra copy on your computer or portable media player. This is a great deal.Do yourself a favor and get this movie, if not for your kids, for yourself if you're a fan of animation and good jazz music. I've seen a lot of reviews talking about how kids were scared by the Shadow Man, but really, it depends on what your kids like. My daughter loves 'scary' things like the Nightmare Before Christmas, Skelanimals and Dia de los Muertos style art, and she's only 3. Needless to say, when another kid would say that he's scary when watching the movie with her, she'd go "no, he's cool!". But aside from that, there's not much here that should be questionable for anyone. Thanks for making this movie Disney, now keep up the good work with the next few and we'll see if you can get back on the road to greatness that you once were.