The Media Man Reviews: Beauty and the Beast

Now it's time for me to talk about a Disney legend on this blog.

This is a movie that needs no introduction. Everybody on planet Earth has seen it and everybody loves it. Even I named it as one of my favourite Disney films in my Top 10 Favourite Disney films list I made last year. Released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast was a project that Disney had tried to make for quite a while. I believe even at the time when Walt Disney was alive, they tried adapting Beauty and the Beast and it just didn't work out. It may also interest you that animation legend Don Bluth once concepted his own take on the story. Am I the only one who wants to see that? A Beauty and the Beast movie directed by Don Bluth? I think that would've been quite the watch.

Anyway, when the movie was released, Beauty and the Beast became a pop-culture icon that earned rave reviews from critics and audiences and grossed a worldwide total of $424 million. The film is highly beloved for its engaging and romantic story, memorable characters, unforgettable soundtrack and gorgeous animation and is often hailed as THE definitive version of the classic fairy-tale. And as you all know, this movie made animation history as the FIRST EVER animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

BEST. PICTURE. NOMINATION!

That was unheard of at the time! If only it won the award as it would've been great to have an animated film that's claimed the Best Picture trophy. As is, Beauty and the Beast remains one of Disney's most beloved movies of all time, so much so that even when they released that terrible live-action remake in 2017, people still prefer the animated movie and still sing its praises to this day.

And I'm here to do the same thing. What is this about this movie that's so beautiful that it tames the beast within us? Let's dive in...

Section 1: The Story

It's a tale as old as time, so I'd hope you all know the story by now. It follows the story of a young woman named Belle who craves something more than her provincial life. She gets her wish in the most unexpected of ways when she ends up having to take her father's place as a prisoner in the castle of a monstrous beast. But as she and the Beast spend time together, they come to see that there's more to them than they thought, and Belle realizes the Beast isn't so beastly after all...

Everybody and their grandmothers have spoken about why the story is so good, so it does feel somewhat redundant for me to also explain what's so good about it. However, this is a review, so I have to do my job and so, here we go. Beauty and the Beast is hailed as one of the greatest romance stories of all time, and this version is no exception. It's a beautifully told tale of how two individuals from two different areas come together and fall in love with each other in the most unexpected of circumstances. Here you have the beautiful young woman meeting up with a hideous beast, and yet they fall for each other and become a couple by the end. It's so sweet and even inspiring to see this kind of romance come together in the end as it essentially tells us that no matter who you are, what you are or where you come from, you'll always find love in the end. An uplifting message is always welcome, especially in this current world we live in, and it only makes the movie all the more appealing to watch.

The romance itself is brilliantly handled too. Disney may get flack for their "love at first sight" romances from their early years or how they'll have characters hook up in three days, but this movie defies those usual tropes of Disney's. Belle and the Beast don't even get on at first with the Beast being, well, beastly to her, and Belle in return wants nothing to do with him. It's not until they save each other's lives when things start to improve for the two and given the ambiguous time skip, we have no idea how long they've spent getting to know each other and bonding. They could've had weeks, if not months together, so the romance feels more believably handled as a result. I'd even say it's one of the more realistically depicted relationships in media as that's how relationships often go in real life: you have a shaky start but as you spend more time together, you start bonding more. All this is why the romance part of the story is so solid.

I also like how the movie has the theme of what makes a monster and what makes a man, a perfect theme for this story. Funny enough, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a movie released in the same decade as this one, would tackle the same theme. In this movie, the theme is beautifully showcased via Gaston and the Beast. We have the Beast in where he's a monster on the outside but a human on the inside and spending time with Belle helps to bring out that human side, while Gaston is a human on the outside but a monster on the inside and his obsession over Belle causes him to become more monstrous. In the end, what makes a monster and what makes a man is what you do with your life and as the movie shows us, those who seek redemption and do nice things for other people are what truly makes a man for all of us.

