If you have a kid, you’re going to have to sit through a lot of crappy movies with them. This is a column from a dad’s perspective on whether you’ll be able to stand watching a movie without fashioning a noose or not, and if your child will try to stab you after it’s over.

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Synopsis: Tiana is a fatherless waitress from New Orleans who dreams of opening her own restaurant. Naveen is a lazy prince who’s been cut off by his royal family. When Naveen makes a shady deal with a Shadow Man, he turns into a frog, then Tiana turns into a frog, and an alligator turns into Louis Armstrong. Will they turn back not into frogs in time??

Would you be able to sit through it?: I liked it quite a bit. It’s not dumb and all the characters are enjoyable. It’s not going to break any originality records but that’s par for the course for a princess movie. The decision to do this in a classic, hand-drawn animation style is actually refreshing. And if you like jazz, the songs are good, although done by Randy Newman and you can totally tell. Not that that’s bad necessarily, but everything he does sounds like Toy Story to me.

Any scary/violent parts?: The Shadow Man is a pretty creepy character. The voodoo that he do on Naveen could be a little scary to younger ones, and he meets his end when frightening demon heads come out of a cemetery and drag him to hell. It could be a little much.

Anything that will screw up your kid’s head?: They may pursue an interest in the dark arts, start kissing every frog they see and/or move to New Orleans.

Any lessons to be learned?: You can achieve your dreams through hard work and determination.

Recommended age: 4. The movie as a whole is very cute and involves a lot of talking animals, though some of the dialogue and situations can be a little adult-themed. As mentioned above, the voodoo stuff can be scary.

Rent it, buy it or avoid it?: Good buy. It’s not the best movie in Disney’s armory but I think this one stands out above the princess pack due to its message. While princesses like Cinderella and Snow White get scorn for basically waiting around for a man to save them, Tiana is all about working her tuchus off to achieve her goals, and isn’t interested in having any prince help her. Prince Naveen is actually kind of the damsel in distress in this one, as Tiana helps him out more than he helps her. I think it’s a great lesson for little girls, as long as they don’t turn their voodoo on you, dude!