It’s a tale as old as time, yet it is timeless and beautiful when told properly. The Walt Disney Company brought to life the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast in the early nineties, topping in nearly every way their outstanding The Little Mermaid and cementing their second renaissance in animated feature films. This was a time when Disney was once again seen as the family friendly entertainment juggernaut and not the cynical studio dead set on remaking everything while catering to audiences whose only interest is in diversity for diversity’s sake. This is the Disney that wasn’t boiling in controversy over race-swapping their legacy characters and stepping all over their history with soulless live action adaptations of their previous triumphs while simultaneously tearing them down for no longer being considered relevant and PC. Disney’s second renaissance may not have had the classics like Peter Pan and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but with a line up that included Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, it was nothing to be ashamed of, either.
By the mid 1980’s Disney Animation Studios was struggling. People weren’t lining around the block to watch their latest releases the way they used to. Some of this was because of competition and some of this was because those films from the 80’s just didn’t have the life and magic of the earlier classics. The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver & Company didn’t have anything to differentiate themselves from the latest efforts from Don Bluth or Warner Bros. Animation. Oliver & Company, an animated retelling of a Charles Dickens novel, could have passed for a Don Bluth film, especially with the voice talent of Dom DeLuise, frequent collaborator with Bluth. The animation in these films wasn’t particularly showy and the stories were a bit subpar. Then came The Little Mermaid and everything changed. Suddenly Disney Animation was everywhere again and so too was the standard for excellence that came with it and would stay consistent right up to the early 2000’s as CGI animation began to drown out traditional hand drawn.
After The Little Mermaid came a sequel to The Rescuers that, while popular, felt like it was riding on the wave of Australian culture fascination that sprang up from the hit film Crocodile Dundee. Then came the second big juggernaut that would cement the second renaissance, Beauty and the Beast, a 16th century French fairy tale co-directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, both animators with a long history with the Walt Disney Company. There was every expectation that this would be just another cookie-cutter fairy tale with a story that had been done to death, including a cheesy television series staring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman that was still on the air when this film went into production. The idea of an animated film based on the same story had to have been on the mind of the studio executives and an effort would have to be made to make sure audiences weren’t thinking about the series when deciding whether to go see this movie.
The story is one that children all over the world would have been familiar with. Belle (Paige O’Hara) is a beautiful, but bookish, young woman, daughter to eccentric inventor Maurice (Rex Everhart). Her beauty has caught the eye of handsome, but conceited, Gaston (Richard White) who wants to marry her and turn her into his devoted housewife, dedicating her life to keeping house and raising a bunch of his children. Belle has no interest in this fate and turns him down outright. Maurice gets lost in the forest while traveling to sell his latest invention and ends up finding a castle hidden deep in the woods. He seeks refuge inside only to be captured and held prisoner by the master of the castle, a hideous beast. Belle comes looking for him and, upon finding him, makes a bargain with the beast to take his place instead.
While trapped in the castle she is at first repelled by the beast, refusing to even come to dinner with him. Slowly, though, she begins to learn more about him including that he once was a man but was cursed by a witch for refusing her shelter and aid. This curse can only be lifted if he were to find true love before the last petal of an enchanted rose falls from it’s stem. The beast is well aware that his time is running short but doesn’t believe anyone could fall in love with a beast. His servants, all of whom were enchanted into various items around the castle, are more optimistic and push the two to make it happen. When Maurice arrives back in town and tries to gain help to rescue Belle no one believes him initially. Meanwhile, Belle no longer fears the beast but knows that she is still a prisoner of his. When her father is in danger while trying to get back to her the beast makes the decision to let her go to save him, knowing he is giving up his only chance to lift the curse.
Howard Ashman and Alan Menken provide the songs for Beauty and the Beast and they were firing on all cylinders here. Some of the biggest musical numbers in all of Disney animation can be found in this film from the Broadway inspired Be Our Guest to the more introspective title track sung by Disney royalty Angela Lansbury there are no weak songs here. Even the deleted track that got reinserted into later home video releases, Human Again, is a banger of a track that, while rightfully deleted in the theatrical release, is still a great number in and of itself. Adding it back in to the film creates a minor pacing issue but nothing ruinous. Three of these songs would go on to receive Academy Award nominations.
Gaston enters the ranks of one of the great Disney villains. Sure he’s a bit one dimensional but he is charismatic and so narcissistic we love to hate him. It’s not entirely clear why he is so infatuated with Belle as she is clearly not compatible, personality wise, with him, yet she is the one he declares is the most beautiful woman in town and therefore the one for him. His arrogance wont allow him to believe she would not want to marry him and when she turns him down he cannot accept that. He tries to manipulate the situation to his favor and, when that fails, he rouses up an army to kill his competition. The climatic battle shows that he is not stupid nor a coward and will meet the beast head on in battle. Still, he’s not above stabbing his opponent in the back and it is this act that is ultimately his undoing.
The central premise that anyone can find love, even the seemingly unlovable, is a powerful message that everyone needs to hear. The beast is ferocious, has a dark temper, and is prone to violent outbursts. Yet Belle, who is portrayed as adventurous and smart, is able to see past this and realize that despite his rough façade he is not so scary after all. She is able to see the humanity behind the beast. Once the two are able to get past their initial fears of each other love is able to grow. It’s not instantaneous and, even as he is letting her go free to rescue her father, she has not quite fallen in love with him yet. But that kernel is there and once she has returned to his side and he’s sacrificed himself to save her from the murderous assault of Gaston that kernel blossoms into a love powerful enough to break the spell.
This is easily amongst the best of what the Walt Disney Company has to offer. The themes are universal and resonate in nearly everyone who has ever fallen in love. Even the animation is top notch, something that Disney had been struggling with of late. Looking back on their animated films from the early to mid 80’s nothing about those films’ looks stand out as great animation. From The Little Mermaid onward into the 2000’s that would change. The insertion of digital computer animation into certain scenes gives it a mesmerizing look that doesn’t distract from the traditional work; The ballroom scene is the most obvious use of this technique, yet it feels organic to the moment. This is a beautiful looking film all around, especially during some of the bigger musical numbers when it could have easily gotten overwhelming with all the movement on screen.
Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. With the advent of the Best Animated Picture award it was assumed it would be the only one. Toy Story 3 changed that notion by getting nominations in both categories. Still, back in 1991 it was a big deal for an animated film to get the nod from the Academy and the entertainment news of the day ran with that for weeks leading up to the Academy Awards ceremony. It didn’t ultimately win, though. That honor would be bestowed upon the crime thriller The Silence of the Lambs. But even just getting the nomination was a tremendous achievement for a film that was assumed would be just another generic Disney princess movie. It quickly proved to be much more than that. This is still a timeless classic that has endured for more than thirty years and shows no signs of falling out of the ranks of the best of the Disney Animated features.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Don Hahn
Best Original Score: Alan Menken
Best Original Song: Be Our Guest - Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Best Original Song: Beauty and the Beast - Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (won)
Best Original Song: Belle - Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Best Sound: Terry Porter, Mel Metcalfe, David J. Hudson and Doc Kane
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Release Date: November 22, 1991
Running Time: 84 Minutes
Rated G
Starring: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, Rex Everhart, Jessie Corti and Jo Anne Worley
Directed By: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
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