Having seen the original fairy-tale of Beauty and the Beast, I also think this movie improved on the story with how it handles the plot in comparison. First of all, having the Beast imprison Belle's father for what he perceived as trespassing was a much better instigator of conflict that "Rargh, you stole one of my roses, therefore you die!" and having Belle be the only child of Maurice instead of one of three helped trim the cast down so the story had less characters to juggle. I also think having the Beast be more antagonistic than in the fairy-tale where he was pretty much nice to Belle right off the bat was a smart move as it further emphasizes that he's a beast and he needs to tame the beast within him. It gave the Beast a stronger character arc than in the fairy-tale, and that also stands as an example as to how Disney would often improve on these original stories with how they'd handled the story and characters.

As this is a classic era Disney movie, naturally the tone is one of those tones that can make you feel all sorts of things. The movie has moments where it can be really funny, really scary, really intense, really romantic and above all, really triumphant when we get the happy ending. It's stuff like this that makes me wish Disney films nowadays could follow their Renaissance era's examples, because they really knew how to make movies that could give you an emotional roller coaster ride. The movie also uses pacing to its advantage too when it comes to what tone they're going for. There's a few scenes of Belle just exploring the castle or taking in her surroundings and the scene is slow, quiet and carries that feeling of dread in the air as Belle sees she's not in a very inviting place. And then you get the musical segments where they're lively, colourful, energetic and full of stuff happening to give you a fun time. Speaking of fun times, the final battle with the household objects and Gaston's goons is full of cartoony slapstick comedy that will have you laughing all the way and is appropriately fast-paced and zany like an old cartoon would be. The movie really knows all the right notes to hit depending on the tone of the scene we're seeing whether it's an intense scene, a funny scene or a romantic scene.

So yeah, the story is great. Big shocker. But unfortunately, I have to do something sacrilegious...I have to talk about the negatives.

(audience gasp)

Calm down, it's nothing that major! In fact, anything "wrong" with the movie I can think of is more nit-picking than anything else.

First of all, it’s a bit hard figuring out how much time passes between Gaston leaving LeFou at Belle’s house and when Belle goes to find Maurice. It’s very vague like that and can raise a tonne of questions. Like how much time DID pass between now and then? Was it days? Weeks? Even a month? If so then LeFou literally stayed in that spot all this time without so much as eating, drinking, sleeping or peeing? Was he pretending to be the snowman all this time? If so, how did he not freeze to death? And what about Maurice? How long did he spend wondering through the forest looking for the castle? Was he wondering around for days?! HOW DID HE NOT DIE ALREADY WHILE WALKING AROUND AIMLESSLY?!?!

Yeah, no kidding!

And as everyone and their mothers has pointed out, the Prince was clearly a child when he was cursed as he has to find love before his 21st birthday and Lumiere says in the Be Our Guest song “10 years we’ve been rusting, needing so much more than dusting”. This literally means the Prince was 11 years old when he was cursed. Seriously Enchantress, don’t you think cursing a child for being selfish is a bit harsh? I mean lots of children are selfish but that’s because they don’t know any better. They’re children, they don’t know right from wrong, so they need to be taught these things, and they gradually learn to be better people as they grow older! Does the Enchantress do this regularly to bratty 11-year-olds?! Jesus that’s horrifying... X(

Once again, these are nit-picks that come from thinking too hard about the story. There's nothing really in there that ruin the story or feels like a gaping plot hole I can't ignore, so while it is funny to point them out and joke about them, I don't let those things bother me too much.

The story of Disney's Beauty and the Beast is easily the best version of the classic fairy-tale out there. It improves on the source material, delivers an unforgettable experience, makes for a very sweet and romantic watch and also gives us all kinds of feels. It's no wonder why so many people fell in love with this movie back then and still love it now...

Section 2: The Characters

If you want an example of how Disney makes great characters, this film serves as one of their finest examples.

