|
|
|
|
Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
|
| |
|
| |
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated family film. It is the thirtieth animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. The film received its premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on November 13, 1991. This film, one of the best known of the Disney studio's films, is based on the well-known fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, about a beautiful woman kept in a castle by a horrific monster. It is the only full-length animated feature film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (it lost to The Silence of the Lambs).
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)' Start a new discussion about 'Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated family film. It is the thirtieth animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. The film received its premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on November 13, 1991. This film, one of the best known of the Disney studio's films, is based on the well-known fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, about a beautiful woman kept in a castle by a horrific monster. It is the only full-length animated feature film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (it lost to The Silence of the Lambs). Heightening the level of performance in the era known as the Disney Renaissance (1989–1999, beginning with The Little Mermaid and ending with Tarzan), many animated films following its release have been influenced by its blending of traditional animation and computer generated imagery.
Beauty and the Beast ranked 7th on the American Film Institute's list of best animated films, #22 on the Institutes's list of best musicals, and #34 on its list of the best romantic American movies. On the list of the greatest songs from American movies, Beauty and the Beast ranked #62. The film was adapted into a Broadway musical of the same name, which ran from 1994 to 2007.
In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In January of the same year, the film was reissued in IMAX format in a special edition edit including a new musical sequence, a two-disc Platinum Edition DVD release (featuring the original, the IMAX, and the workprint versions) followed in October. In 2010, the film will be re-released in the Disney Digital 3-D format, with a DVD / Blu-Ray re-release followed. This film was rated G by the MPAA.
The movie was adapted to an animation screenplay by Linda Woolverton, based upon the version of Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont (uncredited in the English version of the film, but credited in the French version as writer of the novel). It was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and the music was composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, both of whom had written the music and songs for Disney's The Little Mermaid. It was a significant success at the box-office, with more than $145 million in domestic revenues alone and over $403 million in worldwide revenues. This high number of sales made it the third-most successful movie of 1991, surpassed only by summer blockbusters Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It was also the most successful animated Disney film at the time and the first animated movie to reach $100 million at the domestic box-office.
Beauty and the Beast won two Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score and Best Music, Song for Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's "Beauty and the Beast", sung in the film's most famous scene by Angela Lansbury, and at the end of the film by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. Two other Menken and Ashman songs from the movie also nominated for Best Music, Song were "Belle" and "Be Our Guest", making it the first picture ever to receive three Academy Award nominations for Best Song, a feat that would be repeated by Aladdin, The Lion King, Dreamgirls, and Enchanted (Academy rules have since been changed that limit one film to two nominations in this category). Beauty and the Beast was also nominated for Best Sound and Best Picture. It is the only animated movie ever to be nominated for Best Picture. There are also Disney versions of the story published and sold as storybooks and a comic book based on the film published by Disney Comics. In 1995, a live-action children's series called Sing Me a Story with Belle started on syndication, running until 1999. On November 11, 1997, a midquel called Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas was released directly to videocassette. It was quickly followed by another midquel titled Belle's Magical World that was released on February 17, 1998.
Plot
In the prologue, told in stained glass windows, an old beggar woman arrives at the castle of a French prince. The woman asks for shelter from the cold, and in return, offers the young prince a rose. Repulsed by her appearance, the prince turns her away. The beggar warns him to not judge by appearances, but the Prince ignores her, and shuts the door on her. The woman then throws off her disguise, revealing that she is a beautiful enchantress. The Prince tries to apologize, but she has already seen the lack of kindness in his heart. She conjures a powerful curse, transforming him into a hideous beast reflecting the cruelty within himself, his servants into anthropomorphic household items, and the entire castle into a dark, forbidding place so that he will learn to not judge by appearances. The curse can only be broken if the Beast learns to love another and receives the other's love in return before the last petal of the enchantress's rose withers and falls; if not, he will be doomed to remain a beast forever. As the years pass, the Beast sits in his castle wallowing in despair, convinced that no one could ever love a beast.
