Ironically it was John Lasseter, the founder of Pixar—acquired by Disney in 2006—who finally reinstated Disney’s ousted hand-drawn animation department. After a five-year hiatus, Ron Clements and John Musker—the animation duo of The Little Mermaid (1989)—were able to release their traditionally animated, musical version of a Brothers Grimm story about the potential dangers of kissing a frog, with some important changes. As the New York Times bluntly proclaimed, “For the first time in Walt Disney animation history, the fairest of them all is black.” Seventy-two years after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney tried to make up for its stereotyping sins of the past by presenting Tiana in 1920s New Orleans as a feisty, headstrong waitress who is sidetracked from her dream of opening her own restaurant by Prince Naveen, a smooth-talking frog. Upon the inevitable kiss, she too transforms. Accompanied by Randy Newman’s Dixieland jazz soundtrack, they make their way through the mystical, adventurous bayous of Louisiana to find the magical antidote and become human again.

Age recommendation: 8+. Content Advisory: scary images.