Villains:

The only true villain in The Princess and The Frog is the slick and shady Dr. Facilier aka Shadow Man who is voiced expertly by the smooth and gravely Keith David. Being in New Orleans is the ideal place to have Dr. Facilier go in a blink from a common street
charlatan to a dark master of voodoo and black magic. Dr. Faciller has a pretty easy time convincing Naveen’s manservant Lawrence, Peter Bartlett, to impersonate Prince Naveen so he can live the high life married to Charlotte. And Dr. Facilier gets demonic shadow help from his friends from the “Other Side” to make his evil plans happen. And we see a darker and greedier side of Lawrence when he realizes that he is reverting back from Prince Naveen and desperately wants to stay handsome and young. I’d put Dr. Facilier right up with Disney villains like Hercules’ Hades and Aladdin’s Jafar. Dr. Facilier aka Shadow Man should be brought back if there is any direct-to-DVD sequels.

Supporting Characters:

Tiana’s childhood friend Charlotte LaBouff, Jennifer Cody, is a lovely chatterbox, rich “Daddy’s Girl”. Young Charlotte grows up to be the same type as a young woman. Charlotte, wants to meet Prince Naveen more like a teenage fan that wants to meet a visiting rock star. Charlotte’s flighty and romance seeking persona is a perfect contrast to Tiana because she does not think that Charlotte’s life will ever be hers anytime soon. John Goodman gives a hearty voice to Eli “Big Daddy” LaBouff, but he does not do much in the film. Neither does Oprah as Eudora, Tiana’s mother. Both are steady and bland characters. I found it interesting that the film choose not to give Charlotte a visible and active mom character–to sort of balance out  Tiana not having a father when she is grown up. On the lighter note, Louis, the trumpet playing alligator, is a very funny and loyal companion and protector for Tiana and Naveen. Louis will make one remember Baloo in The Jungle Book. Michael-Leon Wooley gives such a passionate performance you really wish Louis could be turned into a human. Mama Odie is a high spirited blind and toothless swamp witch doctor who is voiced with a lot of sass by Jenifer Lewis.

But my favorite character in the whole film was Ray the Cajun firefly. Jim Cummings does a phenomenal job of literally stealing scenes whenever Ray is on the screen. And Ray has lots  of depth from being a take charge type of character helping Tiana and Prince Naveen get to Mama Odie’s swamp lair. Ray is loyally fearless and gutsy when he directly attacks the Cajun frog hunters and Dr. Facilier. Or Ray being a hopeless romantic because he sincerely believes with all his might that a bright star in the sky is his firefly girlfriend, Evangeline. And because Ray has such a scrappy and genuine Cajun character that he really exemplifies the New Orleans spirit. Ray asking if Tiana and Naveen were from Shreveport is very funny and  insider joke. And when Ray starts singing “Gonna Take You There” I loved hearing the washboards in the zydeco music.