Naturally, we must start off with our main character, Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara). Belle is as typical as most Disney heroines go in how she's very nice and kind, but given the 90's was around the time Disney heroines would have more complex characterizations, Belle does have more to her than just that. She has her limits, she's a total bookworm, she feels like an oddball in her community because she's seen as "odd" for being a woman who loves to read and above all, she can be surprisingly stubborn when push comes to shove. Some have criticized Belle as "being too perfect", but I never agreed with that obviously wrong take. Belle ain't perfect by any means. I already mentioned how she can be very stubborn sometimes and that stubbornness gets her into trouble. Need I mention how Belle steadfastly refusing to listen to the Beast and his servant's warnings about not going in the West Wing caused the Beast to frighten her and send her scurrying into the woods where she nearly got eaten by wolves? Doesn't sound very perfect to me. Anyway, Belle is a wonderful protagonist because of how kind she is, but she's not perfect by any means, and she's very relatable too. How many of us have been seen as "odd" due to our interests or for not conforming to society's beliefs? I know I've had that myself. And I'm sure women especially can relate to Belle in the sense that like her, they've had to deal with guys who won't take no for an answer. When you combine all that with a lovingly warm and charming performance by Paige O'Hara, it's easy to see why this is one of Disney's most beloved protagonists.

But I and everyone else can agree that the absolute best character in the movie is none other than the other main character, the Beast (voiced by Robby Benson). The Beast was once a selfish prince who was cursed as punishment for his rotten attitude, and now he lives his days as a horrible monster. This of course has weighed heavily on his psyche over time and now he believes he's nothing more than a savage animal. The Beast is pretty amazing in how he makes us feel so many different things at once with him. When he first shows up, we're scared witless of him, but then when he laments how hopeless his situation is, we somewhat pity him and then when he starts being nicer and making an effort to prove himself a gentleman, he's pretty endearing and somewhat adorably awkward. Who knew one character could play with our emotions all at once like that? And as mentioned before, the Beast serves as a great example of the man vs. monster theme in how he looks like a monster but becomes more of a man as he becomes kinder and more civil towards Belle. In the end, his efforts are rewarded with his humanity restored. The Beast is one of Disney's most complex characters they've ever written and he along with Belle really do carry this movie so effortlessly between them.

For the supporting cast, we have the castle staff consisting of Lumiere (voiced by the late Jerry Orbach), Cogsworth (voiced by the late David Ogden Stiers), Mrs. Potts (voiced by the late Angela Lansbury) and Chip (voiced by Bradley Pierce). They serve as guides for the Beast as they try to help him woo Belle and break the spell on the castle so they can all be human again. I think it was a wise idea to have it so the castle staff were cursed as well as the Beast so that it shows it didn't just affect him, and it also makes their plight just as sympathetic as the Beast's. This is a whole castle full of cursed people, thus making it so more is at stake than just the Beast's condition if they can't break the spell. These guys all have their own unique personalities and characteristics that makes them memorable from Lumiere as the flirtatious Casanova to Cogsworth as the fussy stick-in-the-mud who's always following the rules and Mrs. Potts who is essentially the mother figure of the castle staff. These guys steal the show as much as our leads do and also give us two of the best musical numbers in the movie, so that's nice of them.

There's also Belle's father, Maurice (voiced by the late Rex Everhart). Maurice is easily the most sympathetic character in the movie. As an eccentric inventor who is seen as a crazy old loon by the town he lives in and very clearly loves his daughter, it's pretty sad to see him go through so much crap in this movie. He gets lost in the woods, chased by wolves, imprisoned by the beast, released in exchange for his daughter so she's now imprisoned in his place and when he calls for help, he's dismissed as a lunatic and nearly thrown in the asylum! I'm amazed the poor guy didn't have a mental breakdown after all that! As is, Maurice is sympathetic and likeable enough to serve as a good motivator for Belle to make the decision she does, and it really is nice to see even he get a happy ending in the end as he gets to see Belle and the Beast together and as a loving couple.

