The Princess and the Frog
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: November 25, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
What matters is that Tiana triumphs as both a girl and a frog, that dreams are fulfilled, wrongs are righted, love prevails, and music unites not only a princess and a frog but also kids and grown-ups. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Corliss
In an amazing year for animation, The Princess and the Frog is up at the top. Go on, give it a big kiss. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
The animation, sparkling and graceful, also ranks as the studio's best traditional work in ages. Read full review
100
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The Princess and the Frog invite viewers to see the world as a lively, mixed-up, even confounding place, to recognize essential parts of ourselves in what we see, and to say: This is what we look like. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Two things keep the film off Disney's top shelf. First, Naveen is a dull hero; his good-natured vanity isn't engaging until late in the story. Second, Newman's songs are less bland than usual but no more memorable. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The film billed as the first Disney animation to boast an African American "princess" is really about a resourceful bootstrapper in New Orleans, a young woman allergic to the fairy-tale pap spoon-fed to young girls. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Randy Newman's songs are catchy and are effective within the movie's context, but I can't see any of them having "legs" beyond the screen the way tunes from the earlier animated musicals did. Read full review
88
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
Local viewers will be tickled by the wealth of New Orleans details in the production. One of the best just might be in the film's music. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Disney’s triumphant return to hand-drawn 2-D animation still holds an awful lot of familiar, comfort-food charm. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
It's no "Fantasia" or "Sleeping Beauty," but it's no "The Rescuers Down Under," either. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Marks Disney's rediscovery of a strong narrative loaded with vibrant characters and mind-bending, hilarious situations. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
The dialogue is fresh-prince clever, the themes are ageless, the rhythms are riotous and the return to a primal animation style is beautifully executed. Read full review
80
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
The sweetest, most sincere romantic comedy to come along in ages, and a luminous love letter to a great American city. Read full review
80
SlateDan Kois
Represents a course-correction for Disney's multibillion-dollar princess franchise: It attempts to celebrate the virtues of hard work and pluck, even if the movie itself can feel at times like a lesson rather than an enchantment. Read full review
80
EmpireHelen O'Hara
Exactly as good as Musker and Clements’ earlier efforts, so a return to the form of Disney’s early 1990s classics. The animation is gorgeous, the heroine feisty and the animals amusing -- but this may be too scary for the very small. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's Disney's best traditionally animated outing in ages. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Emphasizes backing up wishes with hard work. That proviso is a thoughtful message for young moviegoers. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Overall, the film is not quite up to "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid" from the same directing team of Ron Clements and John Musker, not to mention the recent string of masterpieces from Pixar. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The Princess and the Frog inspires memories of Disney's Golden Age it doesn't quite live up to, as I've said, but it's spritely and high-spirited, and will allow kids to enjoy it without visually assaulting them. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
A welcome return to the Disney tradition of 2-D animation, this lively musical spices up Hans Christian Andersen's "The Frog Prince" by transplanting it to New Orleans in the early 20th century. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
This is minor Disney at best, forgettable at worst. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
The movie slam-jams its overpacked story in a frenetic, needlessly complicated manner. It lacks for nothing in setting and atmosphere but comes up short where it counts: the characters. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The voice actors are also excellent, especially Michael-Leon Wooley as a bouncy trumpet-playing alligator and Jim Cummings as a lovelorn Cajun firefly. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Part of the problem with "P&F" is that Tiana and Naveen's connection feels superficial. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid Fear
Eye-candy–wise, the film plants a big wet smooch; everything else about this happily-ever-after tale, however, feels like a mere air-kiss. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin Chang
This cheeky update of a classic fairy tale boasts almost as many talking points as merchandising opportunities. Read full review
50
Village VoiceScott Foundas
The Princess and the Frog is pleasantly, if unmemorably, drawn. But the movie as a whole never approaches the wit, cleverness, and storytelling brio of the studio's early-1990s animation renaissance (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) or pretty much anything by Pixar. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
It’s not easy being green. But to judge from how this hand-drawn movie addresses, or rather strenuously avoids, race, it is a lot more difficult to be black. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
It's a worthy cause and an honorable film, the first full-length Disney cartoon with an African-American heroine. But without a strong story, it's a case of one step forward and two steps back. Read full review
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