Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)
Encyclopedia
Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance
period. The film is based on the fairy tale
La Belle et la Bête
by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
and uses some ideas from the 1946 film of the same name
. The film centers around a prince who is transformed into a Beast and a young woman named Belle whom he imprisons in his castle. To become a prince again, the Beast must love Belle and win her love in return, or he will remain a Beast forever.
The film's animation screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton
with story written by Roger Allers
, Brenda Chapman
, Chris Sanders, Burny Mattinson
, Kevin Harkey, Brian Pimental
, Bruce Woodside, Joe Ranft
, Tom Ellery, Kelly Ashbury, and Robert Lence, directed by Gary Trousdale
and Kirk Wise
, and produced by Don Hahn
. The music of the film was composed by Alan Menken
and Howard Ashman
, both of whom had written the music and songs for Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Beauty and the Beast was released on November 13, 1991. The film was a significant commercial and critical success, earning $403 million in box office earnings throughout the world. Beauty and the Beast was also nominated for several awards, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, with two other awards for its music. Famously, Beauty and the Beast was the first ever animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
, and was the only animated film to hold this honor until 2009, when the Academy Awards switched from 5 Best Picture nominations to 10, and Pixar
's animated film Up
was nominated. Beauty and the Beast received a total of six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and three nominations for its song. It ended up winning two, for Best Original Score
and Best Original Song
for the songs "Beauty and the Beast".
A direct-to-video
midquel called Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
was released in 1997. It was followed in 1998 by another midquel, Belle's Magical World
, and later by a stage production of the same name
and a television spin-off series, Sing Me a Story with Belle
. An IMAX
special edition
version of the original film was released in 2002, with a new five-minute musical sequence included. After the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King
in 2011, Disney announced the film will return to theaters for a limited time in 3D on January 13, 2012.
When Maurice rides through the woods to display his latest invention, a wood-chopping machine, at a fair, he gets lost on the way and is chased by wolves before stumbling upon the Beast's castle, where he meets the transformed servants Lumiere (a candlestick
), Cogsworth (a clock
), and Mrs. Potts (a teapot
) and her son Chip (a teacup
). The Beast imprisons Maurice, but Belle, shortly after declining Gaston's proposal for marriage, is led back to the castle by Maurice's horse and offers to take her father's place. When the Beast agrees to this and sends him home, Maurice tells Gaston and the other villagers what happened, but they think he has lost his mind.
At the castle, the Beast orders Belle to dine with him, but she refuses, and Lumiere disobeys his order not to let her eat. After Cogsworth gives her a tour of the castle, she finds the rose in the forbidden west wing and the Beast angrily chases her away. Frightened, she tries to escape, but she and her horse are attacked by wolves. After the Beast rescues her, she nurses his wounds, and he begins to develop feelings for her. He decides to make it up to her and show her the library at Lumiere's suggestion, which impresses Belle and they become friends. They grow closer as they spend more time together and the servants take it upon themselves to clean up the castle and create a romantic evening for them.
Back in the village, Gaston, after hearing Maurice's story about Belle being imprisoned by the Beast, pays the warden of the town's insane asylum to lock up Maurice unless Belle agrees to Gaston's marriage proposal and orders his cohort LeFou to wait at the doorstep until they return after discovering their house empty. Back at the castle Belle and the Beast get dressed up, have an elegant dinner and a romantic ballroom dance. The Beast notices Belle seems depressed and he lets her use the magic mirror; she sees her father, who was trying to rescue her from the castle, dying in the woods. With only hours left before the rose wilts, the Beast allows her to leave to rescue her father, giving her the mirror to remember him by. This horrifies the servants, who fear they will never be human again, since the Beast never told them of his reason why he had to let her go. As he watches her leave, the Beast admits to Cogsworth that he loves Belle.
Belle finds her father and takes him home, but Gaston arrives with a mob. Unless she agrees to marry Gaston, the manager of the local madhouse will lock up her father. Eventually, Belle proves Maurice sane by showing them the Beast with the magic mirror, but when she says the Beast is her friend and calls Gaston a "monster", he becomes jealous. Gaston arouses the mob's anger against the Beast, and leads them to the castle to kill him. Gaston locks Belle and Maurice in the basement, though Chip, who had hidden himself in Belle's baggage, is able to chop the basement door apart with Maurice's machine.
While the servants and Gaston's men fight in the castle, Gaston finds the Beast and attacks him. The Beast is initially too depressed to fight back, but he regains his will when he sees Belle returning to the castle with Maurice. After winning a heated battle, the Beast spares Gaston's life, demanding that he leave the castle. The Beast then climbs up to a balcony where Belle is waiting. Gaston, refusing to admit defeat, follows the Beast and stabs him from behind, but loses his balance and falls off the balcony to his death.
While the Beast is dying from his injuries, Belle whispers that she loves him, breaking the spell just before the last petal drops from the rose. The Beast comes back to life and he becomes human again. As he and Belle kiss, the castle and its grounds return to their previous beautiful state while the servants become human again. Belle and the prince dance in the ballroom with her father and the humanized servants happily watching.
versions 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 film channel, aired a newly dubbed version of Beauty and the Beast in which Beast's voice is performed by 王凯, Wang Kai. Together with this version, a translated version of the pop version of the "Beauty and the Beast" theme song was released, which was translated by Chan Siu Kei
and sung by Nicholas Tse
Ting-Fung and Meilin
. This translated theme song was released separately before the film aired and is not included in the new Chinese version, which uses another translation of lyrics, translated by Han Wen (翰文).
Two Spanish
versions exist, one in Mexican
Spanish for the Latin America
n 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, Venezuela
n-American voice actor Jesse Corti
.
In the Italian
version, the theme song is performed by the famous Italian singer Gino Paoli
and his daughter Amanda Sandrelli
. Unlike in the English version, the first part of the song is sung by a man (Gino Paoli
, in the original Celine Dion
) and the second part by a woman (Amanda Sandrelli
, in the original Peabo Bryson
).
For the French
version, the theme song is performed by Charles Aznavour
and Liane Foly
in the original release. When it was released again in 2002, the theme song was sung by Patrick Fiori
and Julie Zenatti
. The voice of Mrs. Potts also changed in the 2002 release. In the original, Mrs. Potts was voiced by Lucie Dolène, the same actress who gave voice to Snow White
in 1962 (second dubbing). However, because of some disagreements, Lucie Dolène's voice replaced by Lily Baron for the spoken parts and Christiane Legrand
for the sung parts.
In the Swedish
version, the theme song is provided by Tommy Körberg
and Sofia Källgren
, who also provide the voices of Beast and Belle, respectively, in the film.
In the Greek
version of the film, the Beast's voice is provided by Yiannis Palamidas, the same actor who provided the voice of Rex in the Greek release of Toy Story
. Belle's voice is provided by the well-known Greek actress Christy Stasinopoulou.
sought out other stories to turn into feature films after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
, and Beauty and the Beast was among the stories he considered. Attempts to develop the Beauty and the Beast story into a film were made in the 1930s and 1950s, but were ultimately given up because it "proved to be a challenge" for the story team. Peter M. Nichols states Disney may later have been discouraged by Jean Cocteau
having already done his version
.
Decades later, after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit
in 1988, the Disney studio resurrected Beauty and the Beast as a project for the satellite animation studio it had set up in London, England to work on Roger Rabbit. Richard Williams, who had directed the animated portions of Roger Rabbit, was approached to direct, but declined in favor of continuing work on his long-gestating project The Thief and the Cobbler
. In his place, Williams recommended his colleague, English animation director Richard Purdum, and work began under producer Don Hahn
on a non-musical version of Beauty and the Beast set in Victorian
France
. At the behest of Disney CEO Michael Eisner
, Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney animated film to use a screenwriter. This was an unusual production move for an animated film, which is traditionally developed on storyboard
s rather than in scripted form. Linda Woolverton
wrote the original draft of the story before storyboarding began, and worked with the story team to retool and develop the film.
ordered that the film be scrapped and started over from scratch. A few months after starting anew, Purdam resigned as director. The studio had approached Ron Clements
and John Musker
to direct the film but turned down the offer saying they were "tied" after just having finished directing Disney's recent success The Little Mermaid
. Disney then hired first-time feature directors Kirk Wise
and Gary Trousdale
. Wise and Trousdale had previously directed the animated sections of Cranium Command
, a short film for a Disney EPCOT
theme park attraction. In addition, Katzenberg asked songwriters Howard Ashman
and Alan Menken
, who had written the song score for The Little Mermaid to turn Beauty and the Beast into a Broadway
-style musical film in the same vein as Mermaid. Ashman, who at the time had learned he was dying of AIDS
, had been working with Disney on a pet project of his, Aladdin, and only reluctantly agreed to join the struggling production team.
To accommodate Ashman's failing health, pre-production of Beauty and the Beast was moved from London to the Residence Inn in Fishkill, New York
, close to Ashman's New York City
home. Here, Ashman and Menken joined Wise, Trousdale, Hahn, and Woolverton in retooling the film's script. Since the original story had only two major characters, the filmmakers enhanced them, added new characters in the form of enchanted household items who "add warmth and comedy to a gloomy story" and guide the audience through the film, and added a "real villain" in the form of Gaston. These ideas were somewhat similar to elements of the 1946 French film version of Beauty and the Beast
, which introduced the character of Avenant, an oafish suitor somewhat similar to Gaston as well as inanimate objects coming to life in the Beast's castle. The animated objects were, however, given distinct personalities in the Disney version. By early 1990, Katzenberg had approved the revised script, and storyboarding began again. The production flew story artists back and forth between California and New York for storyboard approvals from Ashman, though the team was not told the reason why.
. A smaller team at the Disney-MGM Studios
theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
assisted the California team on several scenes, particularly the "Be Our Guest" number.
Beauty and the Beast was the second film produced using CAPS (Computer Animation Production System)
, a digital scanning, ink, paint, and compositing system of software and hardware developed for Disney by Pixar
. The software allowed for a wider range of colors, as well as soft shading and colored line effects for the characters, techniques lost when the Disney studio abandoned hand inking for xerography
in the late 1950s. CAPS also allowed the production crew to simulate multiplane effects: placing characters and/or backgrounds on separate layers and moving them towards/away from the camera on the Z-axis to give the illusion of depth, as well as altering the focus of each layer.