Years later, a beautiful young peaseant woman named Belle has moved to a nearby village. She is seen as strange due to her preference for reading books and dislike of being courted by the local hero, Gaston, whom she perceives as an egomaniac and 'positively primeval'. At one point Gaston offers his hand in marriage to Belle, which she rejects. This serves a hard blow to Gaston's ego.
Maurice, Belle's father, is an eccentric inventor. While traveling to a fair, Maurice becomes lost and loses his horse in the night as wolves chase him; cold and tired, he stumbles upon a mysterious castle and enters it. One by one, the enchanted household items, Lumière the candelabra, Mrs. Potts the teapot and Cogsworth the clock and head of the household warmly welcome him and shelter him from the cold. The Beast discovers Maurice and, in a fury, locks him in a dungeon on top of the castle tower. Belle, who worries when her father's horse returns home without him, decides to seek out her father. Eventually, Belle winds up at the Beast's castle. She finds him at the tower dungeon and tries to break him free, but the Beast catches her instead. She offers herself in exchange for her father's life, against his wishes. The Beast agrees and releases her father, throwing him in a spider-like sedan chair and ordering it to return him to the village. He gives her permission to go anywhere in the castle except the West Wing, refusing to explain why. The Beast shows Belle her room and tells her that they must meet for dinner (at Lumiere's suggestion). Belle later refuses to have dinner with the Beast, enraging him. He tells the servants that if Belle does not eat with him, she will have to starve. At that, the Beast storms off towards the West Wing. Ignoring the Beast's orders, the enchanted items welcome Belle warmly and entertain her with an elaborate dinner.
Back in the village, the citizens and fellow goons attempt to cheer up Gaston after Belle has rejected him. Maurice then bursts in and asks for help to rescue Belle from "a beast", but no one believes him. Gaston decides to force Belle to marry him by threatening to have her father thrown into the local madhouse. Maurice goes off to search for Belle, unaware of Gaston's plan.
After dinner, Belle asks the servants for a tour of the castle. Fooling Lumiere and Cogsworth into showing the library, Belle sneaks into the forbidden West Wing, discovering an extremely disarrayed and desolate room, a slashed portrait with strangely familiar blue eyes, and the enchanted rose. The Beast catches her and loses his temper. Belle flees the castle and is chased by wolves. The Beast, apparently tipped off by Lumiere (whom Belle had passed on her way out of the castle), appears and fights off the wolves; a grateful Belle returns to the castle and, while tending to the Beast's wounds, thanks him for saving her life. Over some time, the two start to become friends. The household items are excited and optimistic that Belle may fall in love with the Beast and cause them to become human again. The relationship reaches its climax with an elegant dinner and ballroom dance.
Belle asks if she can see her father and the magic mirror reveals that Maurice is lost and sick in the forest. The Beast, having fallen in love with Belle, releases her to rescue her father. She finds Maurice and takes him back to the village, where a mob gathers to take him to the asylum. Gaston offers to have Maurice spared if Belle agrees to marry him but she still refuses. To prove that her father's claim of the Beast's existence is true, Belle uses the magic mirror to show the villagers an image of the Beast. The villagers become frightened as they realize that the Beast is real. Belle assures them that the Beast is kind and gentle, and that he's her friend. Out of jealousy and anger, Gaston tells the mob that Belle is as crazy as her father. Gaston rallies the villagers to storm the castle and "kill the beast," convincing them that he is dangerous. To prevent Belle and Maurice from warning the Beast, they are locked in the house cellar.
With the help of Chip the teacup, Belle and Maurice escape from the cellar and rush back to the castle. The villagers force open the castle door and battle the servants, although Gaston deserts the battle to search for the Beast. While combatants on both sides are slain, the servants eventually manage to drive the villagers out of the castle, and Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts leave in pursuit of Gaston. Gaston finds the Beast alone in the West Wing and attacks him, throwing both of them outside on the balcony and rooftops. The Beast does not defend himself because he has given up hope of being able to see Belle again. As soon as he sees Belle arriving to the castle and calling out for him on the rooftop, the Beast gains the will to fight Gaston. A heated battle ensues between Gaston and the Beast, culminating when Beast grabs his neck and threatens to drop him off the roof. Gaston begs for his life, and the Beast surprisingly relents. He merely tells Gaston to leave and never come back, and then throws him aside. When the Beast climbs back up to the balcony to greet Belle, glad that she had returned, Gaston stabs the Beast in the back, but loses his footing and falls into the deep chasm below just as Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts arrive.