And now we have our villain, Gaston (voiced by Richard White). Gaston is what happens if you take toxic masculinity and make it into a Disney character. He's very loathsome in that regard, especially as people like Gaston (unfortunately) exist in the real world. As is, he's the perfect kind of villain for this kind of story. What better contrast for the Beast than the handsome guy who thinks he's entitled to the girl because of his privileges? As hateable as Gaston is, I can't deny he can be entertaining thanks to his hammy personality, operatic singing voice and how insanely quotable he is. Nobody makes memes like Gaston after all. And he is a pretty threatening villain too with how easily he can sway the town to his side and how his obsession with Belle can drive him to do terrible things like blackmail or even murder, so it's not like he's all talk and no show. Still, I always enjoy watching this guy be made a fool of or when he falls to his death at the end. XD

Gaston also has his own personal yes-man, LeFou (voiced by Jesse Corti). He's just the typical bumbling henchman, nothing more. I personally would've loved it if he manned up and stood up to Gaston for once instead of being his personal butt-monkey, but alas. At least the remake did that.

These characters are Disney icons for a reason and THE definitive versions of Beauty and the Beast for many. They have a lot of personality; the leads have some depth to their characters, and they all leave a memorable impression for one reason or another. When Disney crafts a fine cast of characters, we get characters like these ones...

Section 3: The Animation

It's a Disney Renaissance era movie. Do I need to tell you the animation is incredible? I don't? Too bad, I'm telling you anyway. =P

THE ANIMATION IS INCREDIBLE!

I swear nothing beats that wonderful 90's era Disney animation, and this film serves as one of the best examples of 2-D animation at its must lush and beautiful. Every frame is just well-crafted, beautifully drawn and full of details and lush colours that bring the movie to life in a way only Disney could manage.

There's a lot of striking details about the visuals that make this movie so interesting and eye-catching to watch. I man for starters, we have a prologue narrated to us about the Beast's backstory and most of it is shown to us via images that are done in the style of stained-glass window paintings like what you'd see in a church or cathedral. That alone is a unique way of delivering this prologue to us for Disney doesn't do this in their other movies and it makes what was merely exposition and set-up for the story more memorable as a result. The backgrounds are also something to take note of for the Beast's castle is TEEMING with detail. The castle is depicted as huge and foreboding with some frightening looking gargoyles that only ends up making Belle feel more uncomfortable at first when she has her first night there. It's like the castle is a visual metaphor for the Beast himself: something ordinary that was corrupted into something beastly looking. Much like the Beast when he transforms back into a human, the castle is restored to its former glory and is shown with brighter colours and more heavenly looking statues in comparison to the monstrous looking gargoyles.

While we're on the subject of colours, this film plays with its colour palette beautifully. As most people have pointed out, Belle is depicted as the only one who wears blue in the town she lives in, which symbolizes how much of an outsider and an oddball she's seen as by the town. Giving her a colour only she wears and nobody else makes her stand out that much more. Her iconic golden ballroom dress especially is eye-catching and makes her stand out. The gold could even be seen as a visual metaphor for how she's the light that has shone on the Beast and his servants in the castle to chase away their gloom after the curse has darkened their lives. The Beast's colours are used as a means to reflect his change in personality. When we first see him, his cloths are plain, ragged and have dull colours to reflect the darkness that has clouded his heart as a result of his transformation. Then come the ballroom scene, he's dressed in regal blue and yellow and the suit is immaculate and fancy. The suit perfectly showcases how for the first time in years, he's finding true happiness and hope again and as a result, the colour is returning to his life. Gaston's loud red shirt and yellow gloves could be seen as reflective of his arrogant, brash and conceited nature. He's so full of himself that he has to wear loud, bright colours to draw more attention to himself. It's always clever to me how artists and animators can reflect a character's personality through their outfits or the clothes they wear.