In addition, CAPS allowed easier combination of hand-drawn art with computer-generated imagery
, which before had to be plotted
to animation cels and painted traditionally. This technique was put to significant use during the "Beauty and the Beast" waltz sequence, in which Belle and Beast dance through a computer-generated ballroom as the camera dollies
around them in simulated 3D space. The filmmakers had originally decided against the use of computers in favor of traditional animation, but later, when the technology had improved, decided it could be used for the one scene in the ballroom. The success of the ballroom sequence helped convince studio executives to further invest in computer animation.
-styled "Belle" being their first composition for the film. Other songs included "Be Our Guest
", sung to Maurice (in this early stage) by the objects when he becomes the first visitor to eat at the castle in a decade, "Gaston", a solo for the swaggering villain, "Human Again", a song describing Belle and Beast's growing love from the objects' perspective, the love ballad "Beauty and the Beast", and the climactic "The Mob Song".
As story and song development came to a close, full production began in Burbank while voice and song recording began in New York City. The Beauty songs were mostly recorded live with the orchestra and the voice cast performing simultaneously rather than overdubbed separately, in order to give the songs a cast album-like "energy" the filmmakers and songwriters desired.
During the course of production, many changes were made to the structure of the film, necessitating the replacement and re-purposing of songs. After screening a mostly animated version of the "Be Our Guest" sequence, story artist Bruce Woodside suggested that the objects should be singing the song to Belle rather than her father. Wise and Trousdale agreed, and the sequence and song were retooled to replace Maurice with Belle.
"Human Again" was dropped from the film before animation began, as its lyrics caused story problems about the timeline over which the story takes place. This required Ashman and Menken to write a new song in its place. "Something There", in which Belle and Beast sing (via voiceover) of their growing fondness for each other, was composed late in production and inserted into the script in place of "Human Again".
Menken would later revise "Human Again" for inclusion in the 1994 Broadway stage version of Beauty and the Beast, and another revised version of the song was added to the film itself in a new sequence created for the film's Special Edition re-release in 2002.
Ashman died of AIDS-related complications on March 14, 1991, eight months prior to the release of the film. He never saw the finished film, and his work on Aladdin was completed by another lyricist, Tim Rice
. A tribute to the lyricist was included at the end of the credits crawl: "To our friend, Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice, and a beast his soul. We will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman: 1950–1991".
A pop version of the "Beauty and the Beast" theme, performed by Céline Dion
and Peabo Bryson
over the end credits, was released as a commercial single from the film's soundtrack
, supported with a music video
. The Dion/Bryson version of "Beauty and the Beast" became an international pop hit, reaching the Top Ten of the singles charts in the United States
and the United Kingdom
Later home video releases of Beauty and the Beast would include, as bonus features, new music videos featuring covers of the title song by Jump 5 (for the 2002 DVD release) and Jordin Sparks
(for the 2010 Blu-Ray/DVD release).
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. The "work-in-progress" version of Beauty and the Beast played to a standing ovation from the film festival audience. The completed film would also be screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
. The finished film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre
in Hollywood on November 13, 1991, and went into wide release through Walt Disney Pictures
on November 22.
Disney initially planned a re-release of the film to be released theatrically in December 1998
in an attempt of counterprogramming
against DreamWorks
' The Prince of Egypt
. The idea to restore the "Human Again" sequence was originally for this re-issue. However, due to impending competition from the aforementioned Prince of Egypt as well as The Rugrats Movie
, Babe: Pig in the City
and Jack Frost
as well as Disney's own holiday release schedule being quite full with Enemy of the State
, A Bug's Life
and Mighty Joe Young
, the re-release was delayed to spring 1999. When Disney decided to bump Doug's 1st Movie
from direct-to-video to a theatrical release, that film took the re-release's date, delaying it to the holiday season. Presumably due to competition, like the year before, and Disney's own efforts to promote Toy Story 2
, this release date was also canceled.
In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was added to the United States National Film Registry
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film was restored
and remaster
ed for its New Year's Day, 2002 re-release in IMAX
theatres in a special edition
edit including a new musical sequence. For this version of the film, much of the animation was cleaned 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 sing along edition of the film, hosted by Jordin Sparks
, was released in select theaters on September 29 and October 2, 2010. Prior to the showing of the film Sparks showed an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the newly restored high definition animated classic and the making of her all-new Beauty and the Beast music video. There was also commentary from producer Don Hahn, interviews with the cast and an inside look at how the animation was created.
A 3D version of the film was originally scheduled to be released in US theatres on February 12, 2010, but the project was postponed. On August 25, 2011, Disney announced that the 3D version of the film would make its cinematic debut in the United States at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre
from September 2–15, 2011. After the successful 3D re-release of The Lion King
, Disney announced a wide 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast for the United States beginning January 13, 2012.
and Laserdisc
on October 30, 1992 and in the UK in autumn, 1993 for a limited season as part of the Walt Disney Classics
series, and was later put on moratorium
. This version contains a minor edit to the film: skulls that appear in Gaston's pupils for two frames during his climatic fall to his death were removed for the original home video release. No such edit was made to later reissues of the film. The "work-in-progress" version screened at the New York Film Festival was also released on VHS and Laserdisc at this time.
Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition, as the enhanced version of the film released in IMAX/large-format is called, was released on 2-Disc "Platinum Edition" DVD
and VHS on October 8, 2002. The DVD set features three versions of the film: the extended IMAX Special Edition with the "Human Again" sequence added, the original theatrical version, and the New York Film Festival "work-in-progress" version. This release went to "Disney Vault
" moratorium status in January 2003, along with its direct to video follow-ups Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
and Belle's Magical World
.
The film was released from the Disney vault
on October 5, 2010 as the second of Disney's Diamond Editions, in the form of a 3-disc Blu-ray Disc
and DVD
combination pack; representing the first release of Beauty and the Beast on home video in high-definition format.
This edition consists of four versions of the film: the original theatrical version, an extended version, the New York Film Festival storyboard-only version, and a fourth iteration displaying the storyboards via picture-in-picture
alongside the original theatrical version. However, one revised shot from the special extended edition appeared in all 4 versions of the film. This was the shot at the very end of the musical number "Something There" where Mrs. Potts said to Chip, "I'll tell you when you're older" and kissed him on the nose. A two-disc DVD edition was released on November 23, 2010. A 5-Disc Combo Pack, featuring Blu-Ray 3D, Blu-Ray 2D, DVD and Digital copy, was released on October 4, 2011. The 3D combo pack is identical to the original Diamond Edition except for the added 3D disc and digital copy.
giving it four stars out of four 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." He ranked the film as the third best film of 1991. James Berardinelli
gave the film a four out of four stars and says, "As a romance, Beauty and the Beast is a delightful confection, creating a pair of memorable, three-dimensional characters and giving us reason to root for their union." Berardinelli has called the film the greatest animated film of all time and has ranked it #56 in his Top 100 Films, ahead of other famous films like #71 The Wizard of Oz
, #80 To Kill a Mockingbird
, and #94 Lawrence of Arabia
. The film received mostly positive reviews, among them some of the best notices the studio had received since the 1940s. Rotten Tomatoes
, a film review aggregator, shows Beauty and the Beast with a 92% approval rating as of July 2011 averaged from 63 reviews of the original theatrical release and later theatrical and home video versions. The use of computer animation, particularly in the "Beauty and the Beast" ballroom sequence, was singled out in several reviews as one of the film's highlights.
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, 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 from 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.
Betsy Hearne, editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, writes that the film belittles the original story's moral about "inner beauty", as well as the heroine herself, in favor of a more brutish struggle; "In fact," she says, "it is not Beauty's lack of love that almost kills Disney's beast, but a rival's dagger."
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.
IGN
named Beauty and the Beast as the greatest animated film of all time, directly ahead of Wall-E
.
alone. Therefore, it ranked as the third most-successful film of 1991 in North America, surpassed only by the summer blockbusters Terminator 2: Judgment Day
and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
. Additionally, Beauty and the Beast was the most successful animated Disney film released to date, and the first animated film to reach $100 million in North America. In its IMAX
re-release, it earned $25,487,190 in North America and $5,546,156 in other territories for a worldwide total of $31,033,346. It has also earned $2,899,723 from its 3D re-release overseas. Therefore, as of October 2011, it has earned a total of $171,350,553 in North America and an estimated $206,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $377,350,553.
, toys, children's costumes, and other items. In addition, the character of Belle has been integrated into the "Disney Princess" line of Disney's Consumer Products division
, and appears on merchandise related to that franchise.
In 1995, a live-action children's series entitled Sing Me a Story with Belle
began running in syndication, remaining on the air through 1999. Two direct-to-video midquels (which take place during the timeline depicted in the original film) were produced by Walt Disney Television Animation
: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
in 1997 and Belle's Magical World
in 1998.
, 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 well-known actors and singers 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
, Bryan Batt
, 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 5,461 performances.
There are several video games are loosely based on the film:
. Two other Menken and Ashman songs from the film, "Belle" and "Be Our Guest", were also nominated for Best Music, Song. Beauty and the Beast was the first picture to receive three Academy Award nominations for Best Song, a feat that would be repeated by The Lion King
(1994), Dreamgirls
(2006), and Enchanted (2007). Academy rules have since been changed to limit each film to two nominations in this category.
The film was also nominated for Best Sound
and Best Picture
. It was the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture, and remained the only animated film nominated until 2010, when the Best Picture field was widened to ten nominees. It lost to the critically acclaimed thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
With six nominations, the film currently shares the record for the most nominations for an animated film with WALL-E
(2008), although, with three nominations in the Best Original Song category, Beauty and the Beasts nominations span only four categories, while WALL-Es nominations cover six individual categories.
and Toy Story 2
.
revealed its "Ten top Ten" lists of the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres based on polls of 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, it ranked #22 on the Institutes's list of best musicals
and #34 on its list of the best romantic American films
. On the list of the greatest songs from American films
, Beauty and the Beast ranked #62.