Belle tries to reassure the badly wounded Beast that everything will be fine, but he knows that his wound is fatal and that he is about to die. The Beast tells her that he was happy to see her one last time, and succumbs to his injury. Belle, in tears, whispers that she loves him, just before the last petal falls from the rose thus breaking the spell just in the nick of time. He is then reverted to his human form, unrecognizable except for his blue eyes. When Belle and the prince kiss, the curse is broken, the castle becomes beautiful again, and the enchanted objects turn back into humans. The last scene shows Belle and the prince happily dancing in the ballroom and they live happily ever after.
Cast
In the Chinese dubs of Beauty and the Beast, the voice of the Beast is provided by Jackie Chan. He provided both the speaking and singing voices in these versions.
In September 2007, CCTV6 (a Chinese movie channel) aired a new dub version of Beauty and the Beast in which Beast's voice (by ??, Wang Kai) sounds younger. Together with this version, a translated version of Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson's Beauty and the Beast theme song was released, which was translated by Chan Siu Kei and sung by Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung and Mei Lin(??, a newer Chinese singer). But this translated theme song was only separately released before the film started and not occurred in the film, which uses another translated version of lyrics, translated by Han Wen(??).
In the French version, the Beast's singing voice is provided by Charles Aznavour. Two Spanish versions exist, one in Mexican Spanish for the Latin American market, the other in Castilian Spanish for the European market; in the Mexican version, the voice of LeFou is provided by the same actor who played the role in English, Venezuelan-American voice actor Jesse Corti.
Production
The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. It was produced by Don Hahn, executive produced by Howard Ashman, and associated produced by Sarah McArthur. The screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote the film's songs. Its score was created by Alan Menken. The art director was Brian McEntee, and the film editor was John Carnochan. The artistic supervisors were Roger Allers (Story supervisor), Ed Ghertner (Layout supervisor), Lisa Keene (Background supervisor), Vera Lanpher (Clean-up supervisor), Randy Fullmer (Effects supervisor), and Jim Hillin (Computer Graphics supervisor). The supervising animators were Supervising Animators || James Baxter (Belle), Glen Keane (Beast), Andreas Deja (Gaston), Ruben A. Aquino (Maurice), Will Finn (Cogsworth), Nik Ranieri (Lumiere), David Pruiksma (Mrs Potts/Chip), Russ Edmonds (Philippe), Larry White (The wolves), Chris Wahl (Lefou). The production manager was Baker Bloodworth.
A barnyard scene from the opening number of the film was actually first conceived during initial work on the unproduced feature Chanticleer. Sequences were rewritten during the production of the film, even while some scenes were already being animated. The character of Wardrobe (introduced by visual development person Sue C. Nichols to the then entirely male cast of servants) was originally a more integral character name Madame Armoire, but her role was later taken over and expanded by Mrs. Potts. Stefan Kanfer writes in his book Serious Business that in this film "the tradition of the musical theater was fully co-opted", such as in the casting of broadway performers Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach. Robby Benson, who voices the Beast, said of his character, “There's a rage and torment in this character I've never been asked to use before.”
Supposedly, Walt Disney had put Beauty and the Beast high on a list of fairy tales that he thought would not make good animated films. The film includes intentional homages to other films such as The Sound of Music (in a scene with Belle on a hilltop), and earlier Disney animated features.
