Kait Mae

E.D. Baker’s Tales of the Frog Princess series has been a childhood favorite series of mine for several years. Each book took me on an adventure throughout the history of the royal family in the series, weaving humor, magic, and adventure perfectly. And, after finding out Disney “adapted” it into The Princess and the Frog (which I still love, but it’s not an accurate adaptation by any means), I’ve been revisiting the series and thinking about how I would adapt it. So, here’s how I would.

What Is ‘Tales of the Frog Princess’?

It all started with the fairytale “The Frog Prince” which expanded into The Frog Princess. The first story in this world is of Emma after she’s transformed into a frog after kissing Prince Eadric to try and break his curse.

Throughout the series, we see her ancestors and descendants as they face challenges of magic, bravery, and wit. There are dragons, curses, and love in addition to colorful side characters that just make you laugh out loud.

How Would I Adapt It?

There’s no doubt in my mind – animation is the way to go with this series. As for if it’s a television series or a movie series, I’m saying movie all the way. The books are short and easy reads – there’s no room to expand it into a television show.

I would love to go with Elena of Avalor or Sofia the First’s animation style, but I could be persuaded to do more 2D if the animators were dead-set on it.

As for the order of the movies, I’m still torn on chronological order or publication order. That said, I’m leaning towards publication order because there’s a reason E.D. Baker published them in that order – and it just feels right to stick with it.

Who Would Voice The Characters?

I’m not going to do a deep-dive into every single character, but I wanted to cast a few that I still remember years later.

For our protagonist of the first book, Emeralda, I knew immediately when I realized this was set to be animated. Michaela Jilly Murphy, the voice of Toph in Avatar: The Last Airbender, is my pick. She’s still voice-acting, and her voice for Toph is so close to what I imagine for Emma.

As for her prince Eadric, I went back and forth on a few actors before finalizing my choice. And he is Jeremy Shada – there’s plenty you might recognize him from, but his voice is pretty recognizable as Finn from Adventure Time or Lance in Netflix’s Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Moving on to Grassina, Emeralda’s aunt, I chose Marisha Ray because I trust her to have the perfect voice for both child and adult Grassina. If you don’t know who Marisha is, just check out Critical Role for a glimpse at her talent.

Up next is Chartreuse, Emeralda’s mother. For some reason, I can only imagine a specific voice when I think of this character – and that voice is the Barbie voice I grew up with. That would be Kelly Sheridan for those who didn’t grow up watching the golden age of Barbie movies.

For Emeralda’s daughter, Millie, I went back and forth between voice actors until I found one that just fit. I listened to several clips of Brianna Knickerbocker’s work and most of her lighter voices just feel right for the character.

As for her love interest, Audun, I actually chose an actor who isn’t known for voice acting. That’s Brandon Soo Hoo. I remember watching his work around the time of planning this post and thinking, “that’s the voice.”

Moving on to two of my favorite sidekicks, we have L’il Stinker and Fang. I remember thinking L’il was a boy the entire time I read the books, but I recently found out she’s a girl. Regardless of that, I think Laura Bailey would have the best voice for this little bat. (I’m thinking similar to Jester from Critical Role.)

As for Fang, Emma’s snakey friend, I went with Josh Keaton. Now, I could go and list all of his roles I’ve seen, but I’ll stick with just a select few: young Hercules in Hercules, Kenai in Brother Bear, and Eitan in the Bratz TV show.

Did you ever read this series? Would you watch it and heal your inner child with a fun animated movie of it?