The Princess and the Blog

Thank God for Twitter. Until just before lunch, I had forgotten The Princess and the Frog had come out on DVD today. My temp job is right near one of those maxi-mini-malls, with two big anchor stores and a bunch of depressing eateries and closet stores that lurch gaspingly toward significance and never quite make it. Happily for me, the two anchor stores were Best Buy and Target, which meant the inherent glee of comparison shopping and coming out three dollars ahead by going an extra twenty feet to Target. Which, by the by, also has a Starbucks inside of it, rendering this temp position not nearly as desolately located as I’d assumed.

But getting back to the purchase itself, let’s talk a moment about The Princess and the Frog. This was the film that was supposed to usher in the Third Disney Renaissance; its return to hand-drawn animation, a musical structure, and an emphasis on Princess Tiana being the first African-American Disney Princess were supposed to do for the Animation division what The Little Mermaid did in 1989. (Some insist the second Renaissance began earlier, with Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, making the modern-era corollary Bolt, the first Disney film under the purview of Pixar creative chief John Lasseter.)

The reality didn’t play out exactly as Disney hoped. It was critically lauded – Time magazine voted it the best film of the year – and the box office seemed promising. In its opening weekend, it debuted at #1 at the box office and became the highest-grossing animated film ever released in December. It went on to gross $104,000,000 domestically, which would have been seen as a blockbuster as recently as three years ago, but now seemed disappointing in an era where success seems to begin at $200M. A less dubious detraction was that the budget of the film was almost exactly its gross, meaning that – domestically, at least – the film only broke even. However, accounting for worldwide totals, the film actually came out well ahead, grossing $247M globally.

Even so, Disney saw this movie as a failure – perhaps because so much had been riding on it. Many factors were blamed, but what seems to have unfortunately gained traction is the notion that the film wasn’t universal enough – i.e., didn’t cater to boys. Now, despite the successes of the Pirates of the Caribbean films – and their cross-gender appeal – and the classic roster of characters and films, the Disney Princess brand is one of Disney’s primary moneymakers. It’s so prevalent that they are devoting an entirely new section of Fantasyland in Disney World to them. But theme park and merchandising successes don’t necessarily translate into feature film successes, at least in Disney’s way of thinking.

Therefore, Disney has decided to be proactive with its next film, the long-gestating and highly anticipated film Rapunzel. The film uses breakthrough computer animation, differentiating it from other CGI films by basing its palate on classic paintings. Disney fans have been drooling about the project for over a decade, but now, because of the slightly disappointing returns on The Princess and the Frog, are changing the name … to Tangled.

I think this is a short-sighted decision, especially since the name Rapunzel has such a resonance to it and Tangled is a past-tense verb that just sort of lays there. Maybe it’s meant to evoke Enchanted? Plus, despite names like Snow White and Beauty & the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Cinderella, those films managed to appeal to everyone. It just rankles me that Disney is willing to trade on its legacy of fairy-tale films by changing the name to something so bland.

There is hope, though, starting today. In one of his lecture specials, Kevin Smith referred to theatrical films as “ads for the DVD.” Maybe that will happen here. The Princess and the Frog is a film that will play very well in homes – especially since they’re pushing the Blu-Ray sets (which are the only sets on which you can get special features, another bit of angersome news for those of us without Blu-Ray players). With its release so close to a holiday partially known for gift-giving, this could still take off.

Look, do I have a personal stake in whether a Third Disney Renaissance happens? Sort of. The Princess and the Frog was a damn good movie, and Atlantis and Treasure Planet were not. I’d love it if this kind of creativity and forward-thinking were rewarded in the market, so we can continue to get good, quality projects like this.