---
title: "The Princess and the Frog"
year: 2009
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-princess-and-the-frog"
fi1m_id: "the-princess-and-the-frog"
imdb_id: "tt0780521"
tmdb_id: 10198
wikidata_id: "Q171300"
fi1m_score: 72
critics_score: 70
critics_reviews: 17
published: "2026-09-24T01:51:43.733261+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-24T01:51:44.226760+00:00"
region: "PL"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Directed by Ron Clements, John Musker · 1h 38m · Animation, Romance, Fantasy, Family

## Identity

The Princess and the Frog

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-princess-and-the-frog
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-princess-and-the-frog
- **IMDb ID:** tt0780521
- **TMDB ID:** 10198
- **Wikidata ID:** Q171300
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780521/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10198, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q171300

**Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 70 from 17 reviews

*In a sentence:* A hard-working woman is turned into a frog so a lazy man can learn a lesson, and the alligator gets the trumpet

> Musker and Clements bring Disney back to hand-drawn animation and to New Orleans, and the city looks wonderful. Keith David’s shadow-dealing villain is the best thing in it; the songs are pleasant, the bayou stretch slow, and Tiana deserves more of her own film.

## Synopsis

New Orleans in the 1920s. Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) waits tables two shifts a day and saves every tip toward the restaurant her late father James (Terrence Howard) dreamed of opening. Her rich friend Charlotte (Jennifer Cody) wants a prince, and her father, “Big Daddy” La Bouff (John Goodman), throws a masquerade ball for the one just arrived in town: Prince Naveen (Bruno Campos), broke, disinherited and unbothered. Before the ball, Naveen and his valet Lawrence (Peter Bartlett) fall in with Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a voodoo showman with debts to settle on the other side. By the end of the night Naveen is a frog, Tiana has been talked into a kiss, and the bargain does not go as the fairy tale says it should.

## Review

John Musker and Ron Clements, the pair who made [*The Little Mermaid*](https://film.one/film/the-little-mermaid) (1989) and *Aladdin* (1992), bring Disney back to pencils and paint after years of computer animation, and they bring the old frog story to New Orleans in the 1920s. It is warm, handsome and easy to like. Three or four scenes in it are excellent. The rest is Disney doing what Disney does well enough, and we would happily send a family to it without telling them it is one of the studio’s great ones.

The city is the first pleasure. James Aaron Finch’s production design gives us wrought-iron balconies, a streetcar, a riverboat lit up at night, and a bayou hung with Spanish moss and lit green and gold. The best-looking stretch is Tiana’s song “Almost There”, in which the drawing flattens into hard shapes and gold-and-black colour like a poster of the period, and for two minutes the film looks like nothing else Disney has made. Then it goes back to the round, soft house style, which is well done and a little safe.

Keith David’s Facilier is the reason to go. He is thin, top-hatted and courteous, and his shadow does not do what he does; it stretches up walls, grabs at people and grins on its own. His number, “Friends on the Other Side”, fills a small room with purple light, a card table and a wall of masks that open their eyes, and we were more unsettled than a U certificate had led us to expect. It is the one part of the film where the pictures, the song and the story all pull in the same direction. Children under six may want a hand to hold.

Rose sings Tiana with a warmth the writing does not always give her, because the script by Rob Edwards, Musker and Clements has made her stern; she works two shifts, refuses to dance and lectures a prince about effort. Campos makes Naveen a pleasant idler, and the animators give the frog a looser face and better jokes than the man. The supporting cast get the air. Jennifer Cody’s Charlotte, a rich girl who wants a prince and is kind about it, is the funniest voice in the film. Michael-Leon Wooley’s Louis is an alligator who wants to play trumpet with humans, and Jim Cummings’s Ray is a Cajun firefly in love with a star he calls Evangeline. Ray’s serenade to her, a small waltz over dark water, moved us more than we thought a cartoon insect could manage. Jenifer Lewis turns up late as Mama Odie, blind, brisk and in charge of a gospel number and a gumbo pot.

Randy Newman writes the songs in the idioms of the city, Dixieland, zydeco, gospel, and they are all pleasant and we could not hum you one the next morning. Only Facilier’s and Ray’s stayed with us. Jeff Draheim’s editing is quick in the city; in the swamp it is not. The middle stretch, two frogs bickering in a boat while three hunters chase them, goes on past the point where it is funny, and we found ourselves noticing the time around the hour mark. In a film of 98 minutes that is a cost.

There is also the matter of what Tiana is for. The film gives Disney its first Black princess and writes her as a woman who wants to work, then spends most of its length turning her into a frog so that a man can learn what work is. She is told, more than once, that she wants the wrong thing. We will not say how the film settles the question, only that it settles it the way Disney settles things, and that the settling took some of the pleasure off the ending for us.

