Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)

Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 romantic musical fantasy animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. It is the 30th film in the Disney Animated Canon. The film is based on the fairy tale La Belle et la Bête by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (which was based on a more detailed story of the same name and plot, written by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve), and uses some ideas from the 1946 film of the same name. The film tells the story of 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 learn to love Belle and win her love in return before the last petal falls from an Enchanted Rose, or he will remain a beast forever.
The film's screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton, from a 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. The film was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise and produced by Don Hahn. The music was composed by Alan Menken and the lyrics for the film were written by Howard Ashman (also an executive producer), both of whom had written the music and songs for The Little Mermaid.
Beauty and the Beast was released on November 13, 1991. The film was met with universal acclaim from both critics and audiences, and was a significant commercial success, earning over $424 million at the global box office. Beauty and the Beast was also nominated for several awards and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, the first animated movie to do so. Similarly, Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and would hold this distinction until 2010, when the Academy Awards nominated the Pixar film Up. Beauty and the Beast received five other nominations including Best Original Score (which it won), Best Sound, and three Best Original Song nominations, winning one for the song "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 that the film would return to theaters for a limited time in 3-D on January 13, 2012. On March 17, 2017, a live-action re-imagining was released.http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/06/04/bill-condon-live-action-beauty-and-the-beast/http://variety.com/2014/film/news/bill-condon-beauty-and-the-beast-disney-1201151834/
In 2002, the film was chosen for preservation by the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". https://www.loc.gov/item/event-395317/beauty-and-the-beast/2019-07-18/
Today, Beauty and the Beast is widely considered to be one of Disney's best films, as well as one of the greatest animated films of all time. It was the third film in what is known by fans as the "Disney Renaissance", a period of critical success for the company.
==Plot==
As told through stained-glass windows, a cruel and selfish young prince lived in a shining castle in the middle of a forest. One cold winter's night, he is visited by an old beggar woman who offers him a rose in exchange for shelter. Disgusted by the woman's haggard appearance, the prince instead rejects the rose and turns her away, despite her warning him not to judge people by appearances, since beauty is found within. After the prince blows her off again, the woman reveals herself to be a beautiful and powerful enchantress. The prince attempts to apologize, but it is too late to do so, because she had already found out that he had no love inside him. As punishment for his actions, she transforms the prince into a horrible beast and casts a spell on his castle and his servants, whilst the rose she has offered him is revealed to be an enchanted rose that will bloom until his 21st birthday. The enchantress tells the Beast that the can be broken, but only if he learns to love another and have that person love him back before the last petal on the rose has fallen; if not, then he will remain a beast for life. As the years go by, he falls into despair and loses all hope, believing that no one can ever love him as he is.
A decade later, in a small town, a beautiful bookworm girl named Belle is seen as strange by the townsfolk. The popular town hunter, Gaston lusts after her, but Belle tries to avoid him because of his arrogance. Belle's father, Maurice is also an outcast among the townsfolk due to his erratic inventions. With encouragement from Belle, he completes his latest project: a log-chopping machine. Maurice then heads to the fair with the family's horse, Phillipe, but ends up getting lost in a dark forest and loses Phillipe. After getting chased by wolves, Maurice stumbles upon the Beast's castle, which had become a terrifying fortress due to the Enchantress' spell, where he is greeted by the castle's servants, who have all been transformed into anthropomorphic household objects: Cogsworth, the uptight butler who became a mantle grandfather clock; Lumiere, a kind-hearted maître d' who became a candelabra; Mrs. Potts, the housekeeper who became a teapot, and her son Chip and his siblings, now teacups, along with a whole bunch of others. With the exception of Cogsworth, the enchanted servants attempt to provide hospitality to Maurice, but the Beast arrives and finds Maurice, and locks him up in the tower dungeon for trespassing into his castle.
