Beauty and the Beast

[OscarGuy]

Interesting. I always thought the score was perfect for the stage and would love to have an unhappy ending with it. HoND has one of my favorite Disney songs ever in it. Hellfire is so delightfully dreary and the accompanying visuals just amazed me...symbolic and horrific at the same time, very much Disney's most mature segment ever.

[anonymous1980]

Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite Disney movies along with Mulan, Fantasia and, of course, Beauty and the Beast.

Hunchback had a significant number of mature things that I was proud to see they did. I didn't care for the gargoyle characters, but having just finished the novel, I can "kind of" understand the usage as Quasimodo was known to talk to the statues and bells of Notre Dame. The end is completely dissimilar from the book, which is saddening (I LOVE the finale of the book)...but I still like that Disney was finally able to tackle an adult theme while still maintaining their kid-friendly tendencies.

NERD TRIVIA: The Hunchback of Notre Dame was supposed to follow The Lion King as another Disney movie-to-Broadway musical adaptation. But I think Disney rejected it for the Broadway stage because Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz reverted to the sad ending of the book and refused to budge. Disney, however, allowed it to be staged in Europe where it has been quite successful.

[Akash]

Very true. Esmerelda was actually portrayed as SEXUAL and not made a villain for it (like say, Ursula). And as Sabin already stated, the score is just beautiful.

[OscarGuy]

Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite Disney movies along with Mulan, Fantasia and, of course, Beauty and the Beast.

Hunchback had a significant number of mature things that I was proud to see they did. I didn't care for the gargoyle characters, but having just finished the novel, I can "kind of" understand the usage as Quasimodo was known to talk to the statues and bells of Notre Dame. The end is completely dissimilar from the book, which is saddening (I LOVE the finale of the book)...but I still like that Disney was finally able to tackle an adult theme while still maintaining their kid-friendly tendencies.

[Akash]

Aside from sending out promotional ads in lieu of a proper screener, was there anything that really did kill 'Beauty and the Beast''s chances?

Perhaps just the lousy taste of a largely myopic voting Academy that almost always opts for obvious immediate "pleasure" over timelessness? I'm with you guys, Beauty and the Beast is a gorgeous film. Best of 1991, one of the best nominees at the Oscars, and certainly the best thing Disney has ever done (though I must say I do still love The Little Mermaid and I'm glad Sabin that you appreciated The Hunchback of Notre Dame too. The film is usually considered lesser Disney by the same no-taste crowd that adores the dreck that is The Lion King).

[FilmFan720]

Sabin, I am the same age as you, so my memory of that time is not the most reliable, but I remember some backlash against Beauty and the Beast. It was the first Oscar race I remember following in any capacity (my parents had just bought me my first EW subscription), and even I realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. There seemed to be a resistance towards "goddam cartoons" as they would take away actor's jobs...the next year, when people were pushing Robin Williams for an Oscar nod for Aladdin, the same questions came up. The nomination was B&B's prize, and nowhere was Hollywood going to admit that they couldn't make any live-action film better than a cartoon. It's the same feeling that will probably keep a foreign-language film from ever winning Best Picture.

[Sabin]

'Beauty and the Beast' was my favorite movie growing up. I was ten when I saw it and I recall a visceral detail about it: I immediately associated the opening score with a sensation of wonderment. From the get-go, I was drawn in, even sitting on the edge of my seat to lean in. Alan Menken's achievement is really outstanding and for me remains very associative.

In the following years, the film has dropped a mite in my estimation but really only because it's no longer on a more youthful pedestal. I dislike the comical invasion of the castle. It's a little too kiddie for me, yet I must say it's stronger kiddie shit than from any Disney film to follow. It would be too much of me to expect a completely adult-oriented Disney movie, though let it be said that this is the closest we will get. I think 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' comes a close second but is tonally all over the place (it also has a wonderful score).

'Beauty and the Beast' is the best film of 1991 and deserved to win Best Picture. The fact that it reaped six Academy Award nominations is really still rather impressive, though it absolutely deserved a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. If 'Beauty and the Beast' doesn't win an award for successfully adapting a story (let alone a timeless one) so freshly and still retain a feeling of such timelessness, I don't know what does.

Did anybody really predict a win? Looking back, 'The Silence of the Lambs' had a strong degree of good will going towards it with its DGA win and a plethora of critic's trophies, but failed to win more than a single Globe. 'JFK' was the longest, most controversial, and perhaps the most anticipated. 'Bugsy' had the most nominations and was the costume-iest pick (though by default), but also bombed at the box office and was I'd imagine seen as *just* another gangster flick. And 'The Prince of Tides' while financially successful was not extremely well-received and had no director's nod. Aside from sending out promotional ads in lieu of a proper screener, was there anything that really did kill 'Beauty and the Beast''s chances?