Against the directors’ own record this sits below the two films that made their name. *The Little Mermaid* gave its heroine one want and built everything round it; here the heroine’s want keeps being handed to the sidekicks to comment on. It is still a good evening for a family, at home or in the cinema, and the animation loses nothing on a smaller screen. Go for the city, the shadows and the firefly, and forgive it the frogs.

*Fi1m score 72, published 24 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics are pleased to see it, and the pleasure is chiefly in seeing Disney draw by hand again. The reviews praise the craftsmanship of the animation, the vivid New Orleans setting and the eccentric supporting cast, with the villain Dr Facilier and his voodoo sequences singled out more than once, though a few warn they may be too frightening for the youngest viewers. The warmest notices call it charming, fresh and a return to form.

The reservations gather around the songs and the story. Several critics find Randy Newman’s numbers derivative or forgettable, and the plot too familiar to surprise, with sluggish and sentimental stretches along the way. The spread is wide: Variety finds it diverting rather than captivating, Slant Magazine is troubled by its handling of race, and Eye for Film argues the ending undoes the more challenging ideas set up earlier. Almost everyone agrees the animation itself is a success.

## Straight answers

**Is The Princess and the Frog worth watching?**

*The Princess and the Frog* is worth watching for a family evening, and we scored it 72. The 1920s New Orleans setting, Keith David's shadow-dealing villain and a lovesick Cajun firefly are the pleasures; the bayou middle drags and Tiana, a woman who wants to work, spends too long as a frog so a prince can learn a lesson.

**How long is The Princess and the Frog, and what is it rated?**

*The Princess and the Frog* runs 1h 38m. It is an animation and romance film.

**Where can I watch The Princess and the Frog in Poland?**

*The Princess and the Frog* is streaming on Disney+ in Poland, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from zł 9.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does The Princess and the Frog compare to Kiki's Delivery Service?**

*The Princess and the Frog* and [*Kiki's Delivery Service*](https://film.one/film/kikis-delivery-service) both follow a working girl trying to build a small business, but Miyazaki's film lets its heroine get on with it and has no prince to reform. *Kiki* is the gentler, more assured film and the one we would choose; the Disney has the better villain and a livelier city.

**Is The Princess and the Frog based on a true story or a book?**

*The Princess and the Frog* is based on a novel by E.D. Baker, which reworks the old fairy tale of the princess who kisses a frog, and it is not a true story. Disney moves it to New Orleans in the 1920s and builds its own cast around it, so knowing the book adds nothing you need.

**What should I watch after The Princess and the Frog?**

After *The Princess and the Frog*, try [*The Little Mermaid*](https://film.one/film/the-little-mermaid-1989) (1989, Fi1m 80): The same directors, a heroine who wants one thing, and songs you will still know. Then [*Kiki's Delivery Service*](https://film.one/film/kikis-delivery-service) (1989, Fi1m 86): A working girl, a small business and no prince; Miyazaki lets her get on with it; and [*Song of the Sea*](https://film.one/film/song-of-the-sea) (2014, Fi1m 82): Irish hand-drawn animation, flat and patterned like the Almost There sequence, for ninety minutes.

