Beauty and the Beast
| Beauty and the Beast (1991) | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gary Trousdale Kirk Wise |
| Produced by | Don Hahn |
| Written by | Linda Woolverton |
| Starring | Paige O’Hara Robby Benson Richard White Jerry Orbach David Ogden Stiers Angela Lansbury Rex Everhart Jesse Corti Bradley Pierce |
| Music by | Alan Menken Howard Ashman |
| Editing by | John Carnochan |
| Distributed by | Buena Vistas Pictures Distribution |
| Release date(s) | November 13, 1991 |
| Running time | 84 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million |
| Gross revenue | $440.1 million |
| Followed by | Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas |
Beauty and the Beast was an animated Disney film from 1991 based on Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s take on the story from 1756. It’s recognized as the second film of Disney’s “Renaissance era” and it was a far bigger success than The Little Mermaid making more money with less spent on the budget. It’s major critical appraise made it the first of three animated movies to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It however lost to Silence of the Lambs.
Plot
The story begins with the Beast’s backstory, and it says that years ago, a young Prince refused to give an old woman shelter during a storm, but when the old woman turned into a beautiful young woman, she cursed the Prince and turned him into a Beast. And it’s stated by the narrator that the Beast must learn to love a woman, and the woman must love him back by the time he’s 21 years old, or he’ll be a Beast forever.
Belle is introduced, and she’s on her way to get a book, and go back into her home, but on the way back from the book shop, she encounters Gaston who seeks to marry her. Belle’s father Maurice invents a machine that can chop firewood automatically, and he plans to go to an event to show it to the greater public. However, he’s chased by Wolves, and he ends up at a Castle. Maurice goes inside the Castle, and meets talking objects. Lumière the Candle, Cogsworth the Clock, Mrs. Potts the Teapot, and Chip the Cup. They make him at home right away, although Cogsworth disagrees due to what the master would say. We see that the master of the Castle is the Beast, and he takes Maurice, and locks him in a cell.
Back at Belle’s house, Gaston sets up a wedding, and is ready to propose to Belle. He does so, but Belle shoves him into a mud pool much to Gaston’s frustration. Belle then sings about “Wanting more than what they got planned.” Her father’s horse appears, and she notices that he’s gone. She gets on the horse, and he takes her to the Beast’s Castle, and she finds Maurice right away, and then the Beast appears. He refuses to let Maurice go, but Belle tells him she’ll take his place. Seeing that this is an opportunity to break the curse, he agrees.
At the Tavern in the town, Gaston is still upset that Belle rejected him which he saw as “Publicly humiliating“ due to him already setting up the wedding. His friend LeFou then gets the customers in the Tavern to sing about how great Gaston is, and that all the men want to be him, and that he’s the size of a barge. Maurice then barges in, and tells the people about a Beast. However, the people don’t believe him, and kick him out. Now, Gaston plans to use Maurice as a chip to marry Belle.
As for Belle, the Beast gives her a nice room, but locks her in there because she wouldn’t show for dinner. After he leaves, the objects led by Lumière decide to give Belle food, and a tour of the Castle. After they accidentally tell her where the West Wing is, she sneaks off and goes in there. She finds a flower in a glass case, she’s about to touch it, but the Beast appears and goes crazy. Belle runs away, but she encounters wolves, and seems like she’ll be dinner, but the Beast shows up and saves her. He gets injured, and collapses. Thankful, Belle takes the Beast back to the Castle, and the two start bonding.
At the town, Gaston is talking with the owner of the insane asylum, and he pays him to catch Maurice, so he can blackmail Belle. However, Maurice left to go save Belle from the Beast. Gaston tells LeFou to stay in front of Belle’s house until they come back. We then get the famous “Beauty and the Beast” sequence, where Mrs. Potts sings of a tale as old as time. After the dance, Belle finds out that her father was out to get her, but he collapsed in the snow. Belle wants to save him, so the Beast gives her her freedom, much to the dismay of Lumière and the others.
Belle gets her father, and takes him back to the town, and nurses him to an awake state. Then, the insane asylum comes, and takes Maurice, Gaston tells Belle he can make it stuff if she marries him. Belle refuses, and shows the town that Maurice was right about there being a Beast. It scares the people, and Gaston uses this to his advantage. He convinces the people to join him on his quest to kill the Beast.
They March to the Castle, and while Gaston’s men are fighting the objects, he’ll look for the Beast. The objects win the battle, but the war is far from over. Gaston finds the Beast, and he shows no energy in defending himself. He appears ready to die, but Belle shows up, and the Beast starts fighting back. The Beast wins, and spares Gaston after he begged for it. However, when the Beast’s back was turned, Gaston stabs him, but due to him losing footing on the roof, he falls to his death. Belle confesses her love for the Beast, and he and the objects return to human form, and Belle and the Beast live happily ever after.
Cast
Paige O’Hara as Belle
Robby Benson as the Beast
Richard White as Gaston
Jerry Orbach as Lumière
David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth
Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts
Rex Everhart as Maurice
Jesse Corti as LeFou
Bradley Pierce as Chip
Production
Beauty and the Beast had been on Walt Disney’s mind since he started making films, but due to WWII, and the famous Jean Cocteau film from 1946, it was shelved.
At first, Richard Purdum was going to put it together. But after criticisms arose for The Little Mermaid’s protagonist Ariel not being feminist enough, Disney Studio Chairman Jeffery Katzenberg told him to rewrite the story completely. In a rage, Purdum left the project. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman returned to do the music putting Aladdin on a pause. At this point, everyone knew Ashman had AIDS, and he wouldn’t be around much longer as all the songs were recorded in New York instead of California. Katzenberg got in Linda Woolverton to write the screenplay so there could be more of a feminist twist to the original fairy tale.
Initially, Jodi Benson who voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid was supposed to voice Belle, but due to her not sounding European enough, she was replaced quickly by Paige O’Hara.