"Beauty and the Beast" (1991)

Whether we’ve seen the movie or not, we all know the story! Following the thoughtless unkind remarks made by a prince to an enchantress, as ironic punishment she curses him to spend his days as a beast, a curse which may only be broken once he has found someone to love and who loves him in return. However, there is a catch. He must find the person before the final petal falls from an enchanted rose that would bloom until his 21^st birthday. But who could ever learn to love a beast? Years later, Maurice, an inventor from a nearby village, becomes lost in the woods and seeks shelter in the Beast’s castle but rather than helping him, the Beast imprisons him for trespassing. Maurice’s daughter, Belle, a bookworm who dreams of a life beyond this village, finds him trapped in the castle and offers to take his place instead. The Beast accepts with a promise she’ll remain in the castle forever. At first Belle views the Beast as nothing more than a cold-hearted monster, while he views her as difficult and stubborn. But the two soon realise the importance of never judging a book by its cover!

I really like the prologue story regarding how the beast became a beast. It was a good little story on its own. And the whole rose petal aspect creates big tension. I liked that detail. I love this whole premise of the story actually. The reason why he was turned into a beast in the first place. Actually this entire theme runs through the whole movie: the towns people judging Belle, judging and making preconceptions about her father, Gaston’s looks vs his sexist point of view. Also when she went out singing at one point she sat amongst a bed of dandelions which are quite an ugly flower, perhaps even if not intentionally, it might tie in with this theme too. The fact that they weren’t daisies or something.

Within the first 10 minutes of the film the entire story is set. Aims objectives immediately set up and all through song. The character of Gaston is an ass. Completely sexist. “Women shouldn’t read” – Belle had right to hit him with the book when he said that in fairness. Then he not only just assumes she’ll say yes to his proposal of marriage, but then remarks they’ll have “six strapping boys” – not children – boys, like him. This character irritated me so much, not to mention his look and art design is so clichéd now. And the only reason he wants Belle is because deep down he knew he couldn’t have her. Typical man.

Belle is a good character to have in the leading role. She’s a good role model and one of the better princesses for small children to look up to, I think. She shows you it’s ok to be yourself and to stand out from everybody else and, unlike the princesses that came before her, you don’t need anyone else in order to be happy. She also shows children that it’s not important how you look on the outside, it’s the kind of person you are that matters – in other words, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ folks! Interestingly, Belle is the only person in her village who wears blue. This is supposed to symbolize how different she is from everyone else. Katherine Hepburn’s portrayal of Jo March in the 1933 film adaptation of the classic novel “Little Women” is supposed to have inspired the characterisation of Belle.

I found the scene with Belle’s father going through the wood with his horse very distressing just because the horse was so frightened. But then I found the scene when he encountered Cogsworth, the talking clock, hilarious and it reminded me again how much I love old Disney movies! (What can I say?)

I guess the Beast’s character is sort of interesting too on account of the transformation he makes throughout the film, both in personality and appearance. His character shows children the importance of showing kindness to others and they will show kindness to you no matter your appearance – appearance is completely irrelevant. The fact that the two main characters are as well developed as they are is the brilliance of this film. Robby Benson did the voice of the Beast. His booming bellow was his own, but the Beast's howls were enhanced electronically, comprised of the sounds of growling panthers and lions. But apparently Jackie Chan, if you please, performed the voice acting and singing for the Beast in the Chinese dub of the film. (Can you just imagine?!) The Beast’s animator, Glen Keane, based the Beast’s appearance on many animals from the mane of a lion, the head of a buffalo, brow of a gorilla, tusks of a wild boar, legs and tail of a wolf, and finally the body of a bear. Some of the sculptures seen in the Beast’s castle are actually early concept versions of the Beast!

Originally, Chip had only one line in the entire film, but the producers liked Bradley Pierce’s voice work so much that they expanded the character. Before Chip’s character was expanded, the original “cute” character was intended to be a music box. This would surely have been a very different film without Chip! However, my favourite character was definitely Cogsworth, the talking clock. I found him to be the funniest character. The friendship between him and Lumiere, the talking candle stick, is gas.

Before the Disney cartoon, the most famous film version of “Beauty and the Beast” was a 1946 live-action film by Jean Cocteau. From this French film, the Disney version would go on to borrow the ideas of a rival suitor for Belle and the-coming-to-life of household objects in the Beast’s house.

 “Beauty and the Beast” was actually more than 50 years in the making. It was one of the first fairy tales Walt Disney tried to adapt after the success of his first animated feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in 1937, because the writers just found the story too difficult to adapt. He had attempted to develop it into an animated film in both the 1930s and 1950s, but ultimately gave up.

Upon its release in November 1991, the film was hailed as an instant success. It became the first animated feature to earn more than $100 million at the box office. It was the third highest-grossing movie of 1991 (after 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' and 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'). The film also became the first animated film ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (losing to “Silence of The Lambs”). It was also the last, until Disney/Pixar's 'Up' 18 years later. The film also won two more Oscars for its musical score and for Best Original Song, for the title tune. Additionally, “Beauty and the Beast” is the only traditionally hand-drawn film ever nominated for Best Picture! I think this is class. That’s a pretty big achievement when you think about it!

Interesting fact – the final dance sequence scene between Belle and the Prince (in which the title tune plays) is actually is a reused animation from the finale dance between Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip in “Sleeping Beauty”! I thought this was pretty cool! Computer-animation software was lent to this sequence, marking Disney’s first collaboration with Pixar, years before “Toy Story”. The software allowed the animators to create a 360-degree ballroom set as the camera appeared to twirl around the dancing couple. Critics singled out the sequence as a highlight of the film, and its success helped convince Disney to make the leap into full-length computer-animated features.

Also, another interesting fact is that Belle was the second Disney princess to not be of royal descent, after Cinderella. Tiana is the third. I thought this was interesting too. You wouldn’t notice these things until they’re pointed out to you, but it’s pretty cool when they are!

While I can’t say personally this would be my favourite Disney film (Alice In Wonderland and Mary Poppins cannot be beaten) this would definitely be one of the better ones simply because of the writing and character development. 

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