With The Little Mermaid coming out back in 1989, Disney has recaptured the glorious animated musical genre back into the fold as audiences were enthralled by the story and the music itself. It also started on what many people called the Disney Renaissance. It all started with The Little Mermaid and ended with Tarzan. It was a popular time and era for all of these critical and popular successes and many children or adults have memories watching or re-watching them repeatedly from glancing at the intricate and glorious animation to singing the memorable songs. I will talk about the music in detail later on. However, there was a movie that took animation to the next level from the storytelling to the most colorful animation that geared up audiences and even critics (I'm not kidding) to applaud after the conclusion of the film. Beauty and the Beast is not just a classic animated musical but it is also a classic and unusual love story that is, and I rarely say this, timeless.
The story starts in a kingdom in which an arrogant prince denies an enchantress', who is disguised as an old beggar, request of entering the kingdom for shelter from the cold. However, because of distasteful personality, he refuses. Because of his arrogance, the enchantress transforms the prince into a hideous beast and casts a spell on the castle. She gives him a rose and also a magic mirror to glance at faraway events. In order to break the spell, the prince must learn to love a woman and earn her love before the last rose petal falls on his 21st birthday. If not, he and his staff will become cursed forever.
Ten years later, a beautiful bookworm girl named Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara) is getting tired of the village life and wants to be adventurous. Her head is always in the clouds and also because her standards do not meet the village's standards, she is ridiculed by everyone except by very few people. In his pursuits, Gaston (voiced by a Richard White), a narcissistic, muscular hunter along with his sidekick, Le Fou (voiced by Jesse Corti), wants to marry Belle despite being rejected by her repeatedly.
Maurice (voiced by Rex Everhart) gets his invention ready and working and he travels to the fair into a very mysterious forest, rationalizing that he is lost. Because of the wolves, his horse running away and the cold weather, he enters the same isolated and cursed castle 10 years ago. Inside, he meets Lumiere (voiced by Jerry Orbach), a candlestick, Cogsworth (voiced by David Ogden Stiers), a grandfather clock, Mrs. Potts (voiced by Angela Lansbury), a teapot and her son, Chip (voiced by Bradley Pierce), a teacup. After he gets acquainted into the castle, Maurice meets Beast (voiced by Robby Benson), who was the former prince in the beginning of the movie, and locks him in the tower.
When Belle notices Phillipe, his horse, coming back without Maurice, she goes the same way to the same castle. Lumiere and Cogsworth notices Belle as Lumiere sees a potential opportunity that she is the person that can break the spell. As Belle finds Maurice, Beast also comes into the prison as Belle offers him to take his place under Beast's condition that she is to remain in the castle forever. Over her father's objection, Belle accepts the offer. They both have a distant relationship in the beginning but it grows over the next few days.
It is one of the greatest animated movies of all time because the narrative centers around all of the themes of love, appearance, identity and sacrifice. Appearance and identity does not surround around solely Beast and Belle. Yes, sure, the story centers on them because Belle is out of place with the village life because she wants to explore the world based on her imagination and knowledge from books. She loves the books as Gaston ridicules her that "girls cannot read". Beast, because of his arrogance, is lost in both of his appearance and identity. While identifying himself because of his appearance, Beast cannot control his temper as Belle grew on him after she scolds him, causing her to be scared because of his anger.
However, as I watching the movie not too long ago, I was more concentrated on the lyrics in the songs in both Be Our Guest and that song in the Extended Cut, Human Again. In the masterfully drawn musical sequence of Be Our Guest, you can see and listen to Lumiere's and all of the staff's lyrics as they are being festive in actually being useful during the 10-year-old curse. You can see that before the curse that you could get a taste of what the atmosphere was like before the curse was thrown upon the castle. Even though you can argue the Human Again song is contradicting because you already know that the spell will be eventually broken from their dialogue. Was the song necessary? No, but it was entertaining.
Love is the most powerful theme of the movie because there are two different types: one being more complex than the other. You can tell in that prison scene that Belle sacrifices her own self for her father because she loves her father. Belle's and Maurice's familial love is noticeably expressed because they are so isolated by the village life as the villagers interpret Maurice as crazy and Belle as odd. With the main romance, it starts slow because Beast has to work to earn her affection not to go fast on their relationship because she is beautiful and intelligent. However, it is the arc of the film that starts with hate and despair and ends with bittersweetness and redemption that transcends into a loving couple.
The movie is a classic not solely because of the classical romance but also for Alan Menken's score and music. His music has been widely appreciated and loved over the years not in just this movie but also in most of the Disney Renaissance as he composed for most of that era. Many children or lifelong fans are still listening to his music and songs and that either brings them back into their childhood or they simply like it. Plus, it is more brilliant to hear Angela Lansbury's voice accompany Menken's music while singing the titular song. You can argue that this is the most beautiful animated movie ever made, specifically most beautifully well-drawn animated movie. It is to me even though I love The Lion King. The movie has intricate detail to the characters' facial expressions, furniture and also the magnificent ballroom. And, I have not met a person who has hated this movie because the movie entertains both adults and children, young and old. It is a generational movie. It bridges both the savviness for the adults and the joyfulness for the children. It deserved the first Best Picture nomination for an animated film even though it lost to The Silence of the Lambs. However, there were three great movies in 1991 for Best Picture: that movie, JFK and Beauty and the Beast. Heck, anybody who is a great mood or depressing mood, you can either watch this movie or listen to the music.
All right, one more clip:
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