### Reviews we read (17)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Kirk Honeycutt (95/100, inferred): The critic calls it the best Disney animated film in years and predicts a strong audience response. He praises its vibrant storytelling, richly drawn New Orleans setting, and the warmth of its hand-drawn animation. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/princess-frog-film-review-93780/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Betsy Sharkey (90/100, inferred): Sharkey gives the film an enthusiastic verdict, calling it charming, fresh, and beautifully executed. She especially praises its hand-drawn animation and exuberant musical numbers. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-nov-25-la-et-princess25-2009nov25-story.html)
- **The Guardian**, Philip French (85/100, inferred): French finds the romantic comedy delightful and praises its return to traditional hand-drawn animation. He singles out the exquisite graphic work, Randy Newman's lilting songs, and the frightening sequences featuring Dr Facilier's black arts. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/31/the-princess-and-the-frog-review-philip-french)
- **The Independent** (85/100, inferred): The review is strongly positive, calling the film a lively success for Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation. It especially praises the small comic details, including Mama Odie’s pet snake adding Tabasco to the gumbo. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-princess-and-the-frog-u-1882241.html)
- **Empire**, Helen O'Hara (80/100, inferred): O’Hara calls it a return to form: a sincere, entertaining Disney fairy tale. She particularly praises the beautiful hand-drawn animation and catchy songs, while noting it may be too scary for very young children. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/princess-frog-review/)
- **Evening Standard** (65/100, inferred): The critic finds the film charming and visually delightful, though less accomplished than Disney’s classics. They praise its careful animation while faulting its sluggish stretches and overly sentimental tone. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/disney-finds-its-simple-charm-in-the-princess-and-the-frog-7418425.html)
- **Screen Daily**, Mike Goodridge (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but the critic’s verdict is not visible. The paywall also obscures what the critic singled out for praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-princess-and-the-frog/5008524.article)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page returned only a JavaScript and ad-blocker notice, so the critic’s verdict cannot be verified. No praise or complaint from the review is available in the provided page text. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/movies/25frog.html?_r=0)
- **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (3/5): The review finds the film uneven, with true love arriving predictably after a bumpy start. It singles out Tiana as Disney’s first African-American animated lead as a notable feature. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-eczdma/the-princess-and-the-frog/)
- **Time Out** (3/5): The review sees the film as a blend of Disney tradition and change. It singles out its handling of fairy-tale conventions as a strength. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-princess-and-the-frog-1)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (2/4): Schager finds the film’s promise of princess spectacle only intermittently fulfilled, with its racial storytelling choices particularly troubling. He praises a striking early sequence whose hand-drawn animation takes on a stylized 1920s jazz-age look. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-princess-and-the-frog/)
- **Variety**, Justin Chang (45/100, inferred): Chang finds the film diverting but not captivating, and says it falls short of Disney’s former glory. He praises the hand-drawn animation’s craftsmanship and the visual inspiration of New Orleans, while faulting the songs for feeling derivative. [Read](https://variety.com/2009/digital/reviews/the-princess-and-the-frog-1200477289/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Jon Lyus (90/100, inferred): The critic gives the film a strongly positive verdict, celebrating its lively return to hand-drawn Disney animation. They single out the craftsmanship, New Orleans music, and charming characters, while noting that the familiar plot is unlikely to surprise. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/review-the-princess-and-the-frog/)
- **Collider**, Jennifer Smith (86/100, inferred): Smith finds the film a funny, inventive and enjoyable addition to Disney’s animated canon. She especially praises the vivid voodoo imagery and the memorable supporting characters, including Ray and Charlotte. [Read](https://collider.com/the-princess-and-the-frog-blu-ray-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Simon Reynolds (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a welcome, nostalgic return to hand-drawn Disney animation, despite some shortcomings. They praise its craftsmanship, vibrant New Orleans setting and eccentric supporting characters, while noting that Tiana and the songs are less successful. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a191729/the-princess-and-the-frog/)
- **Den of Geek**, Simon Brew (3/5): The critic finds it an entertaining, charming return to hand-drawn Disney animation, though not a classic. He praises the vivid animation and memorable characters, especially villain Facilier, while faulting the songs and story. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-princess-and-the-frog-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film’s critique of Disney wish-fulfilment intriguing but ultimately undermined by its retreat to convention. They praise its animation while criticizing the ending for undoing the more challenging values developed earlier. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-princess-and-the-frog-film-review-by-anton-bitel)

## Details

- **Director:** Ron Clements, John Musker
- **Director:** Ron Clements, John Musker
- **Screenplay:** Ron Clements, John Musker, Rob Edwards
- **Story:** Ron Clements, Greg Erb, Jason Oremland, John Musker
- **Novel:** E.D. Baker
- **Editor:** Jeff Draheim
- **Music:** Randy Newman
- **Production design:** James Aaron Finch
- **Producer:** Peter Del Vecho
- **Cast:** Anika Noni Rose as Tiana (voice); Bruno Campos as Prince Naveen (voice); Jim Cummings as Ray (voice); Michael-Leon Wooley as Louis (voice); Keith David as Dr. Facilier (voice); Jennifer Cody as Charlotte (voice); Peter Bartlett as Lawrence (voice); Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie (voice)
- **Runtime:** 1h 38m
- **First release (Austria):** 8 December 2009
- **Genres:** Animation, Romance, Fantasy, Family
- **Budget:** $105 million
- **Box office:** $271 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQBy6jqbmlU

## Where to watch in Poland

- Disney+: streaming, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent zł 9.99, uhd
- Apple TV: rent zł 9.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy zł 49.99, sd
- Apple TV: buy zł 49.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-24.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2010: Best Animated Feature (nominated)
- Annie Award for Best Animated Feature 2009: Annie Award for Best Animated Feature (nominated)
- Critics' Choice Awards 2009: Best Animated Feature (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Little Mermaid* (1989), Fi1m 80: The same directors, a heroine who wants one thing, and songs you will still know. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-little-mermaid-1989.md)
- *Kiki's Delivery Service* (1989), Fi1m 86: A working girl, a small business and no prince; Miyazaki lets her get on with it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kikis-delivery-service.md)
- *Song of the Sea* (2014), Fi1m 82: Irish hand-drawn animation, flat and patterned like the Almost There sequence, for ninety minutes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/song-of-the-sea.md)
- *Ernest & Celestine* (2012), Fi1m 84: A bear and a mouse in watercolour; the gentlest odd-couple film in animation. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ernest-and-celestine.md)
- *The Iron Giant* (1999), Fi1m 88: Hand-drawn, warm and short, with a friendship that earns the ending it goes for. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-iron-giant.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-princess-and-the-frog