The Disney Classics Project: #30 Beauty and the Beast

Title: Beauty and the Beast

Release Date: November 22nd, 1991

Voice Cast: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach

Recap: In a small French village lives Belle, who is regarded as the most beautiful woman around. She is being sought by Gaston, a buff, conceited hunter to whom physical beauty is everything. When Belle's father goes for a ride through a dangerous forest, he ends up in the enchanted castle of an enormous beast, actually a cursed prince. The beast takes Belle's father as a prisoner, and soon she comes to rescue him. In exchange for her father's freedom, she offers to remain in the castle forever. Belle is taken in warmly by the animate everyday objects in the castle, who are also cursed humans. The objects also try to help the Beast and Belle fall in love so that the curse can be broken. Slowly but surely, a love builds, but Gaston still seeks to marry Belle and won't let the Beast stand in his way.

Review: Like many Disney movies, Beauty and the Beast had been previously attempted by Disney Studios long ago (30s and 50s, to be precise). The problems came with the story which proved to be a challenge for the writers. So the idea was scrapped, scrapped, and semi-scrapped once again in the late 80s. I count these "failures" lucky, because I imagine that this film could not have been so enormously grand if made before 1989. The blend of traditional animation and CGI is a very crucial component of making this film as large as it needs

to be, and there was never a more ripe time for Beauty and the Beast to premiere.

I must admit, even I was terrified the Beast. I don't know who to thank for that. Voice acting, perhaps? That's Robby Benson, chosen by the filmmakers because they "could hear the prince beneath the fur." I 100% agree with that, because he is superb on both fronts of the Beast: explosive and nurturing. Or should I thank the sound effects team? Those growls are certainly computer-assisted, and the engineers deserve a lot of credit for it. Maybe the animators, who designed the Beast and animated him so well to stress the importance of inner beauty.

I know what you want. You want me to talk about the songs. Well, there are a lot of em. The Little Mermaid had about four (not including reprises), but this installment has about six big ones accompanied by a fabulous instrumental score by Alan Menken. But there's a difference between the two films that needs to be acknowledged when analyzing the music. Beauty and the Beast is set up like a Broadway musical, narrational songs performed very frequently and by almost everyone in the film. So while I tip my hat to The Little Mermaid for beautiful classic songs like "Part of Your World" and "Kiss the Girl", I give props to Beauty and the Beast for the presentation of their score, because as I said in the intro, everything is enormously grand. There is one song, however, that I would notch up there with the ballad "Part of Your World". You know, the title track? Done so delightfully by Angela Lansbury during the film's most iconic scene? I think you know the one I mean.

There you have it, the review for the only full-length film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. If it wasn't for Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, I think it would have definitely won.