Beauty And The Beast (1991)

 

Beauty And The Beast - 1991

Coming up next is 1991's "Beauty And The Beast", the Disney animated classic that introduced us to Belle and how she came to love a cursed prince.

The film's voice cast includes Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, David Ogden Stiers, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, Bradley Pierce, Rex Everhart, and Tony Jay.

At a beautiful castle in France, a young prince refuses shelter to a peasant.  She offers him a rose as payment.  Repulsed by her, the prince sends her away.

Turns out, the peasant is really an enchantress.  She puts a curse on the prince and turns him into a beast.

Not only is he cursed, but everyone who lives in the castle is cursed as well.

In order to lift the curse, the Beast must find someone to love him before the last petal falls on an enchanted rose.  If he doesn't love before then, he is doomed to remain a beastly creature forever.

And here is where we meet Belle, a girl that's strange - no question!  She's constantly got her nose in a book, and the whole town thinks her more than a little odd.

Belle arrives at the castle looking for her father, who has been locked inside by the Beast after seeking shelter from some ravenous wolves.

The Beast makes a prisoner exchange.  Belle's father is free to go, but she must remain forever.  The grumpy Beast tells Belle that she can go anywhere in the castle except for the West Wing, because it is forbidden.

After a rocky start with the Beast, Belle is quick to make friends with his cursed servants: Mrs. Potts and her son Chip, Lumiere, and Cogsworth.

They invite Belle to "Be Our Guest" and put on a sumptuous feast in her honor.

Eventually, the Beast realizes that Belle isn't just someone he can push around.  She can stand up to him and isn't afraid to do so.

The Beast softens towards Belle, and he wants to do something for her.  So, he gifts her with a library the likes of which would make any bibliophile swoon.

Their relationship takes a turn, and both of them realize that there's "Something There".

A grand dinner and dance with Mrs. Potts singing "Tale As Old As Time" while they dance seems to cement the relationship.

But that relationship is put in peril when an angry mob storms the castle intent on killing the Beast.  (Cogsworth is fully in the spirit of defending the castle.)  The Beast is severely injured.  And it's at this point that Belle reveals that she loves him as the last petal falls from his enchanted rose.

However, this proves to be the catalyst that breaks the curse.  The Beast transforms into a prince again.

Not only does the Beast transform, but so do all of his servants.  Everyone is thrilled to be human again.

And they all gather in the ballroom and watch as Belle dances with her prince.

Cast rundown:

   Paige O'Hara...........................................Belle

   Robby Benson.........................................Beast

   Richard White.........................................Gaston

   David Ogden Stiers..................................Cogsworth

   Jerry Orbach...........................................Lumiere

   Angela Lansbury......................................Mrs. Potts

   Bradley Pierce..........................................Chip

   Rex Everhart...........................................Maurice

   Tony Jay.................................................Monsieur D'Arque

And that's it for Beauty And The Beast.  During the famous "Tale As Old As Time" dancing sequence, animators found they were running out of time as production went on.  They re-used animation from the dance sequence between Aurora and Prince Philip from "Sleeping Beauty" and had Belle and the Beast drawn over them.  The finished product of the film used 1,295 painted backgrounds and 120,000 drawings.  The final stained glass window at the end of the movie was built at Disneyland following the film's release.

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