Another good movie

I'm a little late writing about this. I took my daughter to see The Princess and the Frog on New Year's Eve. It was very good and was much better than I expected. I went to it like the dutiful dad not expecting to like it but I liked the story and I enjoyed the characters and the people they chose for the voices. I don't think voice actors get enough credit for what they do and how they do it. I'd like to write more about that some time but I'll leave it there for now. The story sounds trite if you tell it but I liked it very much. The surprise ending (to me at least) was also nice. It could have ended five minutes earlier and I'd have been happy but the final twist made it just perfect.

The fact that Randy Newman wrote the original music was another good thing. I've liked his music ever since I heard I Think It's Going to Rain Today. I think the melancholy aspect of his songs is what I enjoy the most - if you can say "melancholy" and "enjoy" in the same sentence :-) Then, I saw The Natural (one of my favorite movies) and heard Mr. Newman's musical score. It added so much to my enjoyment of the movie. I'll write more about Randy Newman at a later time, too.

The one thing I didn't like about the movie was the references to voo doo and making it look like it could really have an effect. I understand that people can react to it, be scared by it and alter their actions based on that but I don't like it when dark arts like that are made to seem real. Any story needs an antagonist and this sort of thing ties in with New Orleans (where the story takes plae) so I'll let them off this time.

But other than this, it was an enjoyable time. My daughter loved the movie, too, and that makes it all worthwhile. I like going places with my wife, son and daughter together but it's also fun to just spend some time with each of them individually. It gives us a chance to do things that everyone doesn't like.