American Film Institute
recognition:
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance
Disney Renaissance
The Disney Renaissance refers to an era beginning roughly in the late 1980s and ending in the late 1990s, during which Walt Disney Animation Studios returned to making successful animated films mostly based on stories that were known to many, restoring public and critical interest in Disney.The...
period. The film is based on the fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
La Belle et la Bête
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...
by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont
-Life:She was born in Rouen and died in 1780. She lost her mother when she was only eleven but wrote that she did not mourn her passing. The family was very poor and several of her siblings had to be sent away for adoption. She wrote that her mother had suffered terribly at not being able to...
and uses some ideas from the 1946 film of the same name
Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film adaptation of the traditional fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont and published in 1757 as part of a fairy tale anthology . Directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the film stars Josette...
. The film centers around a prince who is transformed into a Beast and a young woman named Belle whom he imprisons in his castle. To become a prince again, the Beast must love Belle and win her love in return, or he will remain a Beast forever.
The film's animation screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton
Linda Woolverton
Linda Woolverton is an American writer who wrote the screenplay for Disney's animated feature film Beauty and the Beast and co-wrote the screenplay for the The Lion King. Woolverton then went on to write the Broadway musical version of Beauty and the Beast and assisted in adapting The Lion King to...
with story written by Roger Allers
Roger Allers
Roger Allers is an Oscar-nominated American film director, screenwriter, storyboard artist, animator and Tony-nominated playwright...
, Brenda Chapman
Brenda Chapman
Brenda Chapman is an American animator and film director. In 1998, she became the first woman to direct an animated feature from a major studio, DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt.-Life and career:...
, Chris Sanders, Burny Mattinson
Burny Mattinson
Burnett "Burny" Mattinson is an American story-boarder for the Disney Feature Animation studio. Starting work in 1953, Burny has been, and still is part of Disney today....
, Kevin Harkey, Brian Pimental
Brian Pimental
Brian Pimental is an American veteran story artist, director and screenwriter of animated films.Having started his career at Walt Disney Feature animation as a trainee on Oliver & Company, he went on to become a story artist on Beauty and the Beast, for which he created the "Be Our Guest" sequence...
, Bruce Woodside, Joe Ranft
Joe Ranft
Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft was an American screenwriter, animator, storyboard artist and voice actor who worked for Pixar and Disney. His brother, Jerome Ranft, is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar movies....
, Tom Ellery, Kelly Ashbury, and Robert Lence, directed by Gary Trousdale
Gary Trousdale
Gary A. Trousdale is an American film director known for directing movies such as Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He frequently directs films with Kirk Wise....
and Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Disney. Wise has directed such Disney movies as Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast...
, and produced by Don Hahn
Don Hahn
Don Hahn is an American film producer who has produced some of the most successful Walt Disney animated films of the past 20 years. He currently owns his own film production company called Stone Circle Pictures.-Early life:...
. The music of the film was composed by Alan Menken
Alan Menken
Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...
and Howard Ashman
Howard Ashman
Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...
, both of whom had written the music and songs for Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Beauty and the Beast was released on November 13, 1991. The film was a significant commercial and critical success, earning $403 million in box office earnings throughout the world. Beauty and the Beast was also nominated for several awards, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, with two other awards for its music. Famously, Beauty and the Beast was the first ever animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, and was the only animated film to hold this honor until 2009, when the Academy Awards switched from 5 Best Picture nominations to 10, and Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
's animated film Up
Up (2009 film)
Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...
was nominated. Beauty and the Beast received a total of six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and three nominations for its song. It ended up winning two, for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
and Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
for the songs "Beauty and the Beast".
A direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
midquel called Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 animated holiday special produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a midquel that takes place within the timeline of the original Beauty and the Beast...
was released in 1997. It was followed in 1998 by another midquel, Belle's Magical World
Belle's Magical World
Belle's Magical World is a 1998 direct-to-video Disney midquel film and the third installment in the Beauty and the Beast trilogy. It was originally released on February 17, 1998, and features the voices of Paige O'Hara as Belle, Robby Benson as The Beast, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, David Ogden...
, and later by a stage production of the same name
Beauty and the Beast (musical)
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
and a television spin-off series, Sing Me a Story with Belle
Sing Me A Story With Belle
Sing Me a Story with Belle is an American live-action series created by Patrick Davidson and Melissa Gould. The series features Belle from Beauty and the Beast, who works at her own bookstore in France. She is usually greeted by children who would like to hear a story. Belle interacts with the...
. An IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
special edition
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
version of the original film was released in 2002, with a new five-minute musical sequence included. After the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
in 2011, Disney announced the film will return to theaters for a limited time in 3D on January 13, 2012.
Plot
An enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman offers a young prince a rose in exchange for a night's shelter. When he turns her away, she punishes him by transforming him into an ugly Beast and turning his servants into furniture and other household items. She gives him a magic mirror that will enable him to view faraway events, and she gives him the rose, which will bloom until his twenty-first birthday. He must love and be loved in return before all the rose's petals have fallen off, or he will remain a Beast forever. Years later, a young, beautiful woman known as Belle comes along, living in a nearby French village with her father Maurice, who is an inventor. Belle loves reading and yearns for a life beyond the village. She is pursued by the arrogant local hero, Gaston, but has no interest in him, despite the fact that he is the most handsome man in town, is sought after by all the single females and is considered godlike in perfection by the male population of the town.When Maurice rides through the woods to display his latest invention, a wood-chopping machine, at a fair, he gets lost on the way and is chased by wolves before stumbling upon the Beast's castle, where he meets the transformed servants Lumiere (a candlestick
Candlestick
A candlestick, chamberstick, or candelabrum is a holder for one or more candles, used for illumination, rituals, or decorative purposes. The name 'candlestick' derives from the fact that it is usually tall and stick-shaped.Candlesticks are also called candle holders...
), Cogsworth (a clock
Clock
A clock is an instrument used to indicate, keep, and co-ordinate time. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". A silent instrument missing such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece...
), and Mrs. Potts (a teapot
Teapot
A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
) and her son Chip (a teacup
Teacup
A teacup is a small cup, with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in...
). The Beast imprisons Maurice, but Belle, shortly after declining Gaston's proposal for marriage, is led back to the castle by Maurice's horse and offers to take her father's place. When the Beast agrees to this and sends him home, Maurice tells Gaston and the other villagers what happened, but they think he has lost his mind.
At the castle, the Beast orders Belle to dine with him, but she refuses, and Lumiere disobeys his order not to let her eat. After Cogsworth gives her a tour of the castle, she finds the rose in the forbidden west wing and the Beast angrily chases her away. Frightened, she tries to escape, but she and her horse are attacked by wolves. After the Beast rescues her, she nurses his wounds, and he begins to develop feelings for her. He decides to make it up to her and show her the library at Lumiere's suggestion, which impresses Belle and they become friends. They grow closer as they spend more time together and the servants take it upon themselves to clean up the castle and create a romantic evening for them.
Back in the village, Gaston, after hearing Maurice's story about Belle being imprisoned by the Beast, pays the warden of the town's insane asylum to lock up Maurice unless Belle agrees to Gaston's marriage proposal and orders his cohort LeFou to wait at the doorstep until they return after discovering their house empty. Back at the castle Belle and the Beast get dressed up, have an elegant dinner and a romantic ballroom dance. The Beast notices Belle seems depressed and he lets her use the magic mirror; she sees her father, who was trying to rescue her from the castle, dying in the woods. With only hours left before the rose wilts, the Beast allows her to leave to rescue her father, giving her the mirror to remember him by. This horrifies the servants, who fear they will never be human again, since the Beast never told them of his reason why he had to let her go. As he watches her leave, the Beast admits to Cogsworth that he loves Belle.
Belle finds her father and takes him home, but Gaston arrives with a mob. Unless she agrees to marry Gaston, the manager of the local madhouse will lock up her father. Eventually, Belle proves Maurice sane by showing them the Beast with the magic mirror, but when she says the Beast is her friend and calls Gaston a "monster", he becomes jealous. Gaston arouses the mob's anger against the Beast, and leads them to the castle to kill him. Gaston locks Belle and Maurice in the basement, though Chip, who had hidden himself in Belle's baggage, is able to chop the basement door apart with Maurice's machine.
While the servants and Gaston's men fight in the castle, Gaston finds the Beast and attacks him. The Beast is initially too depressed to fight back, but he regains his will when he sees Belle returning to the castle with Maurice. After winning a heated battle, the Beast spares Gaston's life, demanding that he leave the castle. The Beast then climbs up to a balcony where Belle is waiting. Gaston, refusing to admit defeat, follows the Beast and stabs him from behind, but loses his balance and falls off the balcony to his death.
While the Beast is dying from his injuries, Belle whispers that she loves him, breaking the spell just before the last petal drops from the rose. The Beast comes back to life and he becomes human again. As he and Belle kiss, the castle and its grounds return to their previous beautiful state while the servants become human again. Belle and the prince dance in the ballroom with her father and the humanized servants happily watching.
Cast and characters
- Paige O'HaraPaige O'HaraDonna Paige O'Hara is an American Broadway singer, actress, and Disney Legend best known for her voicework as Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.-Personal life:...
as Belle - (Animation - James BaxterJames Baxter (animator)James Baxter is a British character animator. He was first known for his work on several Walt Disney Animation Studios films, including various characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Rafiki in The Lion King, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.After Notre...
) - A bookish young woman who falls in love with the Beast and finds the kind-hearted human inside him. In their effort to enhance the character from the original story, the filmmakers felt that Belle should be "unaware" of her own beauty and made her "a little odd". Wise recalls casting O'Hara because of a "unique tone" she had, "a little bit of Judy GarlandJudy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
", whose appearance she was modeled after. - Robby BensonRobby BensonRobby Benson is an American film and television actor, television director, educator and singer.-Early life:Benson was born Robin David Segal in Dallas, Texas, the son of Freda Ann , a singer, actress, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer...
as The Beast - (Animation - Glen KeaneGlen KeaneGlen Keane is an American animator, author, illustrator and director. Keane is best known for his character animation at Walt Disney Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and Tangled...
) - A cold-hearted prince transformed into a beast as punishment for his selfishness, but later warms, with the help of Belle, and ends up being transformed back into a handsome prince as a reward. Chris Sanders, one of the film's storyboard artists, drafted the designs for the Beast and came up with designs based on birds, insects and fish before coming up with something close to the final design. Glen KeaneGlen KeaneGlen Keane is an American animator, author, illustrator and director. Keane is best known for his character animation at Walt Disney Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and Tangled...