The film diverges several times from the original story written by Beaumont. In the original, the servants are simply rendered invisible. In the film, they are turned into animated household objects. Beauty's dreams, in which the Beast appears in his human form, are omitted from the film. In the film, the Beast was cursed as a punishment from his having no love in his heart. In the original, it was after he refused to marry a cruel fairy. Gaston was not in the original story; he was inspired by the character, Avenant, from the 1946 film version, who is also Belle's suitor who plots to kill the Beast so he can have Belle to himself. Beauty's sisters, the villains in the original story, are omitted from the film. The father was changed from a merchant to an inventor. The Beast dies of heartbreak in the original story, whereas in the film he is mortally wounded from stab wounds delivered by Gaston, but is revived when the curse is broken.
Music
All songs were the last complete works for a movie by Academy Award winner Howard Ashman. Ashman died eight months prior to the release of the film. There is a tribute to him at the end of the film: "To our friend, Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice, and a beast his soul. We will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman 1950–1991". On Classic Disney: 60 Years of Musical Magic, this includes Beauty and the Beast on the red disc, Be Our Guest, Something There, and Gaston on the blue disc, The Mob Song on the green disc, and Belle on the orange disc.
And on Disney's Greatest Hits, this also includes Beauty and the Beast on the blue disc, Be Our Guest on the green disc, and Gaston on the red disc.
Beauty and the Beast has influenced the works of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. Keyboardist and composer Tuomas Holopainen cites the "all the Disney classics" as among his favourite films, and the song "Beauty and the Beast" from their debut album Angels Fall First is a reinterpretation of the movie's plot.
Release
The film was shown at the New York Film Festival in September 1991. Because the animation was only about 70% complete, the film was shown as a "Work-In-Progress." Storyboards and pencil tests were used in place of the remaining 30%. In addition, parts of the film that were finished were "stepped-back" to previous versions of completion. This version of the film has been released on VHS, the September 1993 LaserDisc, and the October 8, 2002, Platinum Edition DVD.
Upon the theatrical release of the finished version, the film was universally praised, with Roger Ebert giving it four stars out of four stars and saying that "Beauty and the Beast reaches back to an older and healthier Hollywood tradition in which the best writers, musicians and filmmakers are gathered for a project on the assumption that a family audience deserves great entertainment, too." As of August 2008, the film had received a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes The visual effects have also been praised "stunning early use of computer animation", regarding the spectacular ballroom sequence in which Belle and the Beast dance around a 3-D ballroom. The sequence helped convince studio executives to look further into computer animation.
Smoodin writes in his book Animating Culture that the studio was trying to make-up for earlier gender stereotypes with this film. Smoodin also states that, in the way it has been viewed as bringing together traditional fairy tales and feminism as well as computer and traditional animation, and the film’s greatness could be proved in terms technology narrative or even politics. Another author writes that Belle “becomes a sort of intellectual less by actually reading books, it seems, than by hanging out with them,” but says that the film comes closer than other “Disney-studio” films to “accepting challenges of the kind that the finest Walt Disney features met”. David Whitley writes in The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation that Belle is different form earlier Disney heroines in that she is mostly free from the burdens of domestic housework, although her role is somewhat undefined in the same way that “contemporary culture now requires most adolescent girls to contribute little in the way of domestic work before they leave home and have to take on the fraught, multiple responsibilities of the working mother”. Whitley also notes other themes and modern influences, such as the film's critical view of Gaston’s chauvinism and attitude towards nature, the cyborg-like servants, and the father’s role as an inventor rather than a merchant.
As Gaston plunges to his implied death and his face fills the screen at the end of the completed film, two frames showed skulls in his eyes. For the VHS and laserdisc releases, these frames were altered to remove the skulls from his eyes. However, no such alteration was made for the DVD release. The Walt Disney Company has stated that the skulls determine Gaston's fate as fans were unsure whether or not he ultimately died.
The film was restored and remastered for its January 1, 2002 re-release in IMAX theatres. For this version of the film, much of the animation was touched up, a new sequence set to the deleted song "Human Again" was inserted into the film's second act, and a new digital master from the original CAPS production files was used to make the high resolution IMAX film negative. A 3D version of the film is scheduled to be released in theatres in 2010.
