Is Maldonia from 'The Princess and the Frog’ a Real Place?

A scene from the 2009 Disney animated film 'The Princess and the Frog.'

Is Prince Naveen Arab? Is Prince Naveen Indian?

Perhaps those were the first questions you asked yourself while watching the "The Princess and the Frog," Disney's gorgeous hand-drawn swan song of an animated movie in 2009. (The actual last 2D hurrah, so far, ended up being 2011's "Winnie the Pooh.") The overarching question is this: Is Maldonia, Prince Naveen's kingdom, real?

While there's no mistaking the herstory-making ethnicity of Tiana, especially in the promo leading up to the premiere, many viewers still try to find Maldonia on the map. The country is certainly fictional, giving the animators carte blanche to depict Naveen as a dashing, racially ambiguous man. 

South Asians might have good reason to claim Naveen as one of their own though. His is a pretty common name in India, Sanskrit for "new." Also, his mother is spotted wearing what looks like a saree. But deleted scenes have Maldonia’s native tongue as Maldaquesh, which sounds like a cross between Spanish and Italian. And for all we know, the nation is supposed to be where it sounds like: somewhere between Macedonia in Europe and the Maldives in South Asia, a vast expanse of cultures. 

In the end, Maldonia is never fully shown on film. Still, Naveen's complicated character development may offer some perspective on its origins. 

He was meant to be an aristocratic rake, Prince Harry (later renamed Henry), with visuals modeled on a Caucasian Hollywood screen legend, Cary Grant. Animators changed their mind, fearful of perpetuating the white savior trope alongside Tiana, but the other end of the spectrum was equally problematic. Disney could not afford to have a Black character embody Henry's stereotypically lazy, bratty traits, not in Obama’s America.

With just enough mélange of traditions to confound viewers, Maldonia offered an easy way out, along with casting a Brazilian actor, Bruno Campos, in the role. Directors John Musker and Ron Clements instead spent their time perfecting the verisimilitude of the Louisiana cityscapes and bayous on film. 

So, did Disney successfully play it safe? Or did it still manage to offend someone? Not all were pleased for sure, but the box office still found something to rejoice in the first Black Disney princess coming to life, even if she also appeared green onscreen.