Disney Movie Challenge: Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Disney Movie Challenge

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

After a little hiatus I am back with more Disney Films.  Starting off the second half of the Disney Canon is one of their most beloved and lauded films Beauty and the Beast.  Hard to know where to start writing about this one.  So much has been said, not sure I can offer any new insight to the film.  I could go the cynical way and talk about how the movie is a bizarre story about Stockholm Syndrome and bestiality but the world is so dark right now and I don't want to go down that road.  So, I will just start by saying when everything comes together just right Disney can make truly great films and this is the kind of movie Disney was born to make.     

 What’s the film about? Well it’s a tale as old as time of course.  A girl, Belle, dreams of leaving a small town and wants adventure.  When her dad gets captured by a beast, Belle agrees to become a prisoner in his enchanted castle so her dad can be free.  Inside the enchanted castle lives things that were once human but now live as common household items including a candelabra, a clock, and a teapot.   The curse over the castle will only be lifted if the Beast can make Belle fall in love with him, but can he control his temper enough to show his true feelings? Of course he can, this is a happy ever after film.  

Beauty and the Beast had been a property that Disney wanted to turn into a film since the 30’s but never had a story they liked.  After the success of The Little Mermaid they decided to go all in on the film.  At first it was not going to be a musical but eventually Jeffrey Katzenberg brought in the Oscar winning duo Howard Ashman and Alan Menken to change that.  Ashman was so instrumental in the story telling of the film he was given a producer credit.  Once Ashman and Menken were brought in it was decided that the film would be written like a Broadway musical with long (5-6 minutes) musical numbers integral to the plot.  Merging animation with Broadway turned out to be a perfect match.  

After the success of using CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) on The Rescuers Down Under they brought it back for Beauty and the Beast and tried to push it further. Scenes like the “Be Our Guest” number look amazing and I feel like it really shows off what CAPS can add to a scene.  CAPS also helps with the integration of CGI.  The ballroom scene had all CGI animation integrated with traditional animation of Belle and the Beast.  While they had planned to use CGI for other scenes (like Beast's transformation) the rushed timeline didn’t allow it.  

On top of the great music and great looking animation Disney has assembled a great cast.  Since the movie was being made like a Broadway show they cast actors with stage experience that could bring that to the film.  And everyone works perfectly.  I didn’t realize that Jerry Orbach was the voice of Lumière till last year.  Who knew Lennie Briscoe could sing and with a French accent? There was something special about the way Lumière and Cogsworth interacted and that antagonistic friendship worked so well because of chemistry between Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers.  

Last thing I want to mention is how important The Beast is to the story.  Obviously he is in the title so he will play a pivotal role but it’s truly unique for a Disney Princess movie.  Prior to this the princes in these films had barely anything to do.  The princes in Snow White and Cinderella did nothing in their films.  Prince in Sleeping Beauty at least had something to do but wasn’t in the story till the end.  While we don’t know much about the Beast’s backstory (we don’t even know his name) we get enough to get to know him as much as we get to know Belle.  

Overall: 

I went into this movie thinking it was overrated.  The first time I saw it was when I was 14 so just thought it was some girly kids movie and never gave it much attention.  But this viewing convinced me there is more to this movie than I initially thought.  It truly is a timeless classic.  And while “Be Our Guest” and “Beauty and the Beast” get a lot of the accolades I feel like “Belle” and “The Mob Song” are very underrated gems.  

Random Facts

First Animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture (only one to be nominated when there were only 5 nominees and before a Best Animated Feature category was added).

Third highest grossing film of 1991 behind Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  

A work in progress version was shown at the New York Film Festival in September of 1991.  It is the first and only time Disney showed an unfinished version of one of their films.  

First time one of Disney’s songs had an alternate “pop” version released as a single.  Beauty and the Beast was released as a duet between Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. The story behind the pop version is an interesting one. Disney didn’t want to pay a well known pop singer to do it so they got relatively unknown (at least in the U.S.) Celine Dion. Dion didn’t want to do it because a song she recorded for a different animated film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West was just cut from the film.  But, also Disney didn’t trust Celine to make the song a hit so they got Peabo Bryson who was relatively known at the time to sing with her.  Of course in 6 years Celine Dion would have one of the largest hits ever from a film soundtrack and hardly anyone remembers who Peabo Bryson is.  

Ian McKellen was considered for the role of Cogsworth but passed.  He got to play Cogsworth in the 2017 live action version.  

Released the same day as An American Tail: Fievel Goes West