Today’s song is from the only non-Pixar film featured this week, and the only non-Pixar animated film Randy Newman has scored for Disney. For its hand-drawn animation, the studio has generally relied on Broadway composer Alan Menken, as well as pop artists such as Elton John and Phil Collins.
The Princess and the Frog was Disney’s first hand-drawn movie since its acquisition of Pixar and the relationship Pixar had with Randy Newman was a perfect fit for this New Orleans-based film.
Disney’s latest animated gem, The Princess and the Frog, has quite a burden on its shoulders. In addition to being the studio’s first hand-drawn film in 6 years, it’s the first new “princess” movie since Mulan in 1998 (though I still don’t know why they count Mulan as a princess, meaning it’s the first true princess movie since 1995’s Pocohontas). And of course the film features the first Black princess in Disney history, a milestone so late in coming that the generation of kids watching today probably won’t even notice.
Still, it’s touching to think of all the little girls out there, their rooms littered with Belle, Ariel and Jasmine merchandise, who for the first time will see a princess onscreen who looks like them.
Meet Me In Montauk 