Beauty and the Beast: A Disney cartoon as old as time

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2008)

I always thought that of all the Disney cartoons, "Beauty and the Beast" took the cake for being one of the greatest Disney cartoons ever released in 1991. You see, I got a copy of this Disney cartoon on DVD as part of the Walt Disney 2-Disc Platinum Edition DVD series that showcases some of Disney's greatest animated films as it was said in some DVD booklets that came with the Disney DVDs themselves. You see, "Beauty and the Beast" is the very first Disney cartoon to use computer animation techniques, notably the backgrounds.
Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and based on the well known fairy tale, it all begins in a peaceful village, and a young girl named Belle (voiced by Paige O'Hara) takes a stroll around, and at one point when she reads a book by a fountain, one of the sheep tears off a page and eats it. Later on, Belle's father, Maurice (voiced by Rex Everhart), shows her his latest invention that he will take it to a local fair. When he gets lost in the middle of the woods, Maurice escapes from a pack of wolves and ran into a castle complete with gargoyle statues and everything else.
When Maurice says "Hello? Hello? Is someone there?", he gets welcomed by a candelabrum named Lumiere (voiced by Jerry Orbach), a clock named Cogsworth (voiced by David Ogden Stiers), a teapot named Mrs. Potts (voiced by Angela Lansbury), and a teacup named Chip (voiced by Bradley Pierce). But just as Maurice was about to settle down for a cup of tea, he gets imprisoned by a hideous Beast (voiced by Hal Smith), who happens to be a handsome Prince (voiced by Robby Benson) under a magical curse, and a spoiled, selfish, and unkind one too. The result: many years ago of a winter's night, an old woman came to the castle's entrance and offers Prince a rose, but Prince refuses and tells her to go away. The old woman then changed herself into a fairy, tells Prince that he had no love in his heart, and turns him into the monster of the same name. It's up to Belle to make Beast learn the true meaning of love just by angering him at a couple points, and such.
Meanwhile, back at the village, Belle's macho fiancé, Gaston (voiced by Richard White), who is that much of a game hunter, makes several attempts to make Belle his wife, and thinks Maurice is a "crazy old man" when Maurice shouts, "He's got her locked in a dungeon! A Beast! A horrible monstrous Beast!" And that's not all. In just a couple moments later, towards the end of this Disney cartoon, Gaston wants to kill Beast, and have his head mounted on his wall...
The supporting characters in there also include Philippe the Horse (also voiced by Hal Smith), Gaston's goofy looking sidekick, Lefou (voiced by Jesse Corti), a Wardrobe (voiced by Jo Anne Worley), and Monsieur D'Arque (voiced by Tony Jay). In "Beauty and the Beast", the characters can be distinguishing just by judging by their personalities as well as their habits. For instance, Beast is a powerful character much like Stromboli from another Disney cartoon, "Pinocchio", and Monsieur D'Arque is much like Coachman from "Pinocchio" as well.
The songs wrote by composer Alan Menken are very catchy, including "Be Our Guest", "Gaston", "The Mob Song", "Human Again", and the most memorable, "Beauty and the Beast". Everybody loves this Disney cartoon's humorous moments (Wardrobe landing on a villager for example, and a couple others to name a few), as well as touching scenes (at one point, for instance, before turning back into Prince's old self, Beast dies in Belle's arms before the last petal of the enchanted rose falls off) for many years to come just like the other Disney cartoons did.
By the way. In the Disney cartoon/video game "Kingdom Hearts" series, Belle, Beast (now voiced by Robby Benson since "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas" and "Belle's Magical World", even with a little help of some equipment and devices that they used in the 1996 film "Ransom" which starred Mel Gibson), Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, Wardrobe, and Prince (appearing at the "Kingdom Hearts II" end credits) cope with Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy as Sora, Donald, and Goofy battle the Heartless, Nobodies, and the Orginization 13.