Determined to marry Belle, Gaston arranges an entire wedding right outside her house, foolishly expecting her to accept out of the blue. Gaston then enters and proposes but Belle, feeling speechless and uncomfortable by the way Gaston describes how they would be spending the rest of their lives together, turns him down, resulting in Gaston falling into a giant mud pond, leaving him furious and humiliated. After Gaston leaves, Belle furiously berates Gaston to the animals for his ludicrous proposal as well as his boorish and brainless attitude and attends to her animals determined to not be his wife, she then runs up to the hill she wishes deep down for she wants an adventure and if there is someone else out there who shares her wish. Seconds later, Philippe returns without Maurice, making Belle worried for her father. They then arrive at the castle, and upon noticing her, Lumiere realizes that she could be the one to fall in love with the Beast and break the spell. He and Cogsworth lead her to the dungeon where she finds her imprisoned father, who has become sick. The Beast discovers her and, despite her pleas, refuses to release Maurice. Desperate, she offers to take his place as the Beast's prisoner, which surprises him. He then shows her his monstrous form, which frightens her, but she agrees nonetheless. The Beast then frees Maurice, but sends him back to the village without letting Belle say her farewell. By Lumiere's suggestion, the Beast allows Belle to live in a proper room and have free roam in the castle except the West Wing, and orders her to join him for dinner later on, leaving her in a depressed state.
Back at the village, Gaston is still reeling from Belle's rejection at the tavern, but his spirits are lifted when his lackey, LeFou, and the townspeople sing about how no man measures up to him. Just then, Maurice bursts in and frantically seeks assistance to save his daughter from the Beast at the castle, but it earns him nothing more than ridicule and rejection by the townsfolk, who simply dismiss him as "crazy old Maurice". This, in turn, gives Gaston a new idea to get Belle to marry her. Meanwhile, Belle meets with Mrs. Potts, Chip and the Wardrobe, who attempt to lift her spirit, while the Beast impatiently waits for Belle in the Dining Hall and receives advice for courting her from his servants. However, he learns from Cogsworth that she refuses to come, causing him to lose his temper. After failing to calmly convince her, he angrily declares that she is forbidden from eating unless she agrees to eat with him. He then returns to his room and uses his magic mirror to see that she wants nothing to do with him, driving him further into despair.
Belle curiously decides to explore around the castle where she meets the servants and at her request, they give her some dinner despite the master's orders against it. Lumiere and Cogsworth try to stop Belle from going into the West Wing but she gives them the slip. She soon enters the West Wing, which is the one section of the castle the master ordered her to stay away from, and she happens upon the enchanted rose. But before she touches it, the master arrives and frightens her out of the West Wing and the castle. Belle tries to escape to the forest, but she is confronted by a pack of wolves (who earlier tried to kill Maurice). Before she is eaten by them, however, the master intervenes and saves her, but is wounded by the wolves in the process. She returns with him to the castle where their relationship begins to slowly improve as Belle thanks the master for saving her and he says "You're welcome." Meanwhile, inspired by Maurice's 'crazy' story about the Beast, Gaston conspires to blackmail Belle into marrying him by bribing the head warden of the local insane asylum, Monsieur D'Arque, to incarcerate Maurice unless she concurs. When they go to Belle and her father's cottage, they find it empty as Maurice just left before they arrive to find the castle and bring Belle home again, so Gaston forces LeFou to stay at the house until they return. The master, (seeing Belle spending time with Philippe and the dog), who has something change inside of him and something has bloomed, begins acting more selfless, even wanting to do something for Belle to thank her, but he didn't know what. Then Cogsworth has three ideas up his gears such as flowers, chocolates, and promises that no one attempted to keep but Lumiere says it has to be special and something that sparks Belle's interest and he has an idea up his candle wax: Lumiere has remembered that he and Cogsworth tried to show the library last night and it gives the master the idea by giving Belle access to a library where she can read all of the books she wants.
One evening, after sharing a romantic dinner and dance in the castle ballroom, the master lets Belle use a magic mirror to see her father and discover that he's lost in the woods. Seeing her worried, the master decides to let Belle leave the castle to save her father. The servants are horrified when Cogsworth tells them this news, fearing that their one chance to be human again has been squandered. When Belle gets Maurice back home, they soon find that Chip has stowed away into Belle's bag. They are soon interrupted by the villagers, led by Gaston, who arrived to send Maurice to the asylum. After rejecting Gaston again, Belle proves that her father is telling the truth by showing everyone the Beast with the magic mirror, which the master let take with her. Seeing that Belle has feelings for the Beast, Gaston becomes jealous, snaps, and twists the truth that the master is a monstrous creature and convinces the villagers to attack him, and they lock Belle and Maurice in the cottage den to prevent their interference. Luckily, Belle and Maurice are soon freed by Chip, who uses Maurice's invention that he was going to take to the fair earlier.
