Beast Got Gypped

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2009)

So in Beauty & The Beast, the Prince is offered a magic rose by a haggard old witch in return for some shelter for the night. The Prince says no and he is turned into a Beast (surprise!) as punishment for his selfish and shallow nature, and the curse will only be lifted if he can get someone to love him before the last rose petal wilts on his 21st birthday.
But lets take a closer look at this, shall we?
Right at the very end of the film, the last petal falls, and since the film only takes place over a couple of days (thanks to one of the most economical scripts I've ever seen), and the curse has been on the Prince and his servants for 10 years (as Lumiere sings in 'Be Our Guest' – "Ten years we've been rusting"), I think there is only one thing to take from all this:
The Prince was only TEN YEARS OLD when the curse was put on him!
No wonder he was scared of the "old beggar woman" who came to his castle. He's ten years old, all alone on a dark stormy night, his parents are nowhere to be found, clearly his servants are neglecting him as well as he had to answer the door himself, and he confronted with a hideous old crone. What ten year old wouldn't be scared by that?!
And then he has to find love as a beast when he wasn't even old enough to have had a chance to develop any understanding of love as a human! No wonder he's been so angry all these years.
Think about that next time you watch.