A little boy gets lost in the woods on St. Patrick’s Day and stumbles upon a leprechaun that has gotten his beard stuck in a log. He agrees to help him out of his predicament in exchange for his bag of magic gold coins. The coins can be used to make wishes, but the catch is the wishes must help other people and not the person doing the wishing. Luckily for him, the woods is crawling with assorted oddballs (knights, Gypsies, puppeteers, etc.) and even inanimate objects (a talking signpost) that need the kid’s help. Oh, and there’s also an evil wizard running around the forest because… of course there is.
The Princess and the Magic Frog is interesting in that the princess only appears for like two minutes and there isn’t a magic frog to be had. (There is a toad however, but it’s really just the knight who was transformed by the wizard.) My favorite part takes place in a desert where the kid and the knight meet a genie, and the boom mike is visible throughout the entire scene. Now that I think about it, the boom mike gets more screen time than the princess… or the frog… er… toad. Go figure.
I’ve seen some bad kids’ movies in my day and that certainly describes The Princess and the Magic Frog. It features some lame costumes, dumb characters, and puzzling logic (or lack thereof). Like most low budget WTF kiddie matinee fodder, it does have some bizarre moments, albeit not nearly enough to make it worth watching.
The most memorable scene centers around the puppeteer. When he laments his hands are too old to control the puppets, the kid wishes to make them come alive. You’ll instantly regret his decision, especially when the puppets in blackface start dancing about. Then there’s the creepy bit when some dancing girl puppets that look like they came out of the Follies Bergere show up and flash the audience with their can-can dancing. This scene will definitely raise an eyebrow or two, but there’s just too much boring shit with the kid and the dumb knight traipsing through the forest to hold your interest. The seventy-eight-minute running time drags like a son of a bitch too.
AKA: At the End of the Rainbow.
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