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Everyone has a childhood memory and mine is sitting near the fire in winter munching on popcorn/chips/sweets watching the magic of beauty & the beast unfold. I'm still a big kid at heart so give me this movie any day and I will be a very happy person. The beauty of this movie can't be distinctly pin pointed because so many aspects that contribute towards it like the great music (they sing & dance to almost anything) the great characters (beautiful Belle, moody Beast/handsome, joyous prince, the flirtatious candle, the pompous clock, the busty wardrobe are just such a pleasure to watch. The graphics are/were incredible for its time, so Disney has done well! This is a story hopefully many generations will continue to enjoy down the years & the magic of Beauty & the Beast will live on!
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If theres ever been a film to include such beautiful artwork, enchanting script and music, then Beauty and the Beast fills that catergory. Its been the only film i've ever cried to, simply because of the breathtaking impact it has on you. Its not just the storyline thats compelling, its the way its put on film, and put across. And of course, it proves that loving someone for who they are is far more important than their appearance..
Not to be missed. This is, without a doubt, one of the finest productions of our time..
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I've been ever so slightly obsessed by this fairytale since seeing the 1930s version by Cocteau (from which Disney borrows quite a bit, including the animated suits of armour). However, this version has the genuine element of gothic that sends a little shiver down the spine and takes the edge off Disney cuteness. It begins with a series of stained-glass windows, telling the tale of how a young prince turns away a poor old woman who begs for shelter from a storm, offering a single rose in exchange. She turns into a powerful enchantress, and tells him he will become a hideous Beast unless he can find a maiden to love him before the last petal of the rose falls...
Nine years pass, and Belle, the bookish daughter of an inventor comes to live nearby. She is being courted by the appalling Gaston, a man whose coarse, conceited advances she doesn't deserve (as she puts it wittily, letting him down into a pig's puddle). Gaston is a great comic character, swooned over by the local girls but (as in the Cocteau) he's the true Beast. Belle's father gets lost, and taking shelter in the Beast's castle gets imprisoned by him. This scene is truly frightening for infants, as is the following scene in which Belle, finding his horse Philippe (by far the most sensible and romantic male in the story), sets out through wolf-infested forests to find him.
The Beast agrees to exchange her father for Belle...but only after his wise butler Lumiere hints that she might be "the girl" to break the spell. One of the great joys of this inspired cartoon is the part played by the servants, now tranformed into furniture. Lumiere, the wise and sentimental candlestick, and Mrs Potts (sung by the adorable Angela Lansbury) persuade the good side of the Beast to show itself; but his valet, the conceited clock, is vain and cowardly. The original fairytale only required Belle to reaise she has fallen in love with the Beast, but Disney's scriptwriters improve on this by making the real struggle about the Beast's mastery of his temper and bad manners. ALl the songs are hilarious, with my family favourite being Gaston's song of self-praise, but underneath that is a seriously intelligent script.
Belle is one of the most inspiring heroines (alongside Mulan) that a small girl can have, the opposite of inspid Disney versions of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. However, the Beast is equally important for small boys to internalise. Of course, most adults will find the beastly Beast rather sexy, and the handsome Prince the tiniest bit of a let-down.... This funny, exciting, enchanting and joyous cartoon is far too expensive in its double disc version (though interesting for film buffs.)However, if there's one Disney you should buy, it's this.
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I've loved this film ever since I was tiny and I got the collector's edition for my thirteenth birthday. That may seem a little old to be getting a Disney film, but it is just so, so good and this edition is brilliant. The games provided aren't particularly good, but the extra versions of the film are fantastic and the new song (When We're Human Again) is really excellent. I would recommend this film to anyone, young and old. A true classic.
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One of the best Disney's, and a part of the recent 90's/00's revival for Disney after a few years of mediocrity. It takes you back to the old style for Disney, good animation, strong characters (the only thing that makes it modern is the fact that Belle is a strong female character unlike in many older Disney's). The film perhaps misses a really strong, really evil villain (Gaston is an amusing character, but he'd be better as a sidekick), but still as much of the film is really about Belle and the Beast's relationship changing maybe there wouldn't have been enough time for a really strong villain to get involved.
One of the most romantic Disney's you'll see, and the songs aren't Disney's best - I have to say that the component parts aren't as good in some other Disney's, but it's just one of those films where the sum is greater than its parts and everything just seems to work.
To sum up, one of Disney's best, and that's saying quite something!
