Beauty
And The Beast is widely considered the best animated Disney feature of the
studio's 1980s/1990s renewal of the form. Based on the classic French fairy
tale, it tells the story of Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara), an intelligent
young woman scorned by her townspeople for being a bookworm, weary of
fighting off the advances of the arrogant Gaston (Richard White), and
dreaming of escape. When her father gets lost in the woods and captured by
the forbidding Beast (Robby Benson), a once-handsome prince turned into a
monster by a witch, Belle goes off to rescue him. Taken with her, the Beast
agrees to release Belle's father if she agrees to stay with him forever.
Initially repulsed, Belle soon finds much to appreciate in the Beast's
hidden, tender nature. The Beast's servants — a clock (David Ogden Stiers),
a teapot (Angela Lansbury), and a candlestick (Jerry Orbach) — see Belle as
their salvation: if the Beast and a woman fall in love before his 21st
birthday, he will be free from the curse. The songs are first-class, the
tale is told with sincerity but not sentimentality, and the characters of
Belle and the Beast, complex individuals who defy stereotyping and change
over the course of the story, are more three-dimensional than in most
live-action movies. The eye-popping animation is beautifully rendered, and
Beauty And The Beast certainly deserves its place amongst Disney's animated
classics. In 2002, a special 89-minute edition of the film was released in
IMAX theaters with the addition of a newly animated song, "Human Again."| Paige O'Hara | Belle [Voice] |
| Robby Benson | Beast [Voice] |
| Jerry Orbach | Lumiere [Voice] |
| Angela Lansbury | Mrs. Potts [Voice] |
| Richard White | Gaston [Voice] |
| David Ogden Stiers | Cogsworth/Narrator |
| Jesse Corti | Le Fou |
| Rex Everhart | Maurice |
| Bradley Pierce | Chip [Voice] |
| Jo Ann Worley | Wardrobe [Voice] |
| Kimmy Robertson | Featherduster [Voice] |
| Albert Tavares | |
| Vanna Bonta | |
| Frank Welker | Footstool [Voice] |
| Mary Kay Bergman | Bimbette [Voice] |
| Alec Murphy | Baker |
| Alvin Epstein | Bookseller [Voice] |
| Tony Jay | Monsieur D'Arque [Voice] |
| Kath Soucie | Bimbette |
| Brian Cummings | Stove |
| Hal Smith | Philippe [Voice] |
Genre/Type - Children's/Family, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Animated Musical, Musical Fantasy, Children's Fantasy
Produced by - Buena Vista / Silver Screen Partners IV / Walt Disney Productions
Release - Nov 13, 1991 (USA) / Jan 1, 2002 (USA- IMAX)
Running time - 84 min.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise)
Alenkiy Tsvetochek (1952, Lev Atamanov)
The Lion King (1994, Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff)
Stories From My Childhood Vol. 4 (1999)
Shrek (2001, Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson)
Beauty and the Beast (1976, Fielder Cook)
Cinderella (1950, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949, James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney)
is followed by: Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1998)