Review: Beauty and the Beast

Belle’s father has run afoul of a tempestuous Beast (voiced by Robby Benson, apparently with an assist by Optimus Prime), who locks him in his castle dungeon for trespass and generally interrupting his pity party. Belle (voiced by Paige O’Hara) comes looking for her father and offers up herself as his permanent prisoner in exchange for the Beast letting her father go. Over time, Belle sees the Beast for who he truly is: A man under a terrible curse that has rendered him ugly and pitiful. Meanwhile, the pompous Gaston (voiced by Richard White) rouses up a crowd of pitchfork-wielding townsfolk to slay the Beast, all because he’s jealous and wants Belle for himself.

 

By the time this acclaimed 1991 Disney animated film came out, I was around high school age, so it held absolutely no interest for me. That’s a shame, I now really wish I’d been acquainted with this all my life, because it’s clearly the best of Disney’s second wave of popularity in the animated feature department (1989-00s). Directors Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”, both underrated) and screenwriter Linda Woolverton (“The Lion King”, the somewhat revisionist “Maleficent”) have come up with a winner here that has the animation, characters, story, and that Disney ‘magic’ all down pat.

 

It’s a really good-looking film, with particularly interesting background locations. It’s vibrant and colourful, with particular emphasis on royal blue (my favourite colour) and gold. Although it’s not fully computer-animated, it’s probably the one Disney animated film to hold up the best from an animation standpoint from the pre-“Toy Story” era. The story is also pretty enjoyable, with a couple of reservations. It might remind you at different times of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “Frankenstein”, and even the Gothic romance classic “Jane Eyre”, without ever really ripping any of them off. I do have to say, though, that the film’s ultimate message is disingenuous and more than anything is probably why this one’s not an absolute favourite of mine. ***** SPOILER ALERT ***** If you think about it, the film is suggesting that it’s OK to believe in this romance because deep down The Beast is really a hunk who has been cursed. That’s a little cheap, and I wish The Beast remained unchanged. It’s saying that pretty people will always gravitate towards other pretty people. Having him be a handsome guy trapped in an ogre’s body is not the same thing as loving the beauty within, I’m sorry. I also think the central romance is a tad rushed, though I understand wanting to keep things to around 90 minutes or so. ***** END SPOILER *****

 

On a more minor note, it has to be said that the fucking candelabra is the only remotely French thing in the entire film, with Angela Lansbury’s teapot having a cock-er-knee accent for cryin’ out loud. Yes I’m nit-picking (and Lansbury, who as a child I always assumed was British, has a much better grasp of the accent than Dick Van Dyke), but I wouldn’t do so if there weren’t nits to pick. I’m sorry, but having people with mostly American accents occasionally saying ‘Bonjour!’ doesn’t make this remotely French. I have to say that the lyrics to Belle’s songs are pretty putrid, however everything else about the music in this film is definitely a plus. The songs are certainly lively enough, with Gaston probably getting the film’s best number in my view, it’s hilarious. I’m not a fan of the title song as (over) sung by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, but the version sung by Angela Lansbury is quite lovely (not that Lansbury is much of a singer) and the choral version played towards the end was a terrific call back to classic Disney choral songs. I loved that, even if the song itself still isn’t a favourite of mine. Even better is Jerry Orbach’s infamous ‘Be Our Guest’, which just made me smile from ear to ear. It’s a terrific song that you won’t get out of your head for weeks, even if you occasionally want to sing ‘See My Vest’ instead. It’s a highlight of the film, despite Orbach perhaps spending more time on his accent than trying to sing well. The music score by Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid”, “Aladdin”) is a winner, too.

 

As for the voice acting and characters, I think Richard White’s pompous arse Gaston and Jerry Orbach’s wonderfully named Lumiere steal it easily. David Ogden Stiers plays clock Cogsworth as Winchester from “M*A*S*H*”, but it’s an approach that definitely fits the character so it works. Although she’s not the worst Disney female lead (Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are worse), it has to be said that Belle (as voiced by Paige O’Hara) is pretty underwhelming. Disney don’t tend to do female leads very well  and Belle is quite forgettable and bland at the end of the day. Even her songs suck. It’s a problem, Belle is the lead character and doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table. However, it isn’t as much of a problem as it could’ve been since the rest works. Thankfully the other characters pick up her slack, particularly the enormous pig of a man Gaston, who is an hilarious jerk of a human being. If this were live-action, he’d be played by Bruce Campbell or Patrick Warburton. I loved the idea of all of the enchanted inanimate objects that come to life, it really fits the rather magical story. They serve essentially the same function that animals often do in other Disney animated films, but not as obnoxious as in some of those films.

 

The closest thing to classic Disney animation from the second wave of Disney animated films that began with “The Little Mermaid”. It’s not as great as many of those films (“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “Pinocchio”, “Dumbo”, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan” being the best of them) or even underrated 70s-80s era efforts like “Robin Hood”, but this is still Disney doing classic Disney and doing it charmingly well.

 

Rating: B