I watched it with my Disney Princess obsessed 3 year old last night, and it just felt different than other Disney Princess. Sure there's the obvious, but that wasn't it at all. The music was much different, but it went beyond that. It took a bit, but it occurred to me; While all other Disney Princess movies are in unknown magical kingdoms, this one was not. It's in the good old US and A.
share"Beauty and the Beast" took place in France (another well-known country), and "Pocahontas" took place in Virginia, USA. So, this one wasn't really the first to do that.
I think what really separated PATF from other Disney Princess movies, was that it was a fairytale WITHIN a fairytale, because in the opening, we see Tiana's mother read "The Frog Prince" to her and Charlotte. Then the book was mentioned again when Naveen noticed it.
Also, the main heroine had an actual job, it wasn't just a little hobby that she did for fun. Though, these little things are probably why I love this movie so much. :)
"Tina you fat lard, come get some dinner!" -Napoleon Dynamite
Mulan was set in emperial China. How is that magical?
"If we can only catch him, Death is dead!" -Cantebury Tales
In my opinion there was a few differences:
a) the prince actually had a personality as opposed being strong silent and heroic
b) This was the story of how they both fell in love as opposed to the love at first sight stuff.
c) The villain wasn't as prominent as they usually are in these movies.
There's probably more but those occurred to me as I read this.
Tiana was a strong and independant woman whose only flaw was she worked too hard (if you can seriously call it a flaw. There's nothing wrong with hard work in the slightest) unlike (emphasis on Princess) Ariel who aside from dinglehopping her hair and collecting human treasures never had to lift a finger.
This is not the end of me, this is the beginning (-Christina Perri <3)