The Princess and the Frog and My 5 Year Old

I took my 6 and almost 4 year old daughters to see it this past weekend. The voodoo scenes with the slinking black shadows were scary for my 6 year old. She wanted to leave. She is pretty sensitive to movie villains. We haven't stayed through many, even 'G' rated movies yet! So it depends on how sensitive she is.

My 3 year old went and saw the movie and did just fine. There were parts where she snuggled a little closer to me but it wasn't too intense for her.

The movie was very funny and is a great twist on the old classic.

Awful movie! Went expecting to see a Princess, but she spent most of her time being a frog, instead.

Unsatisfying, a waste of time and money. Just not worth the effort: not a very pretty movie for a little girl. Not so much fantasy, and very dark. I thought it would be better for like ages 9 up.

Just my 2 cents worth...I'd save your money. Just not good fantasy.

I think it depends on the individual child. I'm surprised at all of the negative responses here. The voodoo scene is scary for younger children, but I thought it was a wonderful and very clever movie. I didn't have to worry much about the scary scene because my son is 10. He and I both loved it, but I can see that it might be too much for younger children and that the story line might be a little confusing for younger kids too. It is a love story (with a career/business subplot) and does contain a lot of material that I think is geared for the adults bringing their children. Given the fact that your daughter has seen those other movies (Ice Age 3 and Night at the Museum) and done o.k., I would think she would be fine with this movie, but if you have any doubts wait until it comes out on DVD and you can fast forward through the scary parts.

Should be fine for a 5 year old. I took my three year old and she wasn't scared but she didn't really get the story line. It was a little mature for her. One of the main characters dies however and they have a funeral.

J.,

We took our 8,7,4, and 2 year olds to see Princess and the Frog and we loved it. None of our kids were too scared, although our 2 year old sat on my lap through the whole black magic scene. It's a little dark. No comments or bad dreams or anything afterwards, though.

Movie has a timely message about making your own dreams come true versus wishing for luck and another great message about love and family are more important than money and fame.

I think that Night at the Museum was scarier, honestly. If someone has a child afraid of movies like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, probably should skip this one as well.

My favorite parenting movie website is www.screenit.com . If you don't want to pay for a membership, just scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on "no thanks". You get reviews a week after movies come out instead of a week before and you have to ignore advertisements, but it's free. They don't say whether or not to see the movie, just give incredible detail on what's in it so you can decide for your family.

S.

Hi-
Sorry if this is a repeat, but I didn't take time to read a ll the responses. I took both my 4 and just barely 3 yr old and they were fine. I was also worried about the "scarey guy", but prepped my daughters very well. We got the storybook from the library (or they have it at Target) and we read it MANY times so the girls understood the storyline and knew all about the scarey guy. They did fine! If you're at all still worried after these resonses I would at least get he storybook for your girl to read and then go from there!

Hope it helps!
A.

I saw this with my kids. My 6-year-old son said that the voodoo song sequence would give him nightmares. It may depend on your daughter and how she reacts to scenes with monsters. There are some evil looking masks, ghosts, darkness, snakes, and blood. The voodoo wizard is singing about having friends on the "other side"--devils, demons and such.

We took our 4 year old to see it, and yes the voodoo scenes were scary for her. I was surprised they would make it that scary. She had to sit in her dads lap during the scary parts. But she loves the movie and talks about it all the time now.

Hi J.,

A friend of mine just took her 5 year old daughter to see this movie last night and really regretted it. She felt like it was too scary. She had researched it a lot and gotten the book and everything but was not prepared for some of the creepy stuff that upset her girls. I think it might depend on how much exposure your daughter has already had to movies and scary images and how she responds to those scenes/ideas. Good luck with your decision!
-B.

My 6 and 4 year olds loved it. It has a bad guy with a happy ending, just like the other disney princess movies. I'm sure she'd love it!!!

I haven't seen it but I've had 2 different parents tell me they didn't like it that much it was over their children's head to advanced to get some of it. They both have kids 4-6yr.old range.