While we're talking about appearances, let's talk about the character designs. These characters are icons of Disney, and a large reason for that is the character designs. Belle is, as her name suggests, beautiful in design and looks suitably pedestrian as a villager with her plain looking blue dress and apron, but she begins to look like royalty when we see her in the golden dress. Fitting when you consider she marries the Beast and thus becomes a princess. Speaking of the Beast, his design is a feat of character design that few others have matched. Designed by animation legend Glenn Keane himself, the Beast was designed with the mane of a lion, the beard and head of a buffalo, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the eyes of a human, the tusks of a wild boar, the torso of a bear, and the legs and tail of a wolf. Sounds like some weird Frankenstein abomination on paper, but in execution, it looks believable as a real fantastical creature that is perfectly suited for a fairy tale setting. It was especially genius of the animators to give the Beast human eyes while his body is animalistic. The human eyes are a reminder that he was once a human. If he looked completely animalistic, eyes included, then he could've potentially looked too monstrous, so the human eyes were a perfect way to counter that.

Gaston's design is spot-on too. With his muscular frame and handsome features, he is pretty much the spitting image of the archetypal good-looking hero character, despite being the villain. He serves as yet another striking contrast to the Beast in how the Beast is ugly on the outside and good on the inside while Gaston is handsome on the outside but ugly on the inside. It made perfect sense to design him this way.

And of course, there are the household appliances. The animators designed them perfectly by capturing that middle ground between cartoonish and real life in how we can clearly tell what they're supposed to be (a candlestick, a clock, a teapot, a cup and several others) but they have human features like faces and with the exception of a few, limbs to perform certain actions with. As is, they still move more or less how these appliances would actually move if they were able to, such as Lumiere, Mrs. Potts and Chip hopping around everywhere as they have no legs and feet or Cogsworth in how he'll scurry awkwardly on his four stumpy legs. It's especially a fun detail to have the pet dog, Sultan, depicted as a sentient footstool as it more or less matches a dog's anatomy with it being on four legs and all. Considering the household appliances were Howard Ashman's idea, I applaud him for this creative suggestion as it gave the animators a lot of fun character designs to play with, while also giving this version of Beauty and the Beast more of its own identity.

The visuals are great in and of themselves, but they REALLY shine during the musical numbers. During each son, the animation gets its most lively and energetic and a lot of the animation's creativity is on display here with all kinds of stuff going on during these moments. The "Be Our Guest" scene especially really gets colourful, bombastic and full of fun as the servants put on a show for Belle. And then you get "Tale As Old As Time" with the ballroom scene and how everything about the scene is depicted as the most romantic thing ever with a dinner for two and a warm, loving waltz between the Belle and Beast. Some early use of CGI can be seen here, and surprisingly it doesn't look that out of place despite this being early 90's CGI. It still holds up beautifully to this day and still looks great.

If there's anything to criticize about the animation, it's more or less how the film looks in higher definition these days. Not saying the film looks bad or anything, on the contrary, it's just with the enhanced visuals we have for these HD remasters, the Beast's reveal scene isn't as striking as it is in the original versions that were seen on VHS. When the film was on VHS, the beast was so darkly lit that you couldn't actually make out any details on him until he stepped into the light. Nowadays, you can make out his details despite him being bathed in shadows, so it doesn't feel as big of a reveal. That's just a nitpick, I'll admit, nothing too major.

What else needs saying here? It's a Disney Renaissance movie. Gorgeous animation was what made these movies so legendary and beloved along with the timeless stories and memorable characters they crafted. This film is one of Disney's best-looking films ever and a true feast for the eyes every time I watch it...

Section 4: The Songs

These are some of Disney's most beloved tunes of all time, and for good reason. They're songs composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by the late Howard Ashman, whom sadly passed away from AIDS before the film was finished (the film is even dedicated to him) and three of the songs were nominated for Best Original Song with one of them outright WINNING it (I'll mention which one later). That should tell you why these songs are so legendary.

We start off with our townsfolk song, "Belle" in where Belle goes through town singing how she wants more than this provincial life and the townsfolk around her sing about her peculiar she is. The song is great in establishing the world our characters live in and Belle's lot in life as someone who craves adventure in the great wide somewhere and also an oddball in the eyes of the public. There's a lot of fun rhymes and lyrics that make the song easily quotable and enjoyable to sing to and the funny visuals with the animation accompany it beautifully.