[OscarGuy]

Age has little to do with it. I was 16 when I saw the film for the first time and I still adored it. The previous animated film I remember seeing was The Rescuers, but B&B got me into Disney animated history. And I guess since I've still not seen The Great Mouse Detective and most people dismiss the film out of hand along with its abysmal box office, I guess I never even think about it.

[Big Magilla]

Let me clarify something before this thing gets demoted to goddamn cartoon status around here: I was five years old when I first saw this film. In other words, I was EXACTLY the right age at the EXACT moment when the modern animated film hit its peak. It is highly likely that I had first seen the film as an adult, I wouldn't love it so much. I remember going to see the film as a kid, and I remember being absolutely awestruck. I have seen it many times over the years and love it still, although some of my feelings toward it certainly stem from that initial experience. We all have definitive filmgoing experiences in our lives, and Beauty and the Beast is unquestionably one of mine. I am delighted to know that others feel the same (cue Sabin...)

Beauty and the Beast was my favorite fairy tale as a kid. I loved the Cocteu version, but the Disney version is the one that gets everything right. It is the only cartoon movie to win my best picture award.

Although anyone can fall in love with it, you may be right that five is the right age for discovering it. It's the favorite film of my ten year old nephew who also disovered it at around that age and who still never tires of watching it.

[The Original BJ]

I adore Beauty and the Beast. It's funny, just today I was thinking about the film because I was listening to the Broadway show soundtrack on my way to work.

OscarGuy, I think you are wrong that this was the first Disney film to use CGI, as The Great Mouse Detective got there first. But you are very right that the ballroom scene is one of the great romantic moments in film history. The two other moments in the film that absolutely make my heart melt are when the Beast shows Belle the library, and that divine sequence at the finale, which reduces me to a blubbering mess every time I see it (or even hear the soundtrack: "at least I got to see you...one last time...") The moment after the Beast has transformed into the Prince, when Belle hesitates as she looks into his eyes, searching for the beast within before she accepts the beauty, then smiles and says, "It IS you," is one of the most beautiful moments in animation history.

I also love the way Beauty and the Beast celebrates kindness. Too many recent animated features (including some of Disney's own) have made such attempts to be hip and ironic they end up merely crass and mean-spirited. Beauty and the Beast, however, is filled with nothing but humanism: the bookkeeper lets Belle keep her favorite book, Belle adores her father's eccentricities and supports his dreams, the delightful supporting characters work overtime to make Belle as comfortable as possible in a cruel situation, the Beast learns the power of generosity in the aforementioned library scene, the Beast gives up his own chance at redemption to let Belle go to her father, and on and on. Beauty and the Beast is a film about learning to love the people you never thought you could, about finding a place where you belong in a world that makes you feel so alone (the Beast because of his appearance, Belle because of her smarts.)

And, OH, that score! Beauty and the Beast is such a lovely ballad it could support an entire score on its own, but the film is overstuffed with terrific music. Belle is a superlative opening number, Be Our Guest is a showstopper, Gaston is hilarious, Something There is achingly sweet, and The Mob Song is horrifyingly accurate in its portrayal of human indecency ("we don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us.") I recently had the opportunity to meet Alan Menken and hear him perform his greatest hits, and I don't know if I've ever been as awestruck at meeting anyone before. The loss of Howard Ashman so early devastates me, as few animated musicals since his have featured such poetic lyrics.

Let me clarify something before this thing gets demoted to goddamn cartoon status around here: I was five years old when I first saw this film. In other words, I was EXACTLY the right age at the EXACT moment when the modern animated film hit its peak. It is highly likely that I had first seen the film as an adult, I wouldn't love it so much. I remember going to see the film as a kid, and I remember being absolutely awestruck. I have seen it many times over the years and love it still, although some of my feelings toward it certainly stem from that initial experience. We all have definitive filmgoing experiences in our lives, and Beauty and the Beast is unquestionably one of mine. I am delighted to know that others feel the same (cue Sabin...)

[OscarGuy]

Long before the Animated Feature category, one film dared to defy convention and became the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture.

The feat has not been matched and on a whim (re-runs on TV and I didn't feel like watching anything incredibly serious) I put it in the DVD player (Special Edition) and it was like I was watching it all over again.

It's amazing to see how far animation has come and realize that this was the first Disney feature to use computer animation in any real way (the ball room scene is actually quite stunning compared to some of the lame and obvious uses in later features). Having said that, I was struck by how many old cell-drawn techniques were still being used. The opening scene in particular looked like it was out of one of the old Disney animated classics where multiple planes of drawings are slowly zoomed in through and they slide slightly to create intriguing three-dimensional effects.

But what really amazed me was how much I could still be drawn into the story. Unlike many of the films that came after, Beauty and the Beast used the "color" characters as an important part of the plot, not just as occasional one-line-readers. Add to that, the moving story of love breaking through the guise of appearance and you have a very involving and emotionally driven.

Thanks to the wonderful score and songs, Beauty and the Beast remains in my mind one of the classic love stories of all time and I still consider it one of history's greatest films.