Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Today we examine a "tale as old as time," Beauty and the Beast.

The Movie:

Beauty and the Beast is the 30th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the second animated musical of the Disney Renaissance.  It was released to near-universal praise and was the 3rd highest grossing film of the year.  Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to win the Golden Globe for Best Movie - Musical or Comedy and the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.  Today it is often held as one of the best animated movies ever made.

Based on the fairy tale as told by French author Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, Beauty and the Beast tells the story of a young prince who turns away a beggar woman.  The beggar woman is actually and enchantress in disguise, and as punishment she transforms him into a hideous beast, and the curse can only be broken if he learns to love and is loved in return.  A decade later, an inventor named Maurice gets lost in the forest and takes refuge in the Beast's castle, only to be taken captive.  His daughter, the beautiful bookworm Belle, is frustrated with her ordinary life and the advances of the boorish Gaston.  When Belle goes to find her missing father, she offers herself to the Beast in her father's place.  The castle's servants, including Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts, sense this is the opportunity to break their master's curse, and work to bring the Beast back from the edge of despair so he and Belle might grow closer.

What can be said about this movie that hasn't already been said.  It is about as close to perfection ever found in an animated movie.  The animation is beautiful.  Though mostly hand-drawn, the movie does use small amounts of CGI in what at the time were groundbreaking special effects, especially in the ballroom dancing scene, one of the most iconic and gorgeous scenes ever put to animation.  The story files off some of the more dated lessons from the original fairy tale and gives the movie a more modern sensibility that helps it to stand out from some of the earlier Disney films.  The voice acting, singing and speaking, is wonderful, with standout performances from Paige O'Hara, Angela Lansbury, and Jerry Orbach, who shows off his Broadway roots.  (Imagine my surprise when I got a bit older, started watching Law and Order, and came to realize that Lennie Briscoe was the voice of Lumiere.)

Beauty and the Beast might also be the best Broadway-style musical ever put to screen, but how can you expect nothing less when the songs were written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.  (This was the last film Ashman completed before his death, as he died eight months before the movie's release.  The film is dedicated to him.)  There isn't a single clunker on the soundtrack.  "Belle" is pretty much what you expect in a Broadway opening number, introducing the characters, setting, and starting the plot in a rousing number.  "Gaston" is perhaps the catchiest (and most memeable) song on the soundtrack, though the showstopping "Be Our Guest" gives it a run for its money.  The charming "Something There" provides wonderful insight into the character development of the protagonists, and the title track, "Beauty and the Beast" is both simple and grand at the same time.  (Remarkably, Lansbury recorded the song in a single take.)  "The Mob Song" is frenetically energetic with lyrics that are even more resonant in today's political climate.  The pop cover of "Beauty and the Beast" was recorded by a then-mostly unknown Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, and it played over the end credits and received plenty of airplay on the radio.  Three of the songs ("Belle" "Be Our Guest" "Beauty and the Beast") were nominated for the Oscar, with the title track winning.

Menken's score also took home an Oscar.  There are many great moments, but the entire final battle and ending sequence provides a particularly memorable stretch.  The other iconic motif is the underscore of the prologue, with a motif that intentionally echoes the "Aquarium" movement from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Notably Beauty and the Beast would spawn several other works, including several poorly received direct-to-video sequels and midquels, the 1994 Broadway musical (Disney's first), and the 2017 live-action remake (which well get to later).

Presence in the Parks:

Beauty and the Beast might hold the record for the fastest opening of an attraction directly based on a movie, as the show Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage opened in Disney-MGM Studios the same day as the movie opened.  (Yes, I realize that technically the attraction themed to the movie Dinosaur opened before the movie, but as we discussed in that entry, the two were developed in conjunction, where here the stage is specifically based on the movie).

Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage made its debut in the original Theater of the Stars.  From the opening of the park in 1989 to 1991, this theater had hosted three other shows, Hollywood! Hollywood! A Star Studded Spectacular, Dick Tracy Starring in Diamond Double-Cross, and Hollywood's Pretty Woman.  The original Theater of the Stars was located off Hollywood Boulevard opposite Echo Lake (at the top of Mickey's left ear in the original Hidden Mickey layout of the park's central plaza).

In 1993, a temporary theater called the Backlot Theater opened on New York Street to house the show.  (This theater later become a permanent location called the Premiere Theater, which was recently demolished for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.  See the entry on Frozen for a little more info.)  This moved was needed as the location of the original Theater of the Stars was now the entrance to the new Sunset Boulevard, an expansion to the park leading to the new Tower of Tower ride.  A new Theater of the Stars was built alongside Sunset Boulevard, and Beauty and the Beast moved into that theater in 1994, where it remains.  The only major change was a reworking in 2001 to bring the production order of the songs in line with the movie.

Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage, Hollywood Studios, May 2015

A Beauty and the Beast stage show also used to run in Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

Both Belle and the Beast play a part in another stage show, that being Fantasmic! in Disneyland and Hollywood Studios.  They are one of the three couples who get a float during the Princess Sequence, and a small portion of "Beauty and the Beast" is sung during this sequence.  "Be Our Guest" is also the music and animation that transitions out of the Bubble Sequence leading into "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.

Belle and Beast on the steamboat, Fantasmic! at Hollywood Studios, May 2015

For the longest time, the place to meet Belle and the Beast at WDW was at France Pavillion at Epcot, and Belle still has a meet there.

Belle and the Beast, France Pavilion, Epcot, June 1995

However, the biggest current presence of Beauty and the Beast in WDW came about in 2012 with the opening of New Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom.

An entire section of this area is devoted to Beauty and the Beast.  Enchanted Tales with Belle doubles as an interactive show and character meet.  There are two restaurants, Gaston's Tavern and Be Our Guest Restaurant, one of the hardest to get reservations in the entire park.  One of the beverages served in these locations is the non-alcoholic LeFou's Brew, Disney's answer to the popular Butterbeer served in Universal's Harry Potter areas.  The landscaping also includes a forced-perspective model of Beast's castle in the background.

Beast's Castle, New Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom, May 2015

Of course, Beauty and the Beast pops up in other small ways around the park, including parades, character meals, a "Be Our Guest" sequence in Mickey's Philharmagic, Belle and Lumiere cards in the Sorcerers of Magic Kingdom, and a window display in the Main Street Emporium.

Window Display, Main Street Emporium, Magic Kingdom, May 2015