Il principe ranocchio

A lovely fairy tale made into a fun and enjoyable musical movie, I grew up watching this movie and loved it enough as a child to watch it over and over again. The songs are still fresh in my memory. Great cast, good acting, with nice characters make the plot engaging - not forgetting the fun songs. Recently saw the movie again and enjoyed it even 20 years later. Seeing it as a grown up was different, but my opinion about it doesn't change. Two princesses, one young and innocent and the older bitter sister, vying to be selected as the true princess of the kingdom, a magic ball, a funny king, and frog who dances and sings, a delightful movie for the whole family.

One problem faced by movie makers when adapting fairy tales to the screen is often the lack of material necessary to make a feature length film. "The Frog Prince" is an excellent example. The original Grimm story really doesn't contain enough plot to sustain a feature, so, here it has been rewritten as a modern morality play. A King is unsure which of his nieces is really a "true" princess. Finally the time arrives to choose one; the sweet, but immature Zora (Aileen Quinn) or the older, selfish Henrietta (Helen Hunt). Yes, Zora loses her golden ball, which is retrieved by a friendly frog (John Paragon) but the rest of the story deals with the efforts of Henrietta to win the title of princess for herself. Luckily the cast, including Clive Revill as the king, is very engaging, and the songs pleasant. But, except for the title, this is an attempt to make much out of very little. And only half the time it succeeds.

This movie is one of quite a few that were made into what are referred to as the Canon Movie Tales. They are all low budget and filmed primarily in Isreal, so I understand. If you want an idea of what to expect, it appears that someone took some of the little children's musicals that community theaters do and got some actors that people would want to see and then, with a very small budget, produced the best film they could. They are cute, sweet, and great for kids to watch. They are the precious little things that have a moral in the end. If you are an Aileen Quinn fan, this is the only movie other than Annie that she did, and it is adorable. She sings much better in this movie and her coloring (ie hair and makeup) are much more natural. This movie is very hard to find, but it is worth the effort of searching for if this is the kind of movie that you like. Also stars a very young (not to mention completely evil) Helen Hunt.

Ranking the Cannon Movie Tale films, The Frog Prince is around top middle, with Hansel and Gretel being the best and The Emperor's New Clothes being the worst.

The Frog Prince does suffer from budget limitations. The photography is nice, but some scenes are a little too dimly lit, the castle interiors and garden are rather ordinary and almost grim, the costumes are cheap-looking with the sole exception of Zora's blue dress at the end and Ribbit's make-up is somewhat unintentionally creepy. The film also suffers from stretching a particularly slight story that generally too thin to adapt for a feature length 90 minutes, actually it does do a surprisingly decent job expanding it but the story does feel too thin and stretched at times, pacing sometimes drags and a few scenes go on longer than they need to. Some of the dialogue is also stiff, like a lot of the dialogue at the start until Ribbit is introduced and with Henrietta.

However, as said it is nicely photographed, The Cannon Movie Tale films were low-budget in production values (particularly in the costumes) but it never showed in the photography. The Frog Prince has a charming, whimsical and magically orchestrated score, that also has a little tension in some of the latter half, and the songs are surprisingly very pleasant (Friendship and the Music Box Waltz being particularly good). Not all the dialogue works, but Ribbit does have some adorably funny lines and the emotional moments are moving without being too corny or cloying. The execution of the story is similarly flawed, but it makes a clear effort to make much of little and it shows in a charming and sometimes poignant Beauty and the Beast-like take on the story, and there is a very sweet and tender between Zora and Ribbit.

Aileen Quinn is immensely appealing as Zora, a more subtle and sympathetic performance than in her still great star-making turn in the title role of Annie (which is still one of my personal favourites), her singing has also come on a long way, here it's softer and more controlled and that she's older might have a lot to do with it. Clive Revill is a funny, occasionally stern and towards the end kindly king, and Helen Hunt makes the most of her visually pretty but actually very mean older sister role. John Paragon steals the show though, bringing to Ribbit a masculine charm, a warm and witty sense of humour, affecting melancholy and remarkable athleticism (especially when we are first introduced to him).

In conclusion, has flaws but a solid attempt at adapting the story. 7/10 Bethany Cox

hello everyone! i am writing from Austria! i just felt i HAVE TO write a comment!

you all know the story itself: the princess is playing with her little lucky golden ball, but she loses it and - surprise - it's the frog who brings it back to her. then, everyone is happy and the two of them fall in love with each other.

and now let me tell you a little story... :) when i was little, i had a video cassette of this film and i watched it over and over again, it must have been more than a thousand times! but my cassette disappeared sometime... some months ago i came across the DVD on "amazon.de" and of course i immediately bought it. this movie has had an enormous impact on me and my personality. when i watched it again after about 10 years or so, i started to cry because it is so touching! I could remember so many details of the story, so many melodies of those wonderful songs. suddenly i remembered how i loved to look at Zora's breathtaking dress and how scared i was of the "wood of the black heart". i really love the music, the plot and also the actors. it's a pleasure watching it! i find it kind of sad that this movie is so unpopular! i mean, even Helen hunt is playing a part in it. but i heard it has never been in the movies, you could only buy it on cassette. thank god it is available also on DVD now. it's simply perfect!