Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Starring: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, and Richard White
Grade: Classic

The tagline from the poster isn’t too far off.

Summary

Once upon a time in a faraway land, an asshole prince lived in a castle. One night, some old woman asked for shelter from the horrible winter, offering a single rose as a gift. Disgusted by her, he tells her to screw off. The woman, telling him to not be deceived by one’s outside appearance and to find the beauty within, reveals herself to actually be a beautiful enchantress. To punish the prince’s wicked ways, she transformed him into an ugly “Beast” (Benson). She also casts a spell on the rest of the castle and all of the workers that lived there. Ashamed, he isolates himself in the castle, with no outsiders ever coming by. All he has is a magic mirror that shows him anything he wants in the outside world. The rose from the old woman is placed in an enclosed glass case. It’s magic too and will bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love someone else, and that person finds a way to love him back, before the last petal falls off the rose, then the spell will be broken. If not, he will be forced to live as the Beast for the rest of his life. It’s been years though, so Beast and all of his workers are close to losing all hope.

Belle (O’Hara), the “Beauty” of the story, is a young woman that many in the village look at differently, mostly because she has a fondness for books. She goes to return a book to the bookseller and picks out another she’s already read twice, so the owner of the place gives it to her. At the same time, we meet an arrogant but good-looking hunter named Gaston (White), along with his little sidekick LeFou (Jesse Corti) who gasses him up any chance he gets. Gaston is successful in everything he does, and all the ladies love him. However, he has his eyes set on marrying Belle, even though she’s not interested in the slightest. Gaston tries to talk to her, but she spurns his advances, going back home to help her father, Maurice. He’s a genius inventor that everyone in town thinks is a loon, including Gaston and LeFou.

After seeing their house almost explode from the distance, Belle goes home to see Maurice working on his latest invention, a wood-chopping machine. As they talk about Gaston, where Belle mentions that she’s fully aware of Gaston’s rude personality, Maurice fixes his machine. Excited, he takes his machine to go enter it into some fair, riding away with his horse Philippe. After taking a wrong turn, they are chased by a pack of wolves. Eventually, Maurice falls off of Philippe and is chased on foot. So, he goes to the nearest place he can find to seek refuge. It ends up being the Beast’s castle. Thankfully, he’s able to escape the wolves after closing the gate on them. Since the storm is about to settle in soon, Maurice goes inside the castle to hopefully ask to stay there that night. He walks in, but there is no one to greet. Though after seeing Maurice ask for help, two cursed objects that used to be human workers approach him first. They are the French-accented candelabra Lumière (Jerry Orbach) and the head of the staff that is currently a clock in Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers). Lumière tries his best to be hospitable and welcomes Maurice in, who is fascinated by the alive objects, but Cogsworth isn’t too excited about it because he knows their master, the Beast, is not going to like this. Following Maurice being welcomed by more cursed objects like Mrs. Potts and her son Chip, a tea kettle and a cup, he settles in by the fire. However, they are all interrupted by a majorly pissed off Beast. He not only scares the hell out of Maurice, but he imprisons him in the castle.

Back in the village, after Belle turns down a surprise marriage proposal from Gaston by kicking him out of her house, Philippe shows up without Maurice. Realizing something went horribly wrong, Belle has Philippe take her to the Beast’s castle. Once she enters, she is noticed by Lumière and Cogsworth, and they lead her (without being seen) to where Maurice is being held. Lumière notes how she may be the girl that could break the curse. She finds her father locked up. As they talk, the Beast appears and tells Belle he’s not going to let Maurice go. Feeling desperate to get her father out of there, Belle offers to take his spot instead. The Beast agrees, only if she promises to stay in the castle forever. She agrees, so the Beast throws Maurice out and sends him back to the village in some cursed carriage. Lumière suggests that Beast let her stay in a more comfortable room since she’ll be there for an eternity, so he relents and walks Belle to her new room. As they walk and talk, Lumière continues to give pointers to Beast to hopefully spark something between them. Beast lets Belle know that his servants will attend to her, and the castle is open for her to wander, but she’s forbidden to enter the west wing. Then, he tells her to be ready for dinner, assuring her this isn’t a request. As she goes and cries in her new bedroom, LeFou cheers up Gaston at the bar back in the village with a big song about him, but they are interrupted by Maurice who asks everyone there for help to save Belle from the Beast. Unsurprisingly, everyone passes Maurice off as crazy, and Gaston has him thrown out, though he realizes afterwards that helping Maurice will make it easier to get to Belle, so he decides to “help”.

Back at the castle, once Belle meets Mrs. Potts, Chip, and her dresser (Jo Anne Worley), they decide to prepare her for dinner. Later, Beast acknowledges that Belle could be the one to break the spell, but he doesn’t have any hope she can see his past his appearance. Making her a slave probably doesn’t help either. Though he takes advice from Lumière and Mrs. Potts, who tell him (among other things) that he needs to control his awful temper, Belle doesn’t show up for dinner, preferring to stay in her room. Considering Beast’s temper flare ups, this doesn’t help matters much, but it’s just the beginning for him because Belle is here to challenge him.

Will she be the one that breaks the curse? Will love between them blossom?

My Thoughts:

There’s something magical about the older 2D animated features, especially the ones Disney use to produce. Starting with The Little Mermaid in 1989, Disney went through an era known affectionately as the “Disney Renaissance”, a decade in which Disney returned to form to drop nonstop, legendary animated pictures that would stand the test of time. In 1991, the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast was released, and it may very well be the best adaptation of the original source material ever made.

