The Frog Prince is a 1971 made-for-TV Muppet special that I watched one million times as a child, I assume because back when we first got a VCR it was one of the few things for kids available at the video store.
The film follows Princess Melora, a regular human woman, who has been cursed to speak “backwards” by the witch Taminella, a blobby humanish Muppet. Taminella has tricked the rest of the kingdom into believing that she is the king’s long lost sister in an attempt to wrest the throne for herself. Melora, the rightful heir, must figure out a way to reveal to the king that Taminella is nothing more than a pretender to the throne before it’s too late.
::rereads the above::
Uh, yeah, and also there’s a prince who’s been turned into a frog, who at some point Melora kisses and he turns back into regular human prince.
But really all that is secondary to the struggle for power between two women, apparently, now that I lay it all out here in this OT header draft. I do remember as a young gal being fascinated that at the end Melora becomes a queen, but her love interest remains just a prince. In Disney movies “princess” was always endgame. My mind was further blown when my parents pointed out that this was the same nomenclature situation as the real-life then-regnant Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
Long story short, I guess this made-for-TV Muppet movie was a feminist revelation to preschool-aged green and I’m just realizing that now. So, uh, thanks for sharing this journey with me today, Avocado Night Thread.
Anyhoo, here’s a clip where the frog prince swoons over the princess while she’s busy trying to save the kingdom by getting her dumbass father to realize that Aminella rhymes with Taminella:
Happy Night Threading!