, supervising animator for the Beast, refined the design by going to the zoo and studying the animals on which the Beast was based. Benson commented, "There's a rage and torment in this character I've never been asked to use before." The filmmakers commented that "everybody was big fee-fi-fo-fum and gravelly" while Benson's voice had the "big voice and the warm, accessible side" and that "you could hear the prince beneath the fur". - Richard WhiteRichard White (actor)Richard White is an American actor, opera singer and voice actor. He is best known for voicing the character of Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast and in the TV series House of Mouse....
as Gaston - (Animation - Andreas DejaAndreas DejaAndreas Deja is as an animator most noted for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Deja's creations include the Disney villains Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Jafar from Aladdin and Scar from The Lion King. He is a recipient of the 2006 Winsor McCay Award.-Early life:Andreas Deja was born...
, Ron HusbandRon HusbandRon Husband is an American character animator known for his work at Walt Disney Feature Animation. Two of his most famous assignments while at Disney were as supervising animator for Djali in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Elk in the Firebird segment of Fantasia 2000 and Dr. Sweet in Atlantis:...
, David Burgess, Tim Allen) - A highly egotistical hunter who vies for Belle's hand in marriage and is determined not to let anyone else win her heart, even if it means killing her true love. Hahn commented that they had "big line-ups of good-looking men with deep voices" during the casting auditions, but that Richard White had a "big voice" that "rattled the room". Gaston's supervising animator, Andreas DejaAndreas DejaAndreas Deja is as an animator most noted for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Deja's creations include the Disney villains Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, Jafar from Aladdin and Scar from The Lion King. He is a recipient of the 2006 Winsor McCay Award.-Early life:Andreas Deja was born...
, was pressed by Jeffrey Katzenberg to make Gaston handsome in contrast to the traditional appearance of a Disney villain, an assignment he found difficult at first. - Jerry OrbachJerry OrbachJerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
as Lumière - (Animation - Nik Raineri) - The kind-hearted but rebellious maître d' of the Beast's castle, he has been transformed into a candelabra. He has a habit of disobeying his master's strict rules, sometimes causing tension between them, but the Beast often turns to him for advice, and he is arguably the Beast's closest friend after Belle. He is depicted as a bit of a ladies' man, as he is frequently seen with Babette the Featherduster and immediately takes to Belle. - David Ogden StiersDavid Ogden StiersDavid Ogden Stiers is an American actor, director, vocal actor, and musician, noted for his roles in Disney movies, as well as his performances in the television series M*A*S*H as Major Charles Emerson Winchester III and the science fiction drama The Dead Zone as Reverend Gene Purdy...
as Cogsworth - (Animation - Will Finn) - The castle majordomo and Lumiere's best friend, transformed into a clock. While he is as good-natured as Lumiere, he is extremely loyal to the Beast so as to save himself and anyone else any trouble, often leading to friction between himself and Lumiere. Stiers also provided the voice of The NarratorNarratorA narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
. - Angela LansburyAngela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
as Mrs. Potts - (Animation - David PruiksmaDavid PruiksmaDavid Pruiksma is an American animator, best known for his work for The Walt Disney Company. His work includes Bernard and Miss Bianca , Mrs. Potts and Chip , The Sultan , Victor and Hugo , and Flit...
) - The head of the castle kitchens, turned into a teapot, who takes a motherly attitude toward Belle. The filmmakers went through several names for Mrs. Potts, such as "Mrs. Chamomile", before Ashman suggested the use of simple and concise names for the household objects. - Bradley Michael PierceBradley PierceBradley Michael Pierce is a former American voice-over artist and character actor with numerous roles and bit parts in television, movies, direct-to-video animation, advertising, and video games.-Career:...
as Chip - (Animation - David PruiksmaDavid PruiksmaDavid Pruiksma is an American animator, best known for his work for The Walt Disney Company. His work includes Bernard and Miss Bianca , Mrs. Potts and Chip , The Sultan , Victor and Hugo , and Flit...
) - A teacup and Mrs. Potts' son. Originally intended to have only one line, the filmmakers were impressed with Pierce's performance and expanded the character's role significantly, eschewing a mute Music Box character. - Rex EverhartRex EverhartRex Everhart was an American film and musical theatre actor.Everhart appeared in such films as 1978's Superman...
as Maurice - (Animation - Ruben Aquino) Belle's inventor father. - Jesse CortiJesse CortiJesse Corti is an American voice actor, perhaps best known as Lefou in the 1991 Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast. He has appeared on several popular TV shows such as 24, Heroes, Desperate Housewives, West Wing, Judging Amy, Law & Order and many more...
as Le Fou - (Animation - Chris Wahl) - Gaston's bumbling and often mistreated sidekick. - Hal SmithHal Smith (actor)Harold John "Hal" Smith was an American character actor and voice actor. Smith is best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show, and was the voice of many characters on various animated cartoon shorts...
as Philippe - (Animation - Russ EdmondsRuss EdmondsRuss Edmonds is an American animator most noted for his character animation at the Walt Disney Company. He worked on several Disney feature films, including Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Tarzan. He studied at the Program in Character Animation at the California Institute of...
) - Belle's horse. - Jo Anne WorleyJo Anne WorleyJo Anne Worley is an American actress. Her work covers television, films, theater, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. She is best known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Biography:...
as Madame De la Grande Bouche Wardrobe - (Animation - Tony AnselmoTony AnselmoTony Anselmo is an Animator, cartoon voice actor and, since 1985, the voice of Donald Duck. Anselmo was trained by the original voice of Donald, Clarence Nash. Anselmo has also shared voice-over duties for Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie since 1999. He voiced the nephews on Mickey...
) The castle's authority over fashion, and a former opera singer, turned into a wardrobe. The character of Wardrobe was introduced by visual development person Sue C. Nichols to the then entirely male cast of servants, and was originally a more integral character named "Madame Armoire". Wardrobe is known as "Madame de la Grande Bouche" (Madame Big Mouth) in the stage adaptation of the film. - Kimmy RobertsonKimmy RobertsonKimmy Robertson is an American actress best known for her role as Lucy Moran in the TV series Twin Peaks. She was married to John Christian Walker from January 18, 2003 to September 27, 2004....
as Babette the Featherduster - A featherduster and Lumiere's lover. She is named "Babette" in the stage adaptation of the film, and "Fifi" in Belle's Magical WorldBelle's Magical WorldBelle's Magical World is a 1998 direct-to-video Disney midquel film and the third installment in the Beauty and the Beast trilogy. It was originally released on February 17, 1998, and features the voices of Paige O'Hara as Belle, Robby Benson as The Beast, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, David Ogden...
. - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
as Footstool, aka Sultan - The castle's pet dogDogThe domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
turned into a footstoolFootstoolA footstool is a piece of furniture, the purpose of which is to support one's feet. There are two main types of footstools, which can be loosely categorized into two categories, those designed for comfort and those designed for function....
, whom Chip seems to own as his pet. - Mary Kay BergmanMary Kay BergmanMary Kay Bergman was an American voice actress and animation voice over teacher, who was the lead female voice actress on South Park from the show's 1997 debut until her death and was best known as the official voice of Snow White for the Walt Disney Company starting in 1989 with the Snow White...
and Kath SoucieKath SoucieKatherine Elaine Soucie is an American voice actress. She is sometimes credited as Kath Soucie, Katherine Soucie, Kath Souci, Kath E...
as the Bimbettes - A trio of village girls who constantly fawn over Gaston. They are seen crying as he attempts to propose to Belle. - Tony JayTony JayTony Jay was an English actor, voice actor and singer. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in animation, film and computer games. Jay's distinctive baritone voice often landed him villainous roles...
as Monsieur D'Arque - The owner of the Maison de Lune. Gaston bribes him to help him in his plan to blackmail Belle.
Localization
In the ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
versions of Beauty and the Beast, the voice of the Beast is provided by Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
. He provided both the speaking and singing voices in these versions. In September 2007, CCTV6, a Chinese film channel, aired a newly dubbed version of Beauty and the Beast in which Beast's voice is performed by 王凯, Wang Kai. Together with this version, a translated version of the pop version of the "Beauty and the Beast" theme song was released, which was translated by Chan Siu Kei
Chan Siu Kei
Chan Siu Kei is a renowned Chinese pop song lyricist and record producer. Since 1984, he has written over 3000 Cantonese and Mandarin songs, and won numerous awards from various electronic medias in Hong Kong and Mainland China, including Best Chinese Lyrics Awards and Best Chinese Song Awards...
and sung by Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse
Nicholas Tse is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter, actor and musician, and son of actor Patrick Tse. He is a member of the Emperor Entertainment Group...
Ting-Fung and Meilin
Meilin
Alyssa Meilin Gray is an American-Chinese pop singer and songwriter, based in Beijing, China. Meilin first appeared on Chinese national and worldwide television in 2006 with her younger sister, Suelin, winning first place on Beijing Television’s ‘Arts of Our Land’ competition, performing a...
. This translated theme song was released separately before the film aired and is not included in the new Chinese version, which uses another translation of lyrics, translated by Han Wen (翰文).
Two Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
versions exist, one in Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
Spanish for the Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n market, the other in Castilian Spanish
Castilian Spanish
Castilian Spanish is a term related to the Spanish language, but its exact meaning can vary even in that language. In English Castilian Spanish usually refers to the variety of European Spanish spoken in north and central Spain or as the language standard for radio and TV speakers...
for the European market. In the Mexican version, the voice of LeFou is provided by the same actor who played the role in English, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n-American voice actor Jesse Corti
Jesse Corti
Jesse Corti is an American voice actor, perhaps best known as Lefou in the 1991 Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast. He has appeared on several popular TV shows such as 24, Heroes, Desperate Housewives, West Wing, Judging Amy, Law & Order and many more...
.
In the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
version, the theme song is performed by the famous Italian singer Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli is an Italian singer-songwriter. He wrote four masterpieces of Italian popular music: "Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa c'è", "Senza fine" and "Sapore di sale".- Biography :...
and his daughter Amanda Sandrelli
Amanda Sandrelli
Amanda Sandrelli is an Italian actress.Born in Lausanne, she is the daughter of singer Gino Paoli and actress Stefania Sandrelli. She debuted in L'Attenzione, from director Giovanni Soldati, in 1984....
