Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Based on the 1756 fairy tale Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.
(“Prologue”) An enchantress disguised as a beggar woman visits a castle and offers an enchanted rose to a cruel and selfish prince in exchange for shelter from a storm. When he refuses, she reveals her identity and transforms the prince into a beast and his servants into household objects. She warns the prince that the spell will only be broken if he learns to love another and be loved in return before the last petal falls, or he will remain a beast forever.
Several years later, in a nearby village, Belle, the book-loving daughter of an eccentric inventor named Maurice, dreams of adventure (“Belle”). She frequently tries avoiding Gaston, a narcissistic hunter, and LeFou, Gaston’s sidekick. Gaston wants to marry her because of her beauty. On route to a fair to showcase his latest invention, an automatic wood-chopper, Maurice gets lost in the forest and seeks refuge in the Beast's castle; There, the Beast finds Maurice and imprisons him for trespassing. When Maurice's horse returns alone, Belle ventures out searching for her father, finding him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to free Maurice if she takes his place as prisoner.
Meanwhile, Gaston is in a pub with LeFou where they sing (“Gaston”). Maurice returns to the village and fails to convince the townsfolk of Belle's predicament. Hearing Maurice's statements about the Beast, Gaston hatches a plan:
Belle befriends the castle's servants: Lumière the candelabra, Cogsworth the clock, Mrs. Potts the teapot, and her son Chip, the teacup; they serve her a dinner through song (“Be Our Guest”). When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the Beast catches her and angrily forces her to flee the castle. In the woods, she is ambushed by a pack of wolves, but the Beast rescues her and is injured in the process.
Gaston puts his plan into action by bribing Monsieur D'Arque, the warden of the town's insane asylum, to have Maurice locked up as a lunatic. Gaston will use this to force Belle into marrying him in exchange for Maurice's release. Before they can act, however, Maurice leaves for the castle to attempt a rescue alone.
As Belle nurses his injuries, a rapport develops between them and as time passes, they begin to fall in love (“Something There”). After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast (“Beauty and the Beast”), Belle uses the Beast's magic mirror to check on her father and sees him collapsing in the woods. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror as a memento. After Belle takes her father to the village, a band of villagers led by Gaston arrives to detain Maurice. Belle uses the mirror to show the Beast to the townsfolk, proving her father's sanity. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, a jealous Gaston locks Belle and her father in the cellar, and rallies the villagers to help him slay the Beast. Chip, who arrived at their house as a stowaway, activates Maurice's wood-chopping machine, freeing Maurice and Belle from the cellar.
When the villagers arrive at the castle, the Beast's servants fend them off. Meanwhile, Gaston attacks the Beast, who is too depressed from Belle's departure to fight back but regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return. He defeats Gaston but spares his life before reuniting with Belle. However, Gaston fatally wounds the Beast before losing his footing and falling to his death. The Beast dies in Belle's arms before the last petal falls. Belle tearfully professes her love to the Beast, and the spell is undone, reviving the Beast and restoring his human form along with his servants and castle. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily (“Beauty and the Beast”).
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The Beast was designed from a combination of animals: mane of a lion, beard and head of a buffalo, brow of a gorilla, tusk of a wild boar, body of a bear, legs and tail of a wolf, and the eyes of a human.
Technology
CAPS allowed an easier combination of hand-drawn art with computer-generated imagery, which is showcased during the waltz sequence where Belle and Beast dance through a computer-generated ballroom as the camera dollies around them in simulated 3D space.
Notables Scene(s)
Ballroom scene