Wednesday we featured Dr. John’s “Down in New Orleans” from Disney’s traditional animation entry “The Princess and the Frog,” which is expanding considerably this weekend. Today we’re happy to offer up what could be the second-best play at a nomination for the film in this category, “Almost There.”
Singing on the Randy Newman-penned track is Anika Noni Rose, who of course performs the voice of Tiana, the princess of the film’s title. There isn’t much to be said about the song itself except that it’s a typical piece of break-out-into-song fluff that happens to come during a fairly key moment (and, therefore, has a leg up given the voting practice of viewing clip reels for the contenders).
Newman has also said this and “Down in New Orleans” are the best songs from the film, though Ne-Yo’s “Never Knew I Needed” and Jim Cummings’s “Ma Belle Evangeline” (a really fun tune) are also getting some campaign focus. But have a listen to “Almost There” below and tell us what you think.
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11 responses to “Listen to Anika Noni Rose’s ‘Almost There’ from ‘The Princess and the Frog’”
I like this one a lot better, but I still am most partial to “Dig a Little Deeper” so far.
All the songs are great, and the film is amazing as well. We all loved it. I think it’s an instant classic, and one of the best movies of the year. Absolutely loved everything about it.
http://onemoviefiveviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/princess-and-frog.html
Both “Almost There” and “Dig a Little Deeper” are glorious in a glorious film. One of my favorites.
this will get 3 songs, leaving room for Crazy Heart and Nine. I mean unless that god awful Leona Lewis song sounds better in 3D.
@JAB:
say this last year and i would agree but new academy rules only allow for a max 2 songs per movie
i’d listen to anika sing anything – what a stunning voice
She has a marvelous voice and this song as well as dig a little deeper and down in new orleans songs…. fieck it all the songs are great!!!
Took my little sister to see this today, was not a fan. I didn’t find any of the music particularly good or memorable.
It’s unfortunate that they aren’t pushing Dig a Little Deeper! It truly is the best song in the movie.
Also, don’t immediately write off Never Knew I Needed just because it’s an end credits song. True, the other songs are better integrated into the film, but the end credits song doesn’t occur over black-screen credits (like “The Wrestler” and “Guaranteed” before it), and the animated during the end credits is quite stunning (much like last year’s “Down to Earth.”)
This song is pretty good. I don’t know, but it just doesn’t seem like a terribly strong year in this category. It’s not like last year, or the year before, where there was just one good song after another, and you wished you could have nominated all of them.
I love this song, but the movie is pretty dark for a disney movie…