. Unlike in the English version, the first part of the song is sung by a man (Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli is an Italian singer-songwriter. He wrote four masterpieces of Italian popular music: "Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa c'è", "Senza fine" and "Sapore di sale".- Biography :...
, in the original Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
) and the second part by a woman (Amanda Sandrelli
Amanda Sandrelli
Amanda Sandrelli is an Italian actress.Born in Lausanne, she is the daughter of singer Gino Paoli and actress Stefania Sandrelli. She debuted in L'Attenzione, from director Giovanni Soldati, in 1984....
, in the original Peabo Bryson
Peabo Bryson
Peabo Bryson is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, born in Greenville, South Carolina...
).
For the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
version, the theme song is performed by Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour, OC is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the best-known singers in the world...
and Liane Foly
Liane Foly
Liane Foly, is an popular French blues and jazz singer, actress, presenter and impressionist.-Early years:Foly was born the 16 December 1962 in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon. Her parents, a merchant family in French Algeria, returned to France in 1962 with the Pied-Noir community and moved to...
in the original release. When it was released again in 2002, the theme song was sung by Patrick Fiori
Patrick Fiori
Patrick Fiori is a French singer.-Biography:Fiori was born to an Armenian father and a Corsican mother in Marseille, France. When he was only 12 years old, he was offered his first role in the musical La légende des santonniers...
and Julie Zenatti
Julie Zenatti
Julie Zenatti, born 5 February 1981, is a French singer celebrity. She first played the role of Fleur-de-Lys and later Esmeralda on stage for the musical Notre-Dame de Paris. Zenatti was involved with Notre-Dame de Paris co-star Patrick Fiori from 2002–2006 and the pair were engaged for 2 years...
. The voice of Mrs. Potts also changed in the 2002 release. In the original, Mrs. Potts was voiced by Lucie Dolène, the same actress who gave voice to Snow White
Snow White (Disney)
Snow White is a fictional character and the main protagonist from Walt Disney's first animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,...
in 1962 (second dubbing). However, because of some disagreements, Lucie Dolène's voice replaced by Lily Baron for the spoken parts and Christiane Legrand
Christiane Legrand
Christiane Legrand was a French singer.Legrand was born in Paris, the daughter of film composer Raymond Legrand, who wrote "Irma la Douce."She studied piano and classical music from the time she was four...
for the sung parts.
In the Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
version, the theme song is provided by Tommy Körberg
Tommy Körberg
Bert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
and Sofia Källgren
Sofia Källgren
Anna Sofia Helena Källgren, known as Sofia Källgren , is a Swedish singer. She sings in two other languages, English and Mandarin Chinese, in addition to in Swedish....
, who also provide the voices of Beast and Belle, respectively, in the film.
In the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
version of the film, the Beast's voice is provided by Yiannis Palamidas, the same actor who provided the voice of Rex in the Greek release of Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
. Belle's voice is provided by the well-known Greek actress Christy Stasinopoulou.
Early versions
Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
sought out other stories to turn into feature films after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
, and Beauty and the Beast was among the stories he considered. Attempts to develop the Beauty and the Beast story into a film were made in the 1930s and 1950s, but were ultimately given up because it "proved to be a challenge" for the story team. Peter M. Nichols states Disney may later have been discouraged by Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
having already done his version
Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film adaptation of the traditional fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont and published in 1757 as part of a fairy tale anthology . Directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the film stars Josette...
.
Decades later, after the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
in 1988, the Disney studio resurrected Beauty and the Beast as a project for the satellite animation studio it had set up in London, England to work on Roger Rabbit. Richard Williams, who had directed the animated portions of Roger Rabbit, was approached to direct, but declined in favor of continuing work on his long-gestating project The Thief and the Cobbler
The Thief and the Cobbler
The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated feature film, famous for its animation and its long, troubled history. The film was conceived by Canadian animator Richard Williams, who worked 28 years on the project. Beginning production in 1964, Williams intended The Thief and the Cobbler to be his...
. In his place, Williams recommended his colleague, English animation director Richard Purdum, and work began under producer Don Hahn
Don Hahn
Don Hahn is an American film producer who has produced some of the most successful Walt Disney animated films of the past 20 years. He currently owns his own film production company called Stone Circle Pictures.-Early life:...
on a non-musical version of Beauty and the Beast set in Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. At the behest of Disney CEO Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until 2005.-Early life:...
, Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney animated film to use a screenwriter. This was an unusual production move for an animated film, which is traditionally developed on storyboard
Storyboard
Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence....
s rather than in scripted form. Linda Woolverton
Linda Woolverton
Linda Woolverton is an American writer who wrote the screenplay for Disney's animated feature film Beauty and the Beast and co-wrote the screenplay for the The Lion King. Woolverton then went on to write the Broadway musical version of Beauty and the Beast and assisted in adapting The Lion King to...
wrote the original draft of the story before storyboarding began, and worked with the story team to retool and develop the film.
Script rewrite and musicalization
Upon seeing the initial storyboard reels in 1989, Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey KatzenbergJeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
ordered that the film be scrapped and started over from scratch. A few months after starting anew, Purdam resigned as director. The studio had approached Ron Clements
Ron Clements
Ronald Francis "Ron" Clements is an American animation director and producer. He is one half of America's leading contemporary animation team with John Musker.-Life and career:...
and John Musker
John Musker
John Musker is an American animation director. Along with Ron Clements, he makes up the duo of one of the Disney animation studio's leading director teams.-Life and career:...
to direct the film but turned down the offer saying they were "tied" after just having finished directing Disney's recent success The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid (1989 film)
The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...
. Disney then hired first-time feature directors Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise
Kirk Wise is an American film director, animator and screenwriter best known for his work at Disney. Wise has directed such Disney movies as Atlantis: The Lost Empire, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast...
and Gary Trousdale
Gary Trousdale
Gary A. Trousdale is an American film director known for directing movies such as Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He frequently directs films with Kirk Wise....
. Wise and Trousdale had previously directed the animated sections of Cranium Command
Cranium Command
Cranium Command was an attraction at the Wonders of Life pavilion at Walt Disney World Resort's Epcot theme park. The show was a humorous presentation on the importance of the human brain....
, a short film for a Disney EPCOT
Epcot
Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...
theme park attraction. In addition, Katzenberg asked songwriters Howard Ashman
Howard Ashman
Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...
and Alan Menken
Alan Menken
Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...
, who had written the song score for The Little Mermaid to turn Beauty and the Beast into a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
-style musical film in the same vein as Mermaid. Ashman, who at the time had learned he was dying of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, had been working with Disney on a pet project of his, Aladdin, and only reluctantly agreed to join the struggling production team.
To accommodate Ashman's failing health, pre-production of Beauty and the Beast was moved from London to the Residence Inn in Fishkill, New York
Fishkill, New York
Fishkill is an upscale village within the much larger town, Town of Fishkill, one of the fastest growing towns in the region, in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The village population was 1,735 at the 2000 census...
, close to Ashman's New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
home. Here, Ashman and Menken joined Wise, Trousdale, Hahn, and Woolverton in retooling the film's script. Since the original story had only two major characters, the filmmakers enhanced them, added new characters in the form of enchanted household items who "add warmth and comedy to a gloomy story" and guide the audience through the film, and added a "real villain" in the form of Gaston. These ideas were somewhat similar to elements of the 1946 French film version of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film adaptation of the traditional fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont and published in 1757 as part of a fairy tale anthology . Directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the film stars Josette...
, which introduced the character of Avenant, an oafish suitor somewhat similar to Gaston as well as inanimate objects coming to life in the Beast's castle. The animated objects were, however, given distinct personalities in the Disney version. By early 1990, Katzenberg had approved the revised script, and storyboarding began again. The production flew story artists back and forth between California and New York for storyboard approvals from Ashman, though the team was not told the reason why.
Animation
Production of Beauty and the Beast had to be completed on a compressed timeline of two years rather than four because of the loss of production time spent developing the earlier Purdam version of the film. Most of the production was done at the main Feature Animation studio, housed in the Air Way facility in Glendale, CaliforniaGlendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
. A smaller team at the Disney-MGM Studios
Disney-MGM Studios
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Lake Buena Vista is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of two Florida municipalities controlled by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Bay Lake....
assisted the California team on several scenes, particularly the "Be Our Guest" number.
Beauty and the Beast was the second film produced using CAPS (Computer Animation Production System)
Computer Animation Production System
The Computer Animation Production System is a proprietary collection of software programs, scanning camera systems, servers, networked computer workstations, and custom desks developed by The Walt Disney Company together with Pixar in the late-1980s...
, a digital scanning, ink, paint, and compositing system of software and hardware developed for Disney by Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
. The software allowed for a wider range of colors, as well as soft shading and colored line effects for the characters, techniques lost when the Disney studio abandoned hand inking for xerography
Xerography
Xerography is a dry photocopying technique invented by Chester Carlson in 1938, for which he was awarded on October 6, 1942. Carlson originally called his invention electrophotography...
in the late 1950s. CAPS also allowed the production crew to simulate multiplane effects: placing characters and/or backgrounds on separate layers and moving them towards/away from the camera on the Z-axis to give the illusion of depth, as well as altering the focus of each layer.
In addition, CAPS allowed easier combination of hand-drawn art with computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, which before had to be plotted
Plotter
A plotter is a computer printing device for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were widely used in applications such as computer-aided design, though they have generally been replaced with wide-format conventional printers...
to animation cels and painted traditionally. This technique was put to significant use during the "Beauty and the Beast" waltz sequence, in which Belle and Beast dance through a computer-generated ballroom as the camera dollies
Dolly
Dolly may refer to one of the following:*Camera dolly, platform that enables a movie or video camera to move during shots*Dolly , a portable anvil*Dolly , for towing behind a vehicle...
around them in simulated 3D space. The filmmakers had originally decided against the use of computers in favor of traditional animation, but later, when the technology had improved, decided it could be used for the one scene in the ballroom. The success of the ballroom sequence helped convince studio executives to further invest in computer animation.
Music
Ashman and Menken wrote the Beauty song score during the pre-production process in Fishkill, the opening operettaOperetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
-styled "Belle" being their first composition for the film. Other songs included "Be Our Guest
Be Our Guest
"Be Our Guest" is a 1991 Academy Award-nominated song from the animated film, Beauty and the Beast. The music was written by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The song was sung by Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, and other singers in the background chorus. The song was nominated for an Academy...