There’s a reason it was the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

This is an iconic film not only for the story but for Disney as a whole. It’s one of those movies that many look back upon as one of the greatest Disney classics ever produced. I’m not sure where I have it on my list, but it’s definitely on the highest of tiers. Despite it being just under an hour and a half, it leaves an indelible impression on you. Beauty and the Beast brings out those child-like emotions in the viewer, giving us a great fairytale that is so simple, yet so multifaceted at the same time. It’s not that Disney doesn’t produce great animated content now, but there’s a certain sweetness and genuine heart that some of these old films had that can’t be replicated or explained. Maybe it’s the 2D animation, or the nostalgia of watching this when I was younger, but even after re-watching it so many years later for the purpose of this website, it’s still a bona fide classic. The core group of characters are very well designed, highly memorable, and have layered personalities that most two-hour films don’t even have. The Beast is awesome. He’s a massive presence on screen and a legitimately intimidating presence even in animated form. This is what’s so cool about Belle too. She’s dwarfed by him and though she’s scared, she never cowers in fear. Even with her small frame, she refuses to back down. I love that about her, and this dynamic is what makes this more than just a love story.

At the beginning, the Beast is frightening. There’s a heftiness in his voice that goes right along with his growl, and it can make you jump if you’re not expecting it. He’s an animal with a temper of a villain. When you’re a half hour in, you almost can’t see him getting redemption in this story because of how he lives and treats the people he’s around. Not only does Robby Benson do a wonderful job in his voice performance, bringing the terror and ferocity the Beast possesses, but he also shows the soft side of him just as well. Watching him weaken because of Belle’s beautiful and good-natured personality is a wonderful sight to see. Just as the Beast falls in love with Belle, we do too. She’s independent, focused, and is quite fearless in a sense too. Though she seems outmatched in the many situations she finds herself in, she’s courageous and will do what she thinks is right, no matter the potential consequences. She’s constantly fighting these overbearing dudes, but she’s not going to give in anytime soon. This is an attractive quality in anyone. It can’t be denied, even by these characters. Because of her genuine heart and her ability to fight off these scary assholes, she starts to win over the Beast. Gaston, the smug hunter who can literally have any girl in the village he wants, can’t stop fawning over Belle either because she’s the only person that doesn’t want to be with him. It drives him crazy. Along with this making the story more interesting, it’s also a deeply accurate trait for the type of man that is Gaston.

Speaking of Gaston, he’s one of the better Disney villains out there. What’s cool about Beauty and the Beast is that the designs of the two main male characters are the opposite of what they usually would be. Gaston is built and looks like an action hero. He’s good-looking, he can fight, and he isn’t scared of anyone, even willing to take the Beast one-on-one when it comes down to it. In the song “Gaston”, he says he eats five dozen eggs a day. Clearly, this man has been training for anyone and anything. When he says he’s the size of a barge, it’s hard to argue. On the other hand, the Beast acts much more like a threatening villain in the first part of the film than Gaston does. He’s also designed to look like a gigantic animal that can rip someone to shreds. This old switcheroo makes these characters even more exciting to watch unravel onscreen, and Belle is a strong enough protagonist to get us through all of it. In addition, the supporting characters add a lot to the pacing and energy of the movie. The duo of Lumière and Cogsworth are near Timon and Pumbaa-levels of supporting Disney sidekicks. This is as high of a compliment I can give regarding this specific topic. Their personalities are very entertaining, and they play off each other effortlessly. Without them, this movie would be nowhere near as good as it is. LeFou is an underrated minion, Mrs. Potts adds a nice motherly presence, and her son Chip has a voice that will melt your heart.

The “beauty is found within” theme is something we’ve seen in movies and shows countless times. You can probably find a version of this theme in a lot of Disney movies alone, but Beauty and the Beast is probably the most in-your-face one that you could think of. Even then, I didn’t groan at the obvious message. It was handled so delicately and presented in such a way, you don’t mind it at all. In fact, I appreciated this movie for what it was: romantic, beautiful, and pure. Very rarely will you hear me bring up a ballroom dance scene as something that means a lot, but it’s such a special scene here, iconic even. It felt like everything was leading to that very moment. The animation was incredible for the time period, and it made this romance blossom into something larger than life in front of our very eyes. If you ever watch a montage of animated movies, either from the Academy Awards, Disney itself, or some random YouTuber, the ballroom dance scene will forever be a part of it.

It transports you to Disneyland itself, you know?

I guess I can’t force someone to have these feelings if you didn’t grow up with these types of movies, but I would argue that even if you did watch this on a Saturday night via home theater, you’ll appreciate the greatness that is 1991’s Beauty and the Beast. The music is fun and meaningful, the characters are highly memorable and well-written for the material and tone, the romance is real, the action is intense as it needs to be, and the magic…

Well…that “Disney magic” that we talk about is never more present than it is right here.

Despite basic questions not being answered like, “How can the Beast afford to own a castle like that if he doesn’t work?”, I have to keep in consideration that kids won’t be asking how the Beast pays his house taxes. Also, what’s up with that old lady in the opening just going around, testing random people’s morals? What’s her deal? What does she gain out of cursing people? These are minor questions that an adult would have, but it’s just a way to keep the story going and not meant to be taken seriously. I’m not really allowed to be picky on this one, you know?

All things considered, Beauty and the Beast still holds up as another classic animated endeavor of Disney’s later years.

Fun Fact: Laurence Fishburne, Val Kilmer, and Mandy Patinkin were considered to voice the Beast, and Julie Andrews was considered for Mrs. Potts. John Cleese turned down the role of Cogsworth to play Cat R. Waul in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.