First Five Minutes of Princess & Frog

The first five minutes and forty seconds of Disney's return to traditional 2D animation, The Princess and the Frog, have been posted online, in a partially still-in-progress form. We get a look at the young Princess Tiana (voiced by Elizabeth Dampier), her buddy Charlotte (Breanna Brooks), and their parents: Terrence Howard and Oprah Winfrey as Tiana's wannabe chef father James and dressmaker mother Eudora, and John Goodman as Charlotte's corpulent moustachioed dad Eli. And a frog. And a rather beleaguered cat.

The first five minutes are here{ =nofollow}, where we see Tiana and Charlotte, at Charlotte's palatial abode, being told the story of The Frog Prince by Eudora. There follows some discussion of the girls' rather differing attitudes to frog smooching, until Eli arrives home. It's then a picturesque tram ride to Chez Tiana where James approves Tiana's gumbo, and there's some chat about dreams coming true.

The final forty seconds are here, where Tiana wishes on a star and wigs out at the appearance of a frog on her windowsill.

No songs (apart from a snippet) and no Keith David, but it's an interesting glimpse at a Tiana we've not seen before, and the uncoloured and temporary storyboard sections give this that extra frisson of a peak behind the scenes. And it's great to see the extent to which this seems to be homaging Disney's glory days, with details like the rather familiar feline: given his territory we'd say it's safe to call him an Aristocat.

The directors are the double act of Ron Clements and John Musker (both previously responsible for The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules), and the UK release date is February 5th.