On the home stretch with the 'Krazee Kidz Video Party' Set and we've landed on 'The Princess and the Magic Frog'. Another ultra low budget kiddie matinee entry, but this one was a bit of a chore honestly.

The plot follows Matthew, a kid hanging out by the creek with his friend on St. Patricks Day. When the kids realise they've lost track of time, Matthew starts to head back through the woods but quickly finds himself lost. He then begins to hear someone crying for help and after tracing the sound, finds himself stood in front of an ACTUAL Leprechaun. The Leprechaun in question has trapped his beard under a log, and after some negotiation with Matthew (who learned QUITE a lot about Leprechauns from his grandfather) agrees to free the gent in exchange for his gold.

The leprechaun reluctantly agrees and gives Matthew a string purse containing 7 gold coins. Warning Matthew as he leaves that the coins wish granting powers will only bring fortune to him, if the wishes are aimed at bringing fortune for others.

Matthew realises that he's now hopeless lost in the woods, and after trying to wish his way out by granting the forest the ability to talk (a terrible mistake) he ends up finding a frog, who tells Matthew that he was once a brave Knight who was transformed by an evil wizard. Matthew wishes for the frog to return to his human form, at which point a brave, if not slightly eccentric Knight appears and tells Matthew that he was sent to rescue a Princess captured by the evil wizard, and that now he's back in human form, his journey can continue. With…Matthew tagging along for the ride with his pouch full of magic coins of course.

The plot honestly sounds more interesting and fun than it honestly is really. This is a painfully cheap production thats predominantly shot in woodland to save money, and a three act plot that consists mainly of Matthew and the Knight getting stuck in a situation, slowly, vocally trying to figure out a way to get out of the situation and then making a wish that resolves the situation and brings them slightly closer to finding the evil wizard and the princess.

In other films, these 'problems' would usually be framed around genuinely interesting characters, character development, or an attempt to keep the audience baited. But here? its rinse and repeat. the characters dont really grow or learn, their eccentricities are fairly limited, dont grow past what is already established and wear thin VERY fast. and the finale is muted and kind of predictable. The pacing is plodding, the tone is sanitized to the point of total boredom. And barring a handful of colourful moments where characters ramp up their energy a bit. Its a kind of drab viewing experience.

If movies like 'The Big bad Wold' and 'Polly Pockets' were mind melting experiences akin to 'Uppers', this film is the cinematic equivilent of being out of your depth on 'downers'. And while that does bring with it its own vibes (for better or worse), I found it quite hard to get on with honestly.

The direction is pretty flat, there are a few creative flare ups here and there such as when the woods first begin to talk, or when they wind up speaking to a genie for a time…But theyre VERY few and far between and for the most part the cine is just flat mid and wide shots while the characters 'lore' dump for 10 minutes. sequences are quite roughly cut together, the print quality is mixed with several seconds of drop out throughout. the sound mix is up and down with overdubs not even attempted to being mixed in with the onset audio. The perforamances are all very one note and kind of flat. and the soundtracks stocky and frankly largely unmemorable.

'The Princess and the Magic Frog' has its moments, but those 'moments' barely total 15 minutes of a 78 minute runtime. a 'supercut' would more than suffice for everything that can be seen in this film. It reminded me a lot of the 1964 film, 'The Magic Christmas Tree'. Only, that feel seemed more feverish than this one. This is largely just time killing occasionally punctuated with something a bit out of pocket. Which…if thats what your into, then your in for a treat here! As for me? So far, I think its the weakest entry on the set.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-princess-and-the-magic-frog/