#Discussion: PATF's Concept art and the insinuation that being Stuck with Randy Newman, is bad.

[weber_dubois22]

“After seeing the concept art for Princess and the Frog, I think the movie was robbed of it’s potential. Especially, since Disney’s normal composer worked on Tangled but we got stuck with Randy Newman.”

“Stuck” with Randy Newman? “Stuck”? Princess and the Frog didn’t get “stuck” with Randy Newman. If anything, it benefited from Newman’s influence. While I will admit that it’s not Disney’s best soundtrack, but it is so far from the worst. The producers picked Newman, not only because of his immense history as a film composer and song-writer, but also because of he had a history with the music of New Orleans. And for a film that is set in New Orleans, you need someone who knows the city’s unique musical styles. It gave the film an extra boost of authenticity.

Alan Menken was not slated to do the music for PatF because he had just finished working on Enchanted at the time and then went to work on Tangled. So, really, he wouldn’t have been able to do the music anyway. And as much as I love Alan Menken, he did not bring his A-game to Tangled (although Mother Knows Best and its reprise are the best songs in my opinion). Most of the songs sound like what cynics think all Disney songs sound like: cute and bland. In Disney musicals, the music is there to aid the story telling, and the best ones also use it to show the emotions of the characters. For example, Mulan has great songs (also not done by Alan Menken) that accompany the visuals so you can see what the characters are thinking. The songs are not there for fluff or just to hit the right story beats, they help service the story and its message.

And, I disagree completely with the OP’s point on the concept art. A lot of the concepts, designs and color palettes made it into the final film. No concept art is going to look 100% the same as the finished frames, but you can still spot the influences and designs of the pre-production artists.

Here are some examples:

Now tell me how this wasn’t in the final film. [SOURCE]