", sung to Maurice (in this early stage) by the objects when he becomes the first visitor to eat at the castle in a decade, "Gaston", a solo for the swaggering villain, "Human Again", a song describing Belle and Beast's growing love from the objects' perspective, the love ballad "Beauty and the Beast", and the climactic "The Mob Song".
As story and song development came to a close, full production began in Burbank while voice and song recording began in New York City. The Beauty songs were mostly recorded live with the orchestra and the voice cast performing simultaneously rather than overdubbed separately, in order to give the songs a cast album-like "energy" the filmmakers and songwriters desired.
During the course of production, many changes were made to the structure of the film, necessitating the replacement and re-purposing of songs. After screening a mostly animated version of the "Be Our Guest" sequence, story artist Bruce Woodside suggested that the objects should be singing the song to Belle rather than her father. Wise and Trousdale agreed, and the sequence and song were retooled to replace Maurice with Belle.
"Human Again" was dropped from the film before animation began, as its lyrics caused story problems about the timeline over which the story takes place. This required Ashman and Menken to write a new song in its place. "Something There", in which Belle and Beast sing (via voiceover) of their growing fondness for each other, was composed late in production and inserted into the script in place of "Human Again".
Menken would later revise "Human Again" for inclusion in the 1994 Broadway stage version of Beauty and the Beast, and another revised version of the song was added to the film itself in a new sequence created for the film's Special Edition re-release in 2002.
Ashman died of AIDS-related complications on March 14, 1991, eight months prior to the release of the film. He never saw the finished film, and his work on Aladdin was completed by another lyricist, Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
. A tribute to the lyricist was included at the end of the credits crawl: "To our friend, Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice, and a beast his soul. We will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman: 1950–1991".
A pop version of the "Beauty and the Beast" theme, performed by Céline Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
and Peabo Bryson
Peabo Bryson
Peabo Bryson is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, born in Greenville, South Carolina...
over the end credits, was released as a commercial single from the film's soundtrack
Beauty and the Beast (soundtrack)
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack of Disney's 1991 Academy Award-winning animated feature Beauty and the Beast...
, supported with a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
. The Dion/Bryson version of "Beauty and the Beast" became an international pop hit, reaching the Top Ten of the singles charts in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Later home video releases of Beauty and the Beast would include, as bonus features, new music videos featuring covers of the title song by Jump 5 (for the 2002 DVD release) and Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks
Jordin Brianna Sparks is an American pop / R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She hails from Glendale, Arizona who rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest winner in Idol history...
(for the 2010 Blu-Ray/DVD release).
Musical numbers
- "Belle (Bonjour)" - Belle, Gaston, and Townspeople
- "Belle" (Reprise) - Belle
- "Gaston" - Gaston, LeFou, and Townspeople
- "Gaston" (Reprise) - Gaston and LeFou
- "Be Our GuestBe Our Guest"Be Our Guest" is a 1991 Academy Award-nominated song from the animated film, Beauty and the Beast. The music was written by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman. The song was sung by Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, and other singers in the background chorus. The song was nominated for an Academy...
" - Lumière, Mrs. Potts, and the Enchanted Objects - "Something There" - Belle, Beast, Lumière, Cogsworth, and Mrs. Potts
- "Human Again" (added in the 2002 special editionSpecial editionThe terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
) - Lumière, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Wardrobe, Chip, and Enchanted Objects - "Beauty and The Beast" - Mrs. Potts
- "The Mob Song" - Gaston, LeFou, and Townspeople
- "Transformation (Beauty and the Beast - Reprise)" - Chorus
Release
The film was shown at the New York Film FestivalNew York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...
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. The "work-in-progress" version of Beauty and the Beast played to a standing ovation from the film festival audience. The completed film would also be screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
1992 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Gérard Depardieu *John Boorman *Carlo Di Palma *Jamie Lee Curtis *Joële Van Effenterre *Lester James Peries *Nana Djordjadze *Pedro Almodóvar *René Cleitman...
. The finished film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is owned by Pacific Theatres and operated by the Walt Disney Company. It serves as the venue for many of Walt Disney Pictures' movie premieres...
in Hollywood on November 13, 1991, and went into wide release through Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
on November 22.
Disney initially planned a re-release of the film to be released theatrically in December 1998
December 1998
December 1998 was a month with thirty-one days.The following events also occurred during the month:...
in an attempt of counterprogramming
Counterprogramming
In Broadcast programming, counterprogramming is the practice of offering television programs to attract an audience from another television station airing a major event.-Television:...
against DreamWorks
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
' The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 American animated musical drama film and the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks Animation. The film is an adaptation of the Book of Exodus and follows the life of Moses from being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the...
. The idea to restore the "Human Again" sequence was originally for this re-issue. However, due to impending competition from the aforementioned Prince of Egypt as well as The Rugrats Movie
The Rugrats Movie
The Rugrats Movie is a 1998 American animated film, produced by Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Movies. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures and first released in theaters in the United States on November 20, 1998....
, Babe: Pig in the City
Babe: Pig in the City
Babe: Pig in the City is a 1998 sequel to the 1995 film Babe. It occurs in the fictional city of Metropolis. Due to the unexpected darker and more mature subject matter , the film was not received as well as the first Babe film was, as it flopped at the box office and reviews were generally...
and Jack Frost
Jack Frost (1998 film)
Jack Frost is a 1998 Christmas film, starring Michael Keaton and Kelly Preston. Keaton stars as the title character, a man who dies in a car accident and comes back to life as a snowman...
as well as Disney's own holiday release schedule being quite full with Enemy of the State
Enemy of the State
Enemy of the State is a 1998 spy-thriller film about a group of rogue NSA agents who kill a US Congressman and try to cover up the murder. It was written by David Marconi, directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and it stars Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet and...
, A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life
A Bug's Life is a 1998 American computer animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 25, 1998. A Bug's Life was the second Disney·Pixar feature film after Toy Story, and the third American computer-animated film after Toy...
and Mighty Joe Young
Mighty Joe Young (1998 film)
The Music was composed and conduced by James Horner. The Soundtrack was released on December of the year 1998.- Tracklist :...
, the re-release was delayed to spring 1999. When Disney decided to bump Doug's 1st Movie
Doug's 1st Movie
Doug's 1st Movie is a 1999 animated film based on the Disney version of the Nickelodeon television series Doug. The film was directed by Maurice Joyce, and stars the regular television cast of Tom McHugh, Fred Newman, Chris Phillips, Constance Shulman, Frank Welker, Alice Playten, and Guy Hadley...
from direct-to-video to a theatrical release, that film took the re-release's date, delaying it to the holiday season. Presumably due to competition, like the year before, and Disney's own efforts to promote Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American computer animated film directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon. It is the sequel to the 1995 film Toy Story, released by Walt Disney Pictures and the third film to be produced by Pixar...
, this release date was also canceled.
In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was added to the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film was restored
Film preservation
thumb|300px|Stacked containers filled with reels of [[film stock]]The film preservation, or film restoration, movement is an ongoing project among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images which they contain...
and remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ed for its New Year's Day, 2002 re-release in IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theatres in a special edition
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
edit including a new musical sequence. For this version of the film, much of the animation was cleaned 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 sing along edition of the film, hosted by Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks
Jordin Brianna Sparks is an American pop / R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She hails from Glendale, Arizona who rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest winner in Idol history...
, was released in select theaters on September 29 and October 2, 2010. Prior to the showing of the film Sparks showed an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the newly restored high definition animated classic and the making of her all-new Beauty and the Beast music video. There was also commentary from producer Don Hahn, interviews with the cast and an inside look at how the animation was created.
A 3D version of the film was originally scheduled to be released in US theatres on February 12, 2010, but the project was postponed. On August 25, 2011, Disney announced that the 3D version of the film would make its cinematic debut in the United States at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is owned by Pacific Theatres and operated by the Walt Disney Company. It serves as the venue for many of Walt Disney Pictures' movie premieres...
from September 2–15, 2011. After the successful 3D re-release of The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
, Disney announced a wide 3D re-release of Beauty and the Beast for the United States beginning January 13, 2012.
Home media releases
The film was released to VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
on October 30, 1992 and in the UK in autumn, 1993 for a limited season as part of the Walt Disney Classics
Walt Disney Classics
Walt Disney Classics was a brand name used by Walt Disney Home Video on their American, Japanese, European and Australian home video releases of Disney animated features. The first title arrived in stores on December 6, 1984...
series, and was later put on moratorium
Moratorium (entertainment)
A moratorium in the home entertainment business refers to the practice of suspending the sales of DVD movies or DVD boxed sets after a certain period of time...
. This version contains a minor edit to the film: skulls that appear in Gaston's pupils for two frames during his climatic fall to his death were removed for the original home video release. No such edit was made to later reissues of the film. The "work-in-progress" version screened at the New York Film Festival was also released on VHS and Laserdisc at this time.
Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition, as the enhanced version of the film released in IMAX/large-format is called, was released on 2-Disc "Platinum Edition" DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and VHS on October 8, 2002. The DVD set features three versions of the film: the extended IMAX Special Edition with the "Human Again" sequence added, the original theatrical version, and the New York Film Festival "work-in-progress" version. This release went to "Disney Vault
Disney Vault
The "Disney Vault" is the term used by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its policy of putting home video releases of Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated features on moratorium...
" moratorium status in January 2003, along with its direct to video follow-ups Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 animated holiday special produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a midquel that takes place within the timeline of the original Beauty and the Beast...
and Belle's Magical World
Belle's Magical World
Belle's Magical World is a 1998 direct-to-video Disney midquel film and the third installment in the Beauty and the Beast trilogy. It was originally released on February 17, 1998, and features the voices of Paige O'Hara as Belle, Robby Benson as The Beast, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, David Ogden...
.
The film was released from the Disney vault
Disney Vault
The "Disney Vault" is the term used by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its policy of putting home video releases of Walt Disney Animation Studios's animated features on moratorium...
on October 5, 2010 as the second of Disney's Diamond Editions, in the form of a 3-disc Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
combination pack; representing the first release of Beauty and the Beast on home video in high-definition format.
