YES! That’s what sums up this movie at the end of the day for me – it was such a wonderful experience to watch that I can barely express it! I mean it’s New Orleans jazz! It’s Goliath the Gargoyle singing, dancing and casting voodoo spells! It’s got Jim Cummings as an adorable, endearing Cajun firefly – reusing his Jambalaya Jake from Darkwing Duck voice! It’s got a story that rips your heart out, stomps it all over the floor, laughs at you, and then perfectly sews it back up and makes you laugh with joy!
Rule Number One of the bayou – never ask directions from a gator. I got confused by the typography, geography…choreography!
Gator down!
Look in the gumbo!
I’ve been looking for you all morning! What a coincidence! I’ve been avoiding you all morning!
Disney is doing a decent and amazingly fun thing by tying in the movie at their theme park (at least Disneyland) with Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee, but watching the movie I couldn’t help but do some armchair Imagineering – I listened to the firefly’s warming up for “Gonna Take You There” and I could just picture a New Orleans style Country Critter Jamboree. I looked at Mama Odie’s boat-in-a-tree-house and I saw a revamp of Tarzan’s Treehouse.
I’m pretty sure Muskers and Clement gave themselves cameos again (as bead tossers during the Mardi Gras finale).
In Tiana’s restaurant, the featured band is Firefly Five Plus Lou, which is a direct reference to the Disneyland band Firehouse Five Plus Two that was composed entirely of Disney animators including Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas! 😀
Amazing string of A-list celebrities in bit parts! Oprah Winfrey as Tiana’s mother Eudora (the best seamstress in New Orleans). Terrence Howard as Tiana’s hard working father. John Goodman as ‘Big Daddy’ La Bouff [any relation Shia? ;-)]. Emeril Lagasse as…a gator?
BEAUTIFUL MUSIC BY RANDY NEWMAN! AND HE DIDN’T MAKE ME CRINGE BY SINGING ANY OF THE SONGS! YAY! Sorry that’s my own personal bias – he’s a great composer/performer, but his singing makes me cringe. Pretty, pretty New Orleans jazz!
Let Disney know that John Lasseter isn’t crazy with all this 2-D animation nonsense the only way a lot of Disney executives understand – by buying a ticket and seeing this adorable movie! You won’t regret it!