DVD TITLE
DVD release date: March 16, 2010
Blu-ray version (some materials may not appear on the DVD version)

It’s here! It’s here! Disney’s fantastic return to the good ol’ animated musical is finally on DVD and hi-def Blu-ray! I’m an unabashed fan of The Princess and the Frog, but the first thing that peaked my interest when I popped the Blu-ray into my player is the movie trailer for what is now being called Tangled, (previously Rapunzel). It’s mysterious and you don’t see much, in fact they don’t even tell you what the trailer is for. It simply reads, “In theaters this fall… the secret will be revealed.”

Now, even if this DVD had only <i>The Princess and the Frog</i> movie and nothing else, I’d still want it, but of course there are some terrific BONUS FEATURES on here, so I’ll hop to it and let you know about them:

As can be expected, there’s a MUSIC VIDEO (“NEVER KNEW I NEEDED” BY NE-YO) and there’s AUDIO COMMENTARY BY CO-WRITERS/DIRECTORS JOHN MUSKER & RON CLEMENTS AND PRODUCER PETER DEL VECHO.

The DELETED SCENES (11:43) are entertaining and John Musker and Ron Clements do a good job at explaining why the scenes were cut. For the most part it’s storyboarded animation, sometimes with scratch dialogue (not the final voices). Personally, I like seeing this different stages of the animation, and these give you a good idea of scenes that might have been in the film.

The ART GALLERIES is a nice look at some of the artwork used in the creation of the film in the following categories: Visual development, character design, storyboard art, layout and backgrounds.

WHAT DO YOU SEE: PRINCESS PORTRAITS is a game, presumably for kids, but quite pretty, where the fireflies make up a drawing of someone and using your remote control you guess as soon as you think you know. You can also choose a princess and see clips from the film while Mama Odie gives an express version of each story.

There’s a great amount of documentary-style features with the various artists, animators, filmmakers and talent on-camera, giving their thoughts to various aspects of the production process, interspersed with clips from the film and behind-the-scenes.

These include:

DISNEY’S NEWEST PRINCESS (2:51) which predominantly features the voice of Tiana, the glorious-voiced Anika Noni Rose who discusses what makes Tiana so special.

THE PRINCESS AND THE ANIMATOR (2:26) primarily focuses on Mark Henn, the supervising animator of Tiana.

CONJURING THE VILLAIN (1:50) is all about Dr. Facilier, with his animator Bruce Smith, along with new footage and recording session footage of Keith David, the voice of the villain.

THE RETURN TO HAND DRAWN ANIMATION (2:43) features the animators and artists discussing their feelings about the return of Disney hand drawn animation. This segment is worth it just to see animator Andreas Deja do the happy dance. That certainly gets his feelings across about the return to traditional animation!

THE DISNEY LEGACY (2:31) is about something that no other animation studio has. The animators such as Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg, Mark Henn and Bruce Smith discuss how they were able to learn from the greatest animators of all-time by working at Disney, and they discuss the privilege of having access to those animators who worked during Walt’s day.

A RETURN TO THE ANIMATED MUSICAL (3:13) strikes up a look at music in the film, featuring the film’s composer Randy Newman and some behind-the-scenes looks at recording sessions.

At the heart of the disc is MAGIC IN THE BAYOU: THE MAKING OF A PRINCESS (22:11), more than 20 minutes of those involved in the film with some interesting “making of” footage.

My very favorite bonus feature is BRINGING LIFE TO ANIMATION (8:08). Since the days of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney has filmed live action performers to use as reference when animating the various characters. This little piece shows you some of the actual live action reference film alongside the final animation for comparison. Fascinating to see!

Hope you enjoyed reading what Disney’s cooked up for you with The Princess and the Frog.