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The Frog Prince

Play trailer Poster for The Frog Prince 1986 1h 26m Kids & Family Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 1 Reviews 76% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Princess Zora (Aileen Quinn) of the land of Tartonia feels lonely and sad, seemingly overshadowed by her prettier sister, Henrietta (Helen Hunt), and without many friends. While she's searching for companionship, she happens upon a man-size frog named Ribbit (John Paragon), who is actually a human prince who has been cursed into his current shape. As the pair bonds, Henrietta becomes spiteful of her sister's newfound happiness and tries to put an end to the blossoming relationship.

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Renee Schonfeld Common Sense Media Low-budget musical fairy tale adaptation with a mean sister. Rated: 2/5 Aug 3, 2012 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Kyle E Ranking the Cannon Movie Tale films, The Frog Prince is around top middle, with Hansel and Gretel being the best and The Emperor's New Clothes being the worst. The Frog Prince does suffer from budget limitations. The photography is nice, but some scenes are a little too dimly lit, the castle interiors and garden are rather ordinary and almost grim, the costumes are cheap-looking with the sole exception of Zora's blue dress at the end and Ribbit's make-up is somewhat unintentionally creepy. The film also suffers from stretching a particularly slight story that generally too thin to adapt for a feature length 90 minutes, actually it does do a surprisingly decent job expanding it but the story does feel too thin and stretched at times, pacing sometimes drags and a few scenes go on longer than they need to. Some of the dialogue is also stiff, like a lot of the dialogue at the start until Ribbit is introduced and with Henrietta. However, as said it is nicely photographed, The Cannon Movie Tale films were low-budget in production values (particularly in the costumes) but it never showed in the photography. The Frog Prince has a charming, whimsical and magically orchestrated score, that also has a little tension in some of the latter half, and the songs are surprisingly very pleasant (Friendship and the Music Box Waltz being particularly good). Not all the dialogue works, but Ribbit does have some adorably funny lines and the emotional moments are moving without being too corny or cloying. The execution of the story is similarly flawed, but it makes a clear effort to make much of little and it shows in a charming and sometimes poignant Beauty and the Beast-like take on the story, and there is a very sweet and tender between Zora and Ribbit. Aileen Quinn is immensely appealing as Zora, a more subtle and sympathetic performance than in her still great star-making turn in the title role of Annie (which is still one of my personal favourites), her singing has also come on a long way, here it's softer and more controlled and that she's older might have a lot to do with it. Clive Revill is a funny, occasionally stern and towards the end kindly king, and Helen Hunt makes the most of her visually pretty but actually very mean older sister role. John Paragon steals the show though, bringing to Ribbit a masculine charm, a warm and witty sense of humour, affecting melancholy and remarkable athleticism (especially when we are first introduced to him). In conclusion, has flaws but a solid attempt at adapting the story. 7/10 Bethany Cox Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/14/22 Full Review Audience Member Cannon Movie Tales was a huge project for the studio, a series of 16 live action children's movies from Cannon Group producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, associate producer Patricia Ruben and executive producer Itzik Kol. Filmed in Israel, these movies feature major stars as the leads supported by an Israeli cast and they had a $50 million dollar budget. While sixteen films were announced, only nine were made: The Frog Prince, Sleeping Beauty, The Emperor's New Clothes, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, Puss In Boots and Red Riding Hood. Aileen Quinn from Annie plays Princess Zora, Helen Hunt plays her sister Henrietta and Clive Revill plays his second king in one of these Cannon kids movies (he's also the villainous ruler in Rumpelstiltskin*), but the real reason I was excited about this movie was to see John Paragon play Ribbit, the frog prince. Whether it's his collaborations with Pee-Wee Herman (he's Jambi and Pterri) or Elvira, I'm always overjoyed to see Paragon's name in the credits. This was directed and written by Jackson Hunsicker, who also made Oddball Hall and wrote the 1989 version of Ten Little Indians. *Cannon recycled a lot in these films, as this is the Rumpelstiltskin set reused for another fairy tale. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Loved it as a kid ... now watching it with my five year old and she loves it and it's as fun as I remember, just as magical! Also, Helen Hunt as a villain is amazing Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member my fravorite version of the classic tale. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member I love this movie! it is my fave childhood movie Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member this movie was one of my favorites want to find this on DVD ! for those who don't know the girl who plays the younger princess is the girl who played annie! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Frog Prince

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Movie Info

Synopsis Princess Zora (Aileen Quinn) of the land of Tartonia feels lonely and sad, seemingly overshadowed by her prettier sister, Henrietta (Helen Hunt), and without many friends. While she's searching for companionship, she happens upon a man-size frog named Ribbit (John Paragon), who is actually a human prince who has been cursed into his current shape. As the pair bonds, Henrietta becomes spiteful of her sister's newfound happiness and tries to put an end to the blossoming relationship.
Director
Jackson Hunsicker
Producer
Yoram Globus, Menahem Golan
Screenwriter
Jackson Hunsicker
Production Co
Cannon Group
Genre
Kids & Family, Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 27, 2020
Runtime
1h 26m
Sound Mix
Stereo