Charlotte "Lottie" La Bouff is a supporting character in Disney's 2009 animated feature film, The Princess and the Frog. She is a flamboyant southern belle, the daughter of Big Daddy La Bouff, and Tiana's lifelong best friend.
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Background
As mentioned above, Charlotte is the beloved daughter of Big Daddy La Bouff, who happens to be the wealthiest and most powerful man in New Orleans. The two reside in New Orleans' garden district, where they were regularly visited by Tiana and her mother, Eudora.
Personality
Ever since early childhood, Charlotte was doted on and given everything she wanted and thus gained a very spoiled and shallow personality. Even though she can act self-centered, the lovely debutante is generous and by no means a snob. She always dreamed of marrying a prince and living a storybook life, thus would wear beautiful princess dresses as a little girl, made for her by Eudora, who Big Daddy declares to be the "finest seamstress in New Orleans."
She's a ditzy, impulsive diva filled with spunk and flair. She shows no ill will to Tiana and loves her like a sister, even though Prince Naveen wanted to wed Tiana rather than her. Charlotte was willing to believe Naveen and Tiana to have magically turned into frogs and eager to help them turn them back into humans while agreeing to give Tiana enough money for her restaurant after she marries Naveen. However, when Charlotte realizes that Naveen and Tiana are in love with each other, Charlotte, instead of showing jealousy, joyfully expresses how proud she is of Tiana at finding love and is willing to sacrifice her dream of becoming a princess and kiss Naveen for Tiana so they can be together as humans. She will also do anything for romance and true love and won't give up until she finds it (preferably if it makes her a princess).
Physical appearance
Charlotte is a young adult with a slender and curvy figure, fair skin, pink lips, blue eyes, and blonde hair.
Throughout the movie, Charlotte undergoes various outfit changes. Her outfits generally consist of pink dresses with the occasional red.
Her childhood dress was a poofy pink dress with a matching hennin. She also carries a toy wand with a heart at the top of it.
Her casual outfit was a red dress resembling the flapper dresses of the 20's.
At her masquerade ball, Charlotte wore a bright pink princess dress with a silver tiara and her hair done up in a bun.
Role in the film
When Charlotte was a young girl, her father bought his daughter's clothes from the finest seamstress in New Orleans - Tiana's mother, Eudora. Despite being from two very different backgrounds, the two girls became very close friends.
As Tiana's friend, Charlotte is always trying to help her, while at the same time she's very excited to meet Prince Naveen. She pays Tiana a considerable sum in advance to cater for her costume ball, which means Tiana can finally afford to buy her restaurant.
At the La Bouff's masquerade party, Charlotte stresses that Prince Naveen has yet to appear, and when he finally does, he and Charlotte dance together. When Tiana's clothes are spoiled in an accident at the party, Charlotte doesn't hesitate to lend her one of her many beautiful dresses and is genuinely flattering of her appearance. Later as commotion ensues, Tiana and Naveen are launched off a drum set and land in the back of Charlotte's dress, alarming her. As she scrambles around frantically with the frogs in her dress, her father orders Stella to get the frogs.
Later, Naveen (who is actually his valet, Lawrence, in disguise) proposes to her, and Charlotte immediately accepts and decides to hold the wedding at the Mardi Gras Parade the next day. When Tiana and the real Naveen are at Mama Odie's, they are told that only a kiss from a princess will turn them back into humans, and that since Eli La Bouff is the king of Mardi Gras, that makes his daughter a princess, but only until midnight, when Mardi Gras is over.
After Lawrence is found out and sent to jail, Naveen finds Charlotte and tells her his story. She happily agrees to kiss him and, at Naveen's request, that when they get married, she will give Tiana the money to buy her restaurant. However, Tiana (who overhears Naveen and Charlotte's conversation) shows up and tells Naveen that her dream wouldn't be complete without him in it. Charlotte is touched by the love between them and tells Tiana that she will kiss Naveen for her so they can be together as humans. But before they can, the clock strikes midnight. Feeling guilty about not breaking the curse, she apologizes to them.
Later in the film, she attends Tiana and Naveen's (second) wedding, at which she catches the bouquet thrown. She is last seen at the Gala for Tiana's restaurant "Tiana's Palace", dancing with Naveen's 6 and a 1/2-year-old brother.
Disney Parks
Disney Cruise Line
In Disney's Believe aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship, Charlotte joins Tiana and Naveen as they assist Mama Odie in helping a serious father believe in magic.
Gallery
Trivia
- Charlotte is the second human best friend to a Disney Princess, the first being Nakoma from Pocahontas.
- Originally, Charlotte was supposed to be an antagonist of the film as in the original script, Tiana would’ve been a maid working for her and she would’ve been a spoiled brat to her. This was later scrapped.
- Her casual appearance resembles a "Flapper", a group of women who dressed slightly more free-willed during the Roarin' 20's, where the film takes place.
- Charlotte affectionately calls Tiana "Tia" while Tiana calls her "Lottie".
- Her figure is based on that of pop icon Marilyn Monroe.
- Charlotte is unique to her role in the movie as she is between two archetypes. Despite being both extremely wealthy and spoiled, she is not a villain in the movie. She is very kind and generous, and is Tiana's best friend throughout the movie, as well as being very supportive, such as leaving "Naveen" at the ball to take care of Tiana, whose dress was ruined and was very upset. She also accepted the fact that Tiana and Naveen are in love, and let them live happily ever after.
- Her mother is not shown or mentioned in the movie, which may mean she passed away.
- She and Tiana both slapped Naveen with a book when he introduced himself as a frog.
- As a kid, Charlotte owned a pet white kitten named Marcel, but as an adult, she owned a Basset hound named Stella. It's never explained what happened to the white kitten.
- In some initial concept arts, Charlotte was overweight.
- Strangely, Charlotte does not turn into a frog when she kisses Naveen though it could be that Charlotte was a princess only until midnight as her father was crowned king of Mardi Gras for a day and Charlotte did not kiss Naveen in time when midnight arrived.