Next we have "Gaston", the song that's probably the reason why Gaston is a total meme-lord. The song is essentially everybody in the tavern and Gaston himself singing about how awesome he is. I love how in this song, he can big himself up about just about anything he does, even spitting. This is a song that'll live rent free in your head for the rest of your life and I guarantee you may find yourself randomly going "Nooooo ooooooone (insert action here) like Gaston" for no real reason. It's a tonne of fun and likely the reason why so many people find Gaston entertaining. Richard White's hammy vocal work certainly doesn't hurt either.

Next we have my personal favourite of the bunch, "Be Our Guest", which is performed by Lumiere. This song shows that Disney can turn even dinner time into a show-stopping tune, and show-stopping it is with fun lyrics to sing to, a great lively score that gets more energetic as the show goes on and just the sheer novelty of the castle staff putting on this big lively show to entertain Belle. This is song insanely enjoyable and every time I watch the movie, I never get tired of it. I'll be their guest any time.

Next up is "Something There". The song is sung by Belle and the Beast, although neither of them are actually singing out loud, which makes it seem like they're singing in their thoughts while Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts chime in and actually do sing it out loud. It's the weakest song of the movie for me due to how short it is, but it works well narratively in showcasing the development of Belle and the Beast as either side realizes there's more to them than they thought. There's something there that wasn't there before alright, and that's love between them. ;)

Speaking of love, of course, we have to cover the big romantic ballad of the movie, and also the song that won the Best Original Song award, "Beauty and the Beast". Performed by Mrs. Potts, Angela Lansbury gives a beautifully heartfelt performance as she sings this romantic song about how Belle and the Beast have come together in spite of their shaky start. Interestingly, all the lyrics of the song are five syllables, which makes the song easy to sing along to. The lyrics are wonderfully touching, and Angela's voice is the icing on the cake. She sounds like a kindly grandmother singing to her grandchildren, it's so sweet. ^^

And finally, there's "The Mob Song", or "Kill the Beast" as some might refer to it as. The song is performed by Gaston and the townsfolk as they prepare to kill the Beast and is suitably ominous with its lyrics as they talk about how frightening (they think) the Beast is while Gaston rallies them together to kill him. Once again, the song has very memorable and quotable lyrics that are fun to sing along to and the music is suitably quiet and tense in how it sounds. It's no wonder Gaston rallied the town to his side so easily with a song like this.

Now for those like me who have a 2-disc special edition DVD of the film, you may be aware of another song that the film has called "Human Again", which is performed by the castle staff. While it was left out of the original theatrical cut, some DVDs of the film include an alternate version of this movie with "Human Again" included. Honestly, I think it was for the best that it was cut out as the song doesn't really contribute much to the story and the movie doesn't feel like anything's missing without it. As is, it is a pretty enjoyable song, if not as memorable as the rest of the film's soundtrack.

What else can I say? Everyone loves this soundtrack and everyone still sings these songs to this day. They're catchy, they're memorable, they have quotable lyrics, great musical accompaniment and they make the film even more enjoyable with their inclusion. A great example of how to handle a musical if I do say so myself...

Conclusion

Beauty and the Beast is a classic. What else can I say? The story is engaging, the romance is wonderful, the characters are memorable, the animation is pure eye-candy and the songs are infectiously entertaining. I would say go watch this movie...but why bother? You've already watched it and know why it's so good. So just watch it again, you deserve to treat yourself like that. Beauty and the Beast is a Disney classic and one I will always enjoy for many years to come...

And that's it for this review. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your comments down below. Do you like Beauty and the Beast? Do you not like it? Feel free to share your thoughts. Next week I'll be doing a shot-by-shot analysis essay on a scene from the movie I just reviewed. Which scene? You'll find out next week...