The film was released to VHS and Laserdisc on October 2, 1992, as part of the Walt Disney Classics series, but it was for a limited-time only for it was dropped in print after it was put on moratorium. Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition, as the enhanced version of the film is called, was released on a 2-Disc Platinum Edition Disney DVD on October 8, 2002. The Special Edition DVD features the IMAX version, which includes the deleted song "Human Again", the original theatrical version, and the workprint version which was shown at the 1991 New York Film Festival. This 2-Disc Platinum Edition DVD went to the Disney Vault on January 2003 along with its follow-ups (Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and Belle's Magical World). Disney has recently announced that a home video re-release is planned for October 2010 after the release of the 3-D version which will bring the film to DVD and, for the first time, on Blu-Ray.
Legacy
On Tuesday, April 18, 1994, a stage adaptation, also titled "Beauty and the Beast", premiered on Broadway at the Palace Theatre in New York City. The show transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 11, 1999. The commercial (though not critical) success of the show led to productions in the West End, Toronto, and all over the world. The Broadway version, which ran for over a decade, received a Tony Award, and became the first of a whole line of Disney stage productions. The original Broadway cast included Terrence Mann as the Beast, Susan Egan as Belle, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumiere, Heath Lamberts as Cogsworth, Tom Bosley as Maurice, Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts, and Stacey Logan as Babette the feather duster. Many celebrities also starred in the Broadway production during its thirteen year run including Kerry Butler, Deborah Gibson, Toni Braxton, Andrea McArdle, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Christy Carlson Romano, Ashley Brown, and Anneliese van der Pol as Belle; Chuck Wagner, James Barbour, and Jeff McCarthy as the Beast; Meshach Taylor, Jacob Young, and John Tartaglia as Lumiere; and Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, and Donny Osmond as Gaston. The show ended its Broadway run on July 29, 2007 after 46 previews and 5,464 performances.
Awards and nominations
In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Beauty and the Beast was acknowledged as the 7th best film in the animation genre. In previous lists, Beauty and the Beast also ranked #22 on the Institutes's list of best musicals and #34 on its list of the best romantic American movies. On the list of the greatest songs from American movies, Beauty and the Beast ranked #62.
Academy Awards
To date, Beauty and the Beast (1991) is the only animated film ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. This film currently shares the record for the most nominations for an animated film, six, with WALL-E (2008).
Golden Globes
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated feature to win a Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy. This feat was repeated by The Lion King and Toy Story 2.
| Award | Result |
|---|
| Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy | Won | | Best Original Score | Won | | Best Original Song (For "Beauty and the Beast") | Won | | Best Original Song (For "Be Our Guest") | Nominated | |
Grammy Awards
| Award | Result |
|---|
| Best Album for Children | Won | | Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo With Vocal (For Beauty and the Beast) | Won | | Song of the Year (For Beauty and the Beast) | Nominated | | Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture | Won | | Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television (For Beauty and the Beast) | Won | | Best Song (For Beauty and the Beast) | Nominated |
Other Awards
| Award | Result |
|---|
| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Most Performed Songs in a Motion Picture | Won | | Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films: Best DVD Classic Film Release | Won | | Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films: Best Music | Won | | Annie Awards: Best Animated Feature | Won | | BAFTA Awards: Best Original Film Score | Nominated | | BAFTA Awards: Best Special Effects | Nominated | | BMI Film and TV Awards: BMI Film Music Award | Won | | DVD Exclusive Awards: Best Overall New Extra Features, Library Release | Won | | DVD Exclusive Awards: Best Menu Design | Nominated | | Hugo Awards: Best Dramatic Presentation | Nominated | | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Animated Feature | Won | | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Animation | Won | | Motion Picture Sound Editors: Best Sound Editing, Animated Feature | Won | | National Board of Review: Special Award for Animation | Won | | Satellite Awards: Best Youth DVD | Nominated | | Young Artist Awards: Outstanding Family Entertainment of the Year | Won |
See also
- Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Beauty and the Beast (theatrical production)
- Sing Me a Story with Belle, a television spin-off of this film.
- Direct-to-video films
External links
|
| |
|
|
.gif)