This edition consists of four versions of the film: the original theatrical version, an extended version, the New York Film Festival storyboard-only version, and a fourth iteration displaying the storyboards via picture-in-picture
Picture-in-picture
Picture in Picture is a feature of some television receivers and similar devices. One program is displayed on the full TV screen at the same time as one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. Sound is usually from the main program only.Picture in Picture requires two independent...
alongside the original theatrical version. However, one revised shot from the special extended edition appeared in all 4 versions of the film. This was the shot at the very end of the musical number "Something There" where Mrs. Potts said to Chip, "I'll tell you when you're older" and kissed him on the nose. A two-disc DVD edition was released on November 23, 2010. A 5-Disc Combo Pack, featuring Blu-Ray 3D, Blu-Ray 2D, DVD and Digital copy, was released on October 4, 2011. The 3D combo pack is identical to the original Diamond Edition except for the added 3D disc and digital copy.
Reception
Upon the theatrical release of the finished version, the film was universally praised, with Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
giving it four stars out of four 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." He ranked the film as the third best film of 1991. James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
gave the film a four out of four stars and says, "As a romance, Beauty and the Beast is a delightful confection, creating a pair of memorable, three-dimensional characters and giving us reason to root for their union." Berardinelli has called the film the greatest animated film of all time and has ranked it #56 in his Top 100 Films, ahead of other famous films like #71 The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
, #80 To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird (film)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
, and #94 Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
. The film received mostly positive reviews, among them some of the best notices the studio had received since the 1940s. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, a film review aggregator, shows Beauty and the Beast with a 92% approval rating as of July 2011 averaged from 63 reviews of the original theatrical release and later theatrical and home video versions. The use of computer animation, particularly in the "Beauty and the Beast" ballroom sequence, was singled out in several reviews as one of the film's highlights.
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, 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 from 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.
Betsy Hearne, editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, writes that the film belittles the original story's moral about "inner beauty", as well as the heroine herself, in favor of a more brutish struggle; "In fact," she says, "it is not Beauty's lack of love that almost kills Disney's beast, but a rival's dagger."
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.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
named Beauty and the Beast as the greatest animated film of all time, directly ahead of Wall-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
.
Box-office performance
During its initial release in 1991, the film was a significant success at the box office, with $145,863,363 in revenues in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
alone. Therefore, it ranked as the third most-successful film of 1991 in North America, surpassed only by the summer blockbusters Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...
and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 American adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds. Kevin Costner heads the cast list as Robin Hood...
. Additionally, Beauty and the Beast was the most successful animated Disney film released to date, and the first animated film to reach $100 million in North America. In its IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
re-release, it earned $25,487,190 in North America and $5,546,156 in other territories for a worldwide total of $31,033,346. It has also earned $2,899,723 from its 3D re-release overseas. Therefore, as of October 2011, it has earned a total of $171,350,553 in North America and an estimated $206,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $377,350,553.
Merchandise and spin-offs
Beauty and the Beast merchandise covered a wide variety of products, among them storybook versions of the film's story, a comic book based on the film published by Disney ComicsDisney Comics
Disney Comics was a comic book publishing company operated by The Walt Disney Company which ran from 1990 to 1993. In the USA, Disney only licensed their comic books to other publishers prior to 1990...
, toys, children's costumes, and other items. In addition, the character of Belle has been integrated into the "Disney Princess" line of Disney's Consumer Products division
Disney Consumer Products
Disney Consumer Products is a division of The Walt Disney Company that engages in merchandizing of the Disney brand and Disney properties, Lines of business under DCP include Disney Fashion & Home, Disney Food, Health and Beauty, Disney Toys & Social Expressions, Disney Publishing Worldwide and...
, and appears on merchandise related to that franchise.
In 1995, a live-action children's series entitled Sing Me a Story with Belle
Sing Me A Story With Belle
Sing Me a Story with Belle is an American live-action series created by Patrick Davidson and Melissa Gould. The series features Belle from Beauty and the Beast, who works at her own bookstore in France. She is usually greeted by children who would like to hear a story. Belle interacts with the...
began running in syndication, remaining on the air through 1999. Two direct-to-video midquels (which take place during the timeline depicted in the original film) were produced by Walt Disney Television Animation
Walt Disney Television Animation
Disney Television Animation is an American animation studio that is the TV animation production arm of the Disney-ABC Television Group, owned by The Walt Disney Company, dedicated to creating, developing and producing animated television series, films, specials and other projects.Established in...
: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a 1997 animated holiday special produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a midquel that takes place within the timeline of the original Beauty and the Beast...
in 1997 and Belle's Magical World
Belle's Magical World
Belle's Magical World is a 1998 direct-to-video Disney midquel film and the third installment in the Beauty and the Beast trilogy. It was originally released on February 17, 1998, and features the voices of Paige O'Hara as Belle, Robby Benson as The Beast, Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, David Ogden...
in 1998.
Stage musical
On Monday, April 18, 1994, a stage adaptation, also titled Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast (musical)
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
, premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, New York
The Palace Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1564 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architects Kirchoff & Rose, the theatre was built by Martin Beck a California vaudeville entrepreneur and Broadway impresario. The project experienced a number of business problems before...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The show transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 205 West 46th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, it was built by producer Charles Dillingham and opened as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse, on...
on November 11, 1999. The commercial (though not critical) success of the show led to productions in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, and all over the world. The Broadway version, which ran for over a decade, received a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
, and became the first of a whole line of Disney stage productions. The original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
cast included Terrence Mann
Terrence Mann
Terrence Vaughan Mann is an American actor, director, singer, songwriter and dancer who has been prominent on the Broadway stage for the past three decades...
as the Beast, Susan Egan
Susan Egan
Susan Egan is an American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage.-Early life and career:Egan was born in Seal Beach, California. She attended Orange County High School of the Arts and UCLA. In the meantime she started her career touring with the performance group The Young...
as Belle, Burke Moses
Burke Moses
Burke William Moses is an American film and television actor. His brother is actor Mark Moses.Burke Moses first appeared on Broadway as a replacement in the role of Sky Masterson in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls...
as Gaston, Gary Beach
Gary Beach
Gary Beach is an American actor, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Biography:Beach was born in Alexandria, Virginia and later went on to graduate from the North Carolina School of the Arts, the same school as Terrence Mann, his Beauty and the Beast costar.Beach and his partner, Jeffrey...
as Lumiere, Heath Lamberts
Heath Lamberts
Heath Lamberts, CM was a Canadian actor.He was born James Langcaster in Toronto, Ontario, where, as a boy, he won singing contests at school, allowing him to perform with Toronto's Opera Festival Association...
as Cogsworth, Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley
Thomas Edward "Tom" Bosley was an American actor. Bosley is best known for portraying Howard Cunningham on the long-running ABC sitcom Happy Days. He also was featured in recurring roles on Murder, She Wrote, and Father Dowling Mysteries...
as Maurice, Beth Fowler
Beth Fowler
Beth Fowler is an American actress and singer.Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Fowler was a teacher with a fondness for Broadway theatre when she decided to audition for Gantry in 1970. She was signed for the chorus and as understudy for the lead, but the show unfortunately closed on opening night...
as Mrs. Potts, and Stacey Logan as Babette the feather duster. Many well-known actors and singers also starred in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production during its thirteen year run including Kerry Butler
Kerry Butler
Kerry Marie Butler is an American actress known primarily for her work in theatre.-Early life and career:...
, Deborah Gibson
Deborah Gibson
Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1987 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and...
, Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton
Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...
, Andrea McArdle
Andrea McArdle
Andrea McArdle is an American singer and actress best known for playing Annie in the Broadway musical Annie, as well as for her alto range and strong vocal belt.-Career:She was born in Philadelphia...
, Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Jamie-Lynn Sigler is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Meadow Soprano on the HBO television series The Sopranos.-Early life:...
, Christy Carlson Romano
Christy Carlson Romano
Christy Carlson Romano is an American stage and film actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the sitcom Even Stevens and the animated series Kim Possible, in which she is the voice of the title character, as well as the voice of Yuffie Kisaragi in Kingdom Hearts and Final...
, Ashley Brown
Ashley Brown
Ashley Brown is an actress who is best known for playing the title character in the United States national tour and Broadway productions of Mary Poppins.-Career:...
, and Anneliese van der Pol
Anneliese van der Pol
Anneliese Louise van der Pol is a Dutch-American actress and singer. After an early career in musical theatre, she was cast as Chelsea Daniels in the Disney Channel Original Series That's So Raven, a role that gained her renown among young audiences. Van der Pol also has a career as a singer and...
as Belle; Chuck Wagner
Chuck Wagner
Chuck Wagner is an American actor, Director, Musical Theatre Historian, and Teacher.-Education and early career:Wagner was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in Hartsville, Tennessee. He attended public school in Gallatin, TN...
, James Barbour
James Stacy Barbour
James Stacy Barbour , a.k.a. James Barbour, is a singer and Broadway actor. He graduated from Hofstra University with a degree in Acting and a minor in Philosophy.- Theatre credits :...
, and Jeff McCarthy
Jeff McCarthy
-Television:He made guest star appearances on television shows such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ed, Designing Women, Cheers, Freddy's Nightmares, Matlock, and In the Heat of the Night. McCarthy was the voice of the Chuck Jones' creation, Michigan J. Frog, for the WB television network...
as the Beast; Meshach Taylor
Meshach Taylor
Meshach Taylor is an American actor.He is perhaps best known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the sitcom Designing Women. He also had a major role on the sitcom Dave's World, playing Sheldon Baylor, and appeared in Buffalo Bill.-Personal life:Taylor was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of...
, Bryan Batt
Bryan Batt
Bryan Batt is an American actor best known for his role in the AMC series Mad Men as Salvatore Romano, an art director for the Sterling Cooper agency. Primarily a theater actor, he has had a number of starring roles in movies and television as well...
, Jacob Young
Jacob Young
Jacob Wayne Young is an American actor and singer. He is perhaps best known for his role as JR Chandler on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children...
, and John Tartaglia
John Tartaglia
John Nicholas Tartaglia is an American singer, actor, dancer, puppeteer.Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade, New Jersey, U.S.. He joined Sesame Street's puppetry team at the age of 16 part-time, performing as a right hand and many minor characters, including Phoebe and being the backup for Kevin...
as Lumiere; and Marc Kudisch
Marc Kudisch
Marc Kudisch is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway.-Early life and education:...