Considering the other movies she's seen, I don't see a problem with this one. But then I have a 7 year-old daughter who has hardly ever been scared by anything :). Kids enjoy being scared for a bit, as long as the movie moves on and resolves the situation, they're fine.

We saw it last week with my daughter (age 3) and nieces (ages 4&5). I liked the movie a lot. I think it's got a good message, but there definitely are some spooky parts and one of the smaller characters does die. My daughter hid her face during some of the voodoo parts but she didn't say anything about it afterwards and hasn't said anything since...no waking in the night scared or anything like that.

Personally, I don't think it's any scarier than some of the other scenes in Disney princess movies.....the dragon in Sleeping Beauty, the goring of Ursula in Little Mermaid, war scenes in Mulan. There are plenty of Disney movies that are scarier or more violent.

I questioned it too, but my daughter just hides her eyes if she's scared. She's a very intense, sensitive child but she handled it just fine.

Good luck on your decision. Have fun and enjoy it if you decide to go!

My friend and I just took our daughters to see it on Saturday. My daughter is 6 and her daughter is 7. They both really enjoyed the movie and weren't scared at all.

My daughter is almost 5 and she wasn't scared at all. I would say her attention wasn't captured like it is with other Disney movies. I think the storyline was a little hard for her to follow while the characters are human. She liked it when they were frogs. :)

Hi J.,
I took my 4, almost 5 year old daughter to see this movie over break. She did really enjoy it, but there were definitely some scary parts to it. When the scary parts came on she would curl up in her chair and not look. The vodoo witch guy is scary, but he has these shadows that "help" him out that are from the other world. They are pretty scary, and in they end they end up sucking him into an above ground grave site. So it was a little terrifying, but like I said she still enjoyed it overall.
S.

Hello,

I took my 4.5 year old. I thought the voodoo scenes were a little intense, but she handled it well. She sat in my lao and we talked quietly throughout the sequences. I explained tht it wasn't real and redirected her attention to the music and the "funny" parts of it. I guess it depends on your child, but my daughter loved it and talks about it all the time. Good luck!

P.S. I loved the movie- I thought it was a great, classic style Disney film with all the right messages. It was nice to see old-school Disney on the big screen again!

my husband and i took our two daughters to this movie last friday evening and i was not aware of all of the demonistic scenes. (they are 6 and almost 3) thank goodness it did not bother either of them although that day i rearranged their bedroom and the bulb in the night light just happened to go out at bedtime so they did not sleep good that night. i don't know if it was lack of a night light and in a new environment or the movie or a combination of all 3. after the movie, my husband and i both agreed that the scary parts were very scary and intense. i really think disney could have rethought putting all of that stuff in there. i was not impressed. my husband and i thought it was creepy. we spent about $30 on movie tickets. if you want to see it, wait until you can get it from redbox. it's not worth $30

We took our 2-1/2 year old to see the movie last week and she loved it. I thought it might be a little scary so we talked about it before we went. We talked about it being imaginary. During the movie if I thought a part might be getting scary I'd whisper in her ear about what was happening. She didn't get scared at all. My husband and I both really enjoyed it too. I loved that Tiana wasn't sitting around waiting for her prince to come. I also lime that she has a little sass.

My (just turned) 5 yr old daughter did fine and is now a Princess and the Frog junkie. :)

J., my two older girls saw it , well part of it, and they were freaked out by the "voodoo" stuff. They wouldn't watch the rest of it after seeing the 'bad guy' do his "voodoo music montage" or whatever you want to call it. I was quite disgusted not just by this movie but by all of the so-called "kids movies" that have come out lately because they all involve some scary-looking, evil villian. i understand they are trying to portray the "good and evil" conflict, however it seems as though the writers are attempting to entertain the parents more than the children. I think there is enough evil in the real world that our children have to/will witness without bringing it in to their movies as well. If your child is sensitive to other 'scary' things in comparable movies, i would not reccomend this one. maybe "Alvin and the Chipmunks"?

Good luck!

My 4 year old went. she loved it, and she did not like Ice Age (dawn of the dinosaurs). I think she'll be fine!