Disney’s New Orleans fairy tale fails to enchant

The Princess and the Frog

STARRING: Anika Noni Rose, Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard

RATED: G

PLAYING AT: Area theaters

You’d like to think going to see a Disney film at the ripe old age of 22 is a lot different than seeing a Disney movie as a 5-year-old. You’re older and wiser and you don’t believe in fairy godmothers or brooms that dance. Big kids have gotten over that silliness, right? Wrong.

Not even the jadedness of years gone by can dim the excitement of a Disney movie that promises to recapture the magic of its golden years. As of late, the House of Mouse has churned out a lot of mediocre fare — “Home on the Range” (2004) and “Meet the Robinsons” (2007) were half-assed attempts at the whim and fun Disney had previously proffered.

Thankfully, Disney has returned to the hand-drawn animation that made them famous (and perhaps paid to have Walt Disney’s remains cryogenically frozen) with “The Princess and the Frog,” sure to ignite plenty of princess merchandise for the little girls (and maybe boys) who love Ariel, Aurora and Jasmine.

Set in the roaring ’20s in swinging New Orleans, “The Princess and the Frog” introduces us to hardworking, sensible Tiana (voiced by “Dreamgirls’ ” Anika Noni Rose), who busses tables to save up the money she needs to open her fantasy restaurant. She doesn’t flutter or sing duets with birds like most Disney girls; instead, she’s headstrong and snappy, raised to believe in hard work and perseverance. She lives in a tiny French Quarter apartment, not a mansion or castle, and she wishes on a star with a grain or three of salt.

When a hoodoo man turns naïve visiting Creole-y Prince Naveen into a frog, Tiana reluctantly agrees to kiss him to make him human again. Sounds like pretty standard fairy tale fare until she becomes a frog too, a lithe and leggy one at that. The two have to venture through Louisiana bayous and Mardi Gras parades to break the spell and try not to fall in love along the way.

Though “Princess and the Frog” thrums with color and up-tempo Randy Newman musical numbers harkening back to the jazz and zydeco that made New Orleans famous, it feels a bit forgettable in the end. There’s no “Under the Sea” here, nor are there characters as memorable as the French candlestick Lumière or neurotic bird Zazu. The animation is lovely, saturated with vibrant oranges and murky bayou greens. The songs aren’t great, but the Cajun fireflies are.

What makes this film notable is the first thing anyone pointed out when stills from the movie were released: Tiana is black. How would Disney handle the story of a black princess versus a Snow White one? Your answer: Pretty much the same as they always have. Though Tiana is a more modern princess character in the vein of “Beauty and the Beast’s” bookish Belle (she doesn’t even waltz!), she still falls victim to the tender trap of love and considers abandoning her dreams for a man.

In ’50s-era Disney movies, Prince Charming rarely utters a word. But in “The Princess and the Frog,” their romance feels real. But no matter how modern the relationships in this film might seem, the flimsy story line will probably keep it from spawning a fleet of straight-to-DVD sequels.