, Christopher Sieber
Christopher Sieber
Christopher Sieber is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Kevin Burke in Two of a Kind starring Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen and Lord Farquaad in Shrek the Musical. Christopher studied acting and musical comedy at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City...
, and Donny Osmond
Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...
as Gaston. The show ended its Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
run on July 29, 2007 after 46 previews and 5,461 performances.
Video games
- Beauty and the Beast is an actionAction gameAction game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
, platformerPlatform gameA platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
developed and publisher by Hudson SoftHudson Soft, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
for the NESNintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
. It was released in EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in 1994. Gaston, logically, is the final boss of the game because he wants to kill the Beast, marry Belle and force her to give birth to nothing but baby boys (that look like Gaston).
- Disney's Beauty and the Beast is an action, platformer for the SNESSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. It was developed and published by Hudson Soft in North America and Europe in November 1994 and February 23, 1995, respectively. The game was published by Virgin InteractiveVirgin InteractiveVirgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
in Japan on July 8, 1994. The entire game is played through the perspective of the Beast. As the Beast, the player must get BelleBelle (Beauty and the Beast)Belle is a fictional character from the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast and is one of the main protagonists of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast and its two direct-to-video sequels, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and its several spin-offs, including Beauty and the Beast:...
to fall in love so that the curse cast upon him and his castle will be broken, she will marry him and become a princessPrincessPrincess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
. The final boss of the game is Gaston, a hunter who will try to steal Belle from the Beast. There is even a snowballSnowballA snowball is a spherical object made from snow, usually created by scooping snow with the hands, and compacting it into a roughly fist-sized ball. The snowball is often used to engage in games, such as snowball fights. Snowball fights are usually light-hearted and involve throwing snowballs at...
fight scene in the middle of the game and cutsceneCutsceneA cutscene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, strengthen the main character's development, introduces enemy characters, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues...
s between stages that tells the story of Beauty and the Beast. In Japan, this game was referred to as .
- Beauty & The Beast: Belle's Quest is an action, platformer for the Sega Mega Drive/GenesisSega Mega DriveThe Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
. Developed by Software CreationsSoftware Creations (UK)Software Creations was a video game developer based in Manchester, England, first established in 1987. They are primarily known for their video games based on movie and comic licenses like Marvel Comics, Cutthroat Island, Disney's Beauty and the Beast and original titles Solstice and the sequel...
, the game was released in North America in 1993. It is one of two video games based on the film that Sunsoft published for the Genesis, the other being Beauty & The Beast: Roar of the Beast. Characters from the film like Gaston can help the player past tricky situations. As Belle, the player must reach the Beast's castle and break the spell to live happily ever afterHappy endingA happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains....
. To succeed, she must explore the village, forest, castle, and snowy forest to solve puzzles and mini-games while ducking or jumping over enemies. Belle's health is represented by a stack of blue books, which diminishes when she touches bats, rats, and other hazards in the game. Extra lives, keys and other items are hidden throughout the levels. While there is no continue or game saving ability, players can use a code to start the game at any of the seven levels.
- Beauty & The Beast: Roar of the Beast is the title of a side-scrolling video game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. The game was one of two games based on the film released for the Sega Genesis, the other game being Beauty & The Beast: Belle's Quest, both of which were produced by Sunsoft and released in 1993. As the Beast, the player must successfully complete several levels, based on scenes from the film, in order to protect the castle from invading villagers and forest animals and rescue Belle from the evil Gaston. Intermission screenshots between each level help to move the story along, as do mini-games. The Beast can crouch, jump, swing his fists, and use a special roar attack that will freeze the on-screen enemies for a brief period. He can sometimes locate items within a level to restore some of his health, and the game provides unlimited continues. It was often described as having a high difficulty level.
- Disney's Beauty & The Beast: A Boardgame Adventure is a Disney Boardgame adventure for the Game Boy ColorGame Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
.
- Kingdom HeartsKingdom Heartsis an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
is an RPG series crossing over the universes of its original characters, Final FantasyFinal Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
and various Disney settings. Among the huge cast of characters are several from Beauty and the Beast, with a world based on the movie (Beast's Castle) featuring prominently in Kingdom Hearts IIKingdom Hearts IIis an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. Featured characters are Belle, Beast, Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip and Madame la Grande Bouche. Notably, their home world breaks the tradition of each world featuring a boss fight against the film's respective villain, since Gaston does not make single appearance in the series. Instead, the role of that world's villain is taken by one of the game's originally created villains, XaldinOrganization XIIIis a fictional group of characters featured in Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios' Kingdom Hearts video game series. The group comprises thirteen beings without hearts called NobodiesIn the video game series' setting, beings comprise a body, heart and soul, known as a 'Whole'. When a heart...
.
Academy Awards
Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's song "Beauty and the Beast" won the Academy Award for Best Music, Song, while Menken's score won the award for Best Music, Original ScoreAcademy Award for Original Music Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
. Two other Menken and Ashman songs from the film, "Belle" and "Be Our Guest", were also nominated for Best Music, Song. Beauty and the Beast was the first picture to receive three Academy Award nominations for Best Song, a feat that would be repeated by The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
(1994), Dreamgirls
Dreamgirls (film)
Dreamgirls is a 2006 musical drama film, directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. The film debuted in three special road show engagements beginning December 15, 2006 before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006...
(2006), and Enchanted (2007). Academy rules have since been changed to limit each film to two nominations in this category.
The film was also nominated for Best Sound
Academy Award for Sound
The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. Compare this award to the Academy Award for Sound Editing...
and Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
. It was the first animated film ever to be nominated for Best Picture, and remained the only animated film nominated until 2010, when the Best Picture field was widened to ten nominees. It lost to the critically acclaimed thriller The Silence of the Lambs.
With six nominations, the film currently shares the record for the most nominations for an animated film with WALL-E
WALL-E
WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...
(2008), although, with three nominations in the Best Original Song category, Beauty and the Beasts nominations span only four categories, while WALL-Es nominations cover six individual categories.
| Award | Recipient | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Music, Original Score Academy Award for Original Music Score The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:... |
Alan Menken Alan Menken Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards... |
|
| Best Music, Original Song ("Beauty and the Beast") | Alan Menken Alan Menken Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards... & Howard Ashman Howard Ashman Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974... |
|
| Nominated: | ||
| Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
Don Hahn Don Hahn Don Hahn is an American film producer who has produced some of the most successful Walt Disney animated films of the past 20 years. He currently owns his own film production company called Stone Circle Pictures.-Early life:... |
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| Best Music, Original Song ("Belle") | Alan Menken Alan Menken Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards... & Howard Ashman Howard Ashman Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974... |
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| Best Music, Original Song ("Be Our Guest") | Alan Menken Alan Menken Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards... & Howard Ashman Howard Ashman Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974... |
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| Best Sound | Terry Porter Terry Porter (sound engineer) Terry Porter is an American sound engineer. He was nominated for four Academy Awards in the category Best Sound. He has worked on over 170 films since 1980.-Selected filmography:* Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home... , Mel Metcalfe Mel Metcalfe Mel Metcalfe is an American sound engineer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-Selected filmography:* Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home * Beauty and the Beast * Aladdin -External links:... , David J. Hudson David J. Hudson David J. Hudson is an American sound engineer. He was nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-Selected filmography:* Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home * Beauty and the Beast * Aladdin -External links:... & Doc Kane Doc Kane Doc Kane is an American sound engineer. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards in the category Best Sound. He has worked on nearly 300 films since 1984.-Selected filmography:* Beauty and the Beast * Aladdin... |
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Golden Globes
Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to win a Golden Globe for Best Picture - Musical or Comedy. This feat was repeated by The Lion KingThe Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
and Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American computer animated film directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon. It is the sequel to the 1995 film Toy Story, released by Walt Disney Pictures and the third film to be produced by Pixar...
.
| Award | Result |
|---|---|
| Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy | |
| Best Original Score | |
| Best Original Song (For "Beauty and the Beast") | |
| Best Original Song (For "Be Our Guest") |
Grammy Awards
| Award | Result |
|---|---|
| Best Album for Children | |
| Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo With Vocal (For "Beauty and the Beast") | |
| Song of the Year (For "Beauty and the Beast") | |
| Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture | |
| Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television (For "Beauty and the Beast") | |
| Record of the Year (For "Beauty and the Beast") | |
| Best Pop Instrumental Performance (For "Beauty and the Beast") | |
| Album of the Year |
Other awards
In June 2008, the American Film InstituteAmerican Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
revealed its "Ten top Ten" lists of the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres based on polls of 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, it ranked #22 on the Institutes's list of best musicals
AFI's 100 Years of Musicals
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals is a list of the top musicals in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute at the Hollywood Bowl on September 3, 2006...
and #34 on its list of the best romantic American films
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Passions is a list of the top 100 greatest love stories in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 11, 2002, in a CBS television special hosted by American film and TV actress Candice Bergen.-The...
. On the list of the greatest songs from American films
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs is a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute June 22, 2004 in a CBS special hosted by John Travolta, who appeared in two films honored by the list, Saturday Night Fever and...
, Beauty and the Beast ranked #62.
| Award | Result |
|---|---|
| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: Most Performed Songs in a Motion Picture | |
| Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films: Best DVD Classic Film Release | |
| Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films: Best Music | |
| Annie Awards: Best Animated Feature | |
| BAFTA Awards: Best Original Film Score | |
| BAFTA Awards: Best Special Effects | |
| BMI Film and TV Awards: BMI Film Music Award | |
| DVD Exclusive Awards: Best Overall New Extra Features, Library Release | |
| DVD Exclusive Awards: Best Menu Design | |
| Hugo Awards: Best Dramatic Presentation | |
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Animated Feature | |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Animation | |
| Motion Picture Sound Editors: Best Sound Editing, Animated Feature | |
| National Board of Review: Special Award for Animation | |
| Satellite Awards: Best Youth DVD | |
| Young Artist Awards: Outstanding Family Entertainment of the Year |
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
recognition:
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - #34
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
- Belle - Nominated Hero
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
- Beauty and the Beast - #62
- Be Our Guest - Nominated
- AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - #22
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated
- AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
- #7 Animated film