PLOT
In 1912 New Orleans, a woman is reading a story to her daughter, Tiana, and her daughter's friend, Charlotte La Bouff, about the Frog Prince. Charlotte finds the story romantic, while Tiana proclaims she would never kiss a frog. When Tiana and her mother leave for home Tiana's father talks about one day owning his own restaurant and naming it "Tiana's Place", a dream Tiana wishes for too. Years pass by, the story then starts on April 25, 1926 and Tiana becomes a beautiful young woman who works two jobs so she can save money to start her own restaurant, fulfilling her now deceased father's dream.
Elsewhere, Prince Naveen of Maldonia arrives in New Orleans determined to better his financial situation. After being cut off by his parents, Naveen is forced to marry a rich southern belle. It soon becomes obvious that Tiana's best friend and the rich sugar baron's daughter, Charlotte LaBouff, is the perfect candidate. Meanwhile, Naveen and his valet Lawrence run into the shady Dr. Facilier, a voodoo doctor. Inviting them into his emporium, Facilier convinces the pair he can make their dreams come true. However, neither man gets what he's expecting; Naveen becomes a frog, while Lawrence is given a voodoo charm that makes him look like Naveen with Naveen's blood (since the charm won't change Facilier). Facilier intends for Lawrence to marry Charlotte, after which he will kill Big Daddy La Bouff and claim his fortune.
At the ball, Charlotte flirts with "Naveen" as Tiana learns she may lose the mill for her resturant to a higher bidder. Adding insult to injury, her costume is accidentally ruined. Charlotte gives Tiana a princess costume and a tiara so she can rejoin the ball. After Charlotte returns to the party, Tiana makes a wish on the Evening Star, only to find a frog sitting next to her. The frog is Naveen, who asks Tiana (believing that she is a real princess) to kiss him and break Facilier's curse. Tiana agrees, in exchange for the money needed to outbid the other buyer. However, instead of Naveen turning into a human, Tiana is turned into a frog herself.
The pair narrowly escape to a bayou, where Naveen finally realizes Tiana isn't a princess. After a fight the two make a deal: if Tiana helps Naveen get out of the swamp, he and Charlotte will buy her the mill. While in the bayou they encounter Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator who longs to be human, and Ray, a Cajun firefly who longs for a sparkling light he calls Evangeline. They offer to lead them to the good voodoo priestess Mama Odie, who can undo the curse. AFter saving each other from frog hunter's, Tiana and Naveen begin to develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Facilier makes a deal with the voodoo spirits, offering them the souls of the people of New Orleans in exchange for finding Naveen.
Mama Odie tells the frogs that Naveen must kiss a princess in order for them to become human. Tiana and her friends return to New Orleans to find Charlotte, the princess of the Mardi Gras Parade before midnight when the festival is over. Naveen tells Ray he loves Tiana and wishes to propose, willing to work a few jobs for Tiana's resturant. At the dinner Naveen plans, before he ask Tiana to marry him, he discovers that Tiana needs the down payment money by tomorrow or her dream will end. So Naveen doesn't propose so that Tiana can get the restruant. When he goes off to find Ray and Louis, is taken by the demons and brought back to Facilier since the charm was running out of his blood.
After Ray tells Tiana that Naveen truly loves her, Tiana goes to the Mardi Gras parade only to find "Naveen" marrying Charlotte. Tiana escapes to a graveyard to be alone, while Ray and Louis are able to rescue the real Naveen and steal the charm. Ray finds Tiana and gives her the charm and attempts to hold off the demons so she can escape, but Dr. Facilier mortally wounds him. Facilier confronts Tiana and offers to make her restaurant dream come true in exchange for the charm. Realizing she would rather be with Naveen, Tiana refuses and snatches the charm from Facilier and destroys it. The angered spirits claim Facilier himself as payment for his debts and drag him into their world forever.
Naveen is explaining the situation to a bewildered Charlotte when Tiana finds them both. Tiana reveals that she loves Naveen and would spend the rest of her days as a frog to be with him. Moved by this, Charlotte says she will kiss Naveen anyway so he and Tiana can be together. But the clock strikes midnight before she can kiss him. Louis then meets up with the frogs, holding a dying Ray in his hands. Despite what happened, Ray shows happiness for the two before he dies. A funeral is held for Ray, after which another star shines brightly next to "Evangeline."
Contented to live together as frogs, Tiana and Naveen are wed by Mama Odie. As they kiss, they are turned into humans, because through their marriage, Tiana is now a princess. The two return to New Orleans where everyone celebrates the wedding and Tiana and Naveen finally buy the restaurant. “Tiana's Palace” holds a gala opening, underneath the two shining Evening Stars.
THE BOX OFFICE
On its limited day release, the film grossed $263,890 at only two theaters and grossed $786,190 its opening weekend. It went on to gross $24,208,916 over the opening weekend averaging $7,050 per theater, marking it the highest-grossing start to date for an animated movie in December, while being less auspicious than the animated movies from Walt Disney Pictures' 1990s traditional animation heyday. It also opened at #1 at the box office, but would lose nearly half its gross the second weekend.The film fell just under its budget, grossing $104,400,899 in the US and Canada alone out of its' $105 million budget. However, it had successfully grossed an additional $165 million overseas for a total of $270 million, thus making it a moderate success at the box office.
THE AWARDS
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
| 2009 Satellite Awards | Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated |
| Best Original Song | Randy Newman ("Almost There") | ||
| Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans") | |||
| 2009 Producers Guild of America Awards | Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures | Peter Del Vecho | |
| 2009 Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Animated Feature | The Princess and the Frog | |
| 67th Golden Globe Awards | Best Animated Feature Film | ||
| 2009 Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Animated Feature | ||
| 2009 Critics Choice Awards | Best Picture | ||
| Best Animated Feature | |||
| Best Score | Randy Newman | ||
| Best Song ("Almost There") | |||
| 2009 Black Reel Awards | Best Film | The Princess and the Frog | |
| Best Song, Original or Adapted | Ne-Yo ("Never Knew I Needed") | ||
| Anika Noni Rose ("Almost There") | Won | ||
| Anika Noni Rose ("Down in New Orleans") | Nominated | ||
| Best Voice Performance | Keith David | ||
| Anika Noni Rose | Won | ||
| Best Ensemble | The Princess and the Frog | Nominated | |
| 37th Annie Awards | Best Animated Feature | ||
| Animated Effects | James DeValera Mansfield | Won | |
| Production Design in a Feature Production | Ian Gooding | Nominated | |
| Character Animation in a Feature Production | Andreas Deja | ||
| Eric Goldberg | Won | ||
| Bruce W. Smith | Nominated | ||
| Voice Acting in a Feature Production | Jennifer Cody ("Charlotte") | Won | |
| Jenifer Lewis ("Mama Odie") | Nominated | ||
| 82nd Academy Awards | |||
| Best Animated Feature | Ron Clements and John Musker | ||
| Best Original Song | Randy Newman ("Almost There") | ||
| Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans") | |||
| 36th Saturn Awards | Best Animated Film | The Princess and the Frog | |
| 2010 Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Animated | ||
| 2011 Grammy Awards | Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media | Randy Newman ("Down in New Orleans") |
THE TRAILER OF THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG :
