The Princess and the Frog

I remember, vaguely, reading some critic's reviews on this movie when it first came out. I can't remember clearly, but I think they complained that Disney either tried too hard to make it an ethnic aware movie or something similar on the same topic. I really couldn't grasp what they were talking about at the time as I hadn't seen the movie, but I think I may be able to put a finger near it now, at the very least.

Most Disney movies of the past, even Aladdin and Mulan, didn't go out of their way to use special accents and capture the essence of the setting's locality. I mean yes, you did have accents. And yes, you did get the sensation - note: the sensation - that you were watching a film that was anything other than a traditional generic U.S./Disney setting. But in the end it was still strongly Disney above all else.

This movie, was more the opposite. The ethnicity of down-home southern Louisiana seemed to be more in your face, while the only thing that really reminded me that it was a Disney movie was the art style of the villain and the princess dress shown at the end.

However, having said all that, and putting the "Disney.. or not Disney" aside, the movie was ... alright. Naturally it was predictable. It wouldn't be a Disney movie if it didn't involve some couple uniting in the end, right? Except maybe if it was that old one with Mickey Mouse that I never saw. Although I didn't expect the frogging to occur as it had. But the villain's minions and the Bayou witch both seemed to remind me of old Disney movies - particularly The Little Mermaid. But maybe that's just me.

Anyway it was alright as kids movies go. If I were a kid I'm sure I'd be satisfied. And maybe the thing that makes me fond of particular Disney movies is more the music than the stories anyway. I honestly would accept if someone told me The Little Mermaid is my favorite for the sole reason that they have a reggae beat song by the title "Under the Sea." Although I also like the "Kiss the Girl" song.

So if it's the songs that do Disney for me, then perhaps that's why I'm not too thrilled with The Princess and the Frog. I only remember there being one, maybe two songs in the whole movie. And one (or both) of those songs was repeated several times. Plus, I think one of the songs may be an actual non-Disney Jazz song that was being played and appreciated by the characters. I'm not sure, though.

So overall I would say I was not terribly impressed with the movie and would most likely not want to have a DVD copy of this one. I think the only way I would own a copy of this movie is if I was actively working on a collection of ALL Disney movies for the viewing pleasure of my as yet non existent child/daughter. I can assure you, if it's not a complete collection, then it would not be making its way to my shelf. Only "favorites" make it there, and this is not one of them. :P

Aeslabelle's Grade: B-/C+

Green Zone, First Movie Review

My first movie review.

I saw this movie two nights ago for free. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. It's not that it was that terrible, it's just that it wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I don't know if it's simply my own misconceptions from the trailer or if the trailer intentionally tried to imply the movie was something other than what it was.

My understanding from the trailer was that Matt Damon's character allowed himself to be captured so that he could get close to this enemy person, kick some ass, and 'bring him in.' Like some super Bourne type of agent. The trailer also makes it look like the other 'bad guys' are trying to hunt him down.

The reality of the movie (again, I'm sure this is my fault as I didn't even bother to read the movie synopsis) is that it is a Hollywood dramatization of the false search for Weapons of Mass Destruction. The movie very closely tries to portray the reality of things as they occurred, even going so far as using real soldiers as actors - at least that's what I saw in a news report.

This is all fine and dandy and the movie is decent in its own right. The problem for me personally is that I try to go out of my way to avoid watching war movies. What's worse, I was expecting this to be far less realistic and more like the James Bond/Jason Bourne type of films. I'm not sure how to classify the difference, as they are both considered Action films.

So I guess to be a right and proper movie review, I ought to give it a grade. Because the movie was not at all what I expected and I felt thoroughly misled by the trailers, I'm inclined to give it a C-. However, Matt Damon is a very good actor and the movie (had I gone in knowing what type of movie to expect) was good in its own right. So, rating the movie for itself, I would give it a B. Not because it's bad, but because of my biased preference for Action/Adventure/non-war/Fantasy films. :) So I will average the two grades to produce a final answer. Let's see.. according to the following googled GPA conversion chart ( source = http://www.ncu.edu.tw/~joshua/gpa_charts.htm ):

GPA Conversion Chart (Example 1)
Letter Grade	GPA	Percent (%)
A	4	94-100
A-	3.7	90-93
B+	3.3	87-89
B	3	84-86
B-	2.7	80-83
C+	2.3	77-79
C	2	74-76
C-	1.7	70-73
D+	1.3	67-69
D	1	64-66
D-	0.7	60-63
F	0	0-59

I have provided a 1.7 and 3. The average results in 2.35. So the final grade for this movie is thus:

Aeslabelle's Grade: C+

Acturon's Grade: A- (see comments)

Double A Results: B