Beauty and the Beast


4/4

Starring (voices): Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Richard White

Rated G



In 1992, "Beauty and the Beast" became the first animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.  This is not a token of admiration for a film that was surprisingly well received (which often happens).  Not only is this a superb musical, it is one of the few musicals that features three-dimensional characters and emotionality that are forced to be sacrificed in favor of songs.  The animation is breathtaking and the romance between the two characters burns.  There is really nothing like it.

As we are informed in the prologue (provided by David Ogden Stiers), a handsome prince lived in a beautiful castle.  He is as vain and cruel as he is eye-catching, and when a beautiful enchantress shows up at his door pretending to be an old beggar woman seeking shelter, he turns her away.  The magical woman in turn transforms him into a hideous beast (proving that she's as cruel and vindictive as he is, but we have to forgive because, come on, the guy deserves it).  He will remain a beast until he can truly love someone and have her love him in return, the spell will be broken, but it has to happen before his 21st birthday.  If not, he's doomed to be a beast forever.

Meanwhile, a beautiful girl named Belle (O'Hara) is living in a French provincial town with her oddball father, but she doesn't fit in.  She is in the sights of the town heartthrob, Gaston (White), but she doesn't want anything to do with him because he's a conceited boor and is in love with himself more than he is with her.  One day, her father gets lost on the way to an inventor's competition, and he ends up in the Beast's castle.  The Beast, who lacks even the basic social skills, takes him as prisoner.  Belle goes looking for him, and trades places with him.  Thus begins a rather odd love story between a feisty girl and a desperate beast.

What really sells this movie is not the songs (which are amazing in every way) or the animation (which is, again, gorgeous), but the characters.  Belle and the Beast are both outcasts in their own ways, and that's why they find solace in each other.  Belle is hardly your traditional fairytale female.  She's an intelligent bookworm and she's independent, always marching to her own beat.  Beast is held hostage not only by his appearance, but by his personality.  The man is a spoiled brat with fur and a huge set of jaws.  He gets a crash course on wooing women, and most importantly, being civil, by his servants: the featherduster-chasing candlebra, Lumiere (Orbach), the pompous clock, Cogsworth (Stiers) and the motherly teapot, Mrs. Potts (Lansbury).  But is it enough to make Belle fall in love with him before time runs out (to be fair, his ferocious personality is partly due to the time crunch he's under)?

The voice acting, by character actors instead of big stars, is right on the money.  O'Hara is perfectly cast as Belle.  She's an intelligent, caring woman, but she's not the typical "fall for every handsome prince" type of girl you find in fairy tales.  Putting it bluntly, she's ahead of her time.  Beast, on the other hand, is no less complex.  He's a monster alright, but buried beneath the ugly exterior lies a frightened and desperate man.  Although he may not look it, he's an all too human creature.

The supporting characters are no less impressive.  Jerry Orbach puts on an over-the-top French accent and adds a growl as the womanizing candle holder.  It's hard to believe that at the same time he was playing the tough and morbidly humorous Lenny Briscoe on "Law and Order."  David Ogden Stiers is perfectly tightly wound as Cogsworth, and he's unrecognizable from his role as the narrator.  The repartee between the two characters are hysterical.  Angela Lansbury is kind yet tough as the nanny-ish Mrs. Potts.  Richard White is hilarious as Gaston, who is all brawn and no brain (the film has a joke at his expense, and if you're adult enough to get it, it's pretty funny).

The animation is richly detailed; all of the characters features are drawn with elegance and feeling; capturing even the most subtle emotions.  Not even "The Lion King" has characters that are this expressive.  This really comes in handy in some of the quieter moments, like the scene by the fire.

The songs, of which there are a half dozen, are wonderful and catchy.  The standouts are the three that were nominated for Oscars: the first number, "Belle," where the female lead is introduced, the Broadway-ish "Be Our Guest," and the romantic title song, which won the award.  They are also vividly animated (especially "Be Our Guest"), providing some amazing eye candy.  "Beauty and the Beast," however, is absolutely incredible, mixing hand-drawn animation with computer-generated backgrounds almost seamlessly.  The songs also feature plenty of sweeps and pans, which has to be incredibly difficult for animators.

The bottom line is that this is truly an amazing film.

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