Beauty and the Beast
1990
Finally. The time has come. I was at last able to watch the best princess movie Disney ever has and ever will produce.
The princess of this story, Belle, is a terrific character. She’s an odd little bookworm, which instantly makes me take a liking to her. Anyone who reads as much as she does must be okay. All of the other town folk thinks she’s a abnormal, but because she is beautiful, they don’t really care.
The person who really doesn’t care is Gaston, who is planning on making her his bride. He’s not too wild about the whole reading thing she has going on, but he’s willing to overlook that. What a guy. Belle of course refuses him, angering Gaston greatly. He vows to do whatever it takes to marry her.
But Belle has other problems besides the annoying Gaston. Her father is a somewhat crazy inventor, and has gotten himself lost on the way to enter his newest wood chopping device. When his horse comes back without him, Belle begins to panic.
As she should, because he has found himself locked away in an hideous and mean beast’s castle. In this castle, everything is enchanted, from the lighting fixtures to the silverware. They all talk and act human, though they are still in some non human form. This is due to the fact Beast was a total jerk to an ugly old woman one dark and stormy night. She asked for shelter, and he turned her away because she hurt his eyes. It was so not cool of him, and the hag didn’t think so either. Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t really a hag, she was a beautiful young woman. They always are aren’t they? I wonder if a true ugly old woman actually exists in fairy tales.
Because he refused to help her, she has cursed him to find true love or stay that way forever. He has a deadline; if he doesn’t find love by the time a magical rose loses all its petals, then he is doomed.
Maurice, Belle’s daddy, happened across this castle whilst lost in the woods, and decided it would be an awesome idea to just stroll right in. This is never a good idea, especially when the castle is dark and deserted looking. I’d rather take my chances with the woods. But not Maurice! He walks right in, and notices that the candle and clock are talking about him. Does this freak him out? Nope. Should it freak him out? Yep.
Cogsworth, the clock, and Lumiere, the candle, (such creative names, right?) settle him down before the fire and he gets to meet some of the other household items, such as the tea kettle Mrs. Potts and her darling teacup son, Chip.
But this hospitality cannot last forever, as Beast soon discovers him in the castle. Enraged, he throws him in the dungeon.
All hope is not lost. Belle hunts her father down, and locates the castle. Once inside, the makes a deal with Beast that she will take her father’s place. All the now animate objects are thrilled at this, as they think she may be the girl to break the spell.
But oh boy do they have their work cut out for them. Belle and Beast are probably the farthest thing away from a happy couple. Belle is unhappy being locked inside a castle where a nasty beast dwells, and he is unhappy she is so hateful of him. But with the help of Mrs. Potts, Lumiere and Cogsworth, they eventually warm up to each other.
This warmth eventually turns into love. Yay! But as they are about to profess it to one another, Belle finds out through a magic mirror that her father is sick. She tells Beast she must help him, and reluctantly he agrees. He releases her, but gives her the mirror so she may always be able to look back on him.
Once her father is found and safely brought home, Belle’s problems really begin. Gaston shows up with a mob at her house, telling her if she doesn’t marry him, he will have her father thrown in an asylum, due to the fact no one believes him about the scary beast in the forest.
Brilliantly, Belle decides to show them Beast through the mirror. This is a dumb idea, because now they want to go after him and kill him. I don’t honestly blame them, if a growling huge monster lived in my woods, I’d likely want it to be taken care of.
Off the villagers go, armed with pitchforks and fire, to kill Beast. It won’t be as easy of a fight as they thought, because they didn’t know about the whole enchanted castle thing. All of the animate objects attack the villagers, and they run away. All but Gaston. He tracks down Beast, and tries to murder him. Beast doesn’t fight back, until he sees Belle rushing to the castle. He realizes she loves him, and finally beats up Gaston.
But not enough. As Beast is going to Belle, Gaston uses his last moment of life to fatally stab Beast, before falling to his death. Bye bye loser!
Belle goes to Beast’s side, telling him she loves him. Because love is always the magical thing in fairy tales, this fixes his wound, and breaks the spell. He is now a normal human being again, as is the rest of his household. He and Belle kiss and live happily ever after. The end.
This was the first of only three animated movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. That means something. That means this movie is wonderful. Its message runs deeper than most movies made for children. It’s the first, and possibly only princess movie to have its leads fall in love reasonably. This wasn’t love at first sight. It took time, as real love does. The fact an animated movie got that fact is kind of fantastic.
Besides the story, this movie excels in pure entertainment value. It’s masterfully drawn, engaging, humorous, full of lively memorable characters, and lovely songs. This is a perfect Disney release, and shows why Disney has become such a respectful name in the film industry.
Movie Watching Budd(y)(ies): Katie.
Best Song: I hate making decisions like this, but I’ll have to go for the cliché (but for a good reason!) “Beauty and the Beast.” It helps that Angela Lansbury sings it. It helps a lot.
Best Part: I’d say it’s when the household attacks the villagers, specifically when the wardrobe starts cross dressing the men.
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