At the castle, the servants discover the mob trying to storm the castle and soon get the jump on them except Gaston when they break open the castle doors. While Cogsworth and Lumiere led the servants to save the castle by battling and chasing off the entire townsfolk, Gaston soon finds the depressed Beast in the West Wing. They have a battle outside in the rain, where Gaston taunts the master for his feelings to Belle. When the master sees Belle return to the castle, he finds the strength to defend himself against Gaston. The Beast overpowers Gaston and threatens to drop his evil enemy off the rooftops, but he becomes merciful and tells him to get out. As the Beast attempts to reunite with Belle, Gaston stabs the master in the back, but he ends up losing his footing and topples from the balcony to his doom below. The master dies in Belle's arms as she tearfully proclaims her love for him. This causes the spell to finally be lifted and revive the master and return him and all of his servants to their human selves. Belle and a now human Beast (called Prince Adam) have a dance in celebration of the event with everyone watching while Lumiere and Cogsworth argue with each other.
==Cast==
===Principal/Secondary Cast===
*Paige O'Hara as Belle
*Robby Benson as Beast
*Richard White as Gaston
*Jerry Orbach as Lumiere
*Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts
*David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth/Narrator
*Bradley Michael Pierce as Chip
*Jesse Corti as LeFou
*Rex Everhart as Maurice
*Hal Smith as Philippe
*Jo Anne Worley as Wardrobe
*Kimmy Robertson as Fifi
*Frank Welker as Footstool, aka Sultan, Wolves
*Mary Kay Bergman and Kath Soucie as the Bimbettes
*Tony Jay as Monsieur D'Arque
*Jack Angel as Tavern Man, Tom
*Alec Murphy as Baker
*Bill Farmer as Stanley
*Alix Korey as Singer
*Mickie McGowan as French Peasant Woman
*Patrick Pinney as Gramps
*Phil Proctor as Dick
===Additional Voices===
*Bruce Adler
*Scott Barnes
*Vanna Bonta
*Maureen Brennan
*Liz Callaway
*Philip Clarke
*Margery Daley
*Jennifer Darling
*Albert de Ruiter
*George Dvorsky
*Bruce Fifer
*Johnson Flucker
*Larry Hansen
*Randy Hansen
*Mary Ann Hart
*Phyllis Kubey
*Hearndon Lackey
*Sherry Lynn
*Larry Moss
*Panchali Null
*Wilbur Pauley
*Jennifer Perito
*Caroline Peyton
*Cynthia Richards-Hewes
*Stephani Ryan
*Gordon Stanley
*Stephen Sturk
==Development==
The story was originally going to have a vastly different beginning that was closer to the original tale, where Maurice was originally a wealthy merchant who had had five children, Belle being the youngest. Belle has two older sisters, both of whom were spoiled and two older brothers who were adventure seekers. Originally living in a manor, Maurice got news that three ships which he had invested everything all suffered bad fates, with two being sunk and the third being lost at sea. The news is delivered on a stormy night; immediately afterwards the manor is hit by a lightning bolt which burns it down. Maurice's family is forced to move to a cottage which originally he was a landlord for.
===Casting and Recording===
For the role of Belle, Disney was originally intended to have Jodi Benson, who had voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid, until they decided to assign Paige O'Hara in favor of having a heroine sound "more like a woman than a girl". Co-director Kirk Wise recalled that O'Hara was given the role because she "had a unique quality, a tone she would hit that made her special", a reference to that of Judy Garland. Several actors were considered to voice the Beast, until Robby Benson was chosen to voice the Beast. Many actors were considered for the role of Cogsworth, including John Cleese, before David Ogden Stiers was eventually cast for his first film role at Disney.https://www.thewrap.com/beauty-and-the-beast-25-anniversary-20-facts-you-didnt-know/ Originally, Stiers also auditioned for Lumiere until the role was given to Jerry Orbach.https://www.thedisneyclassics.com/blog/beauty-and-the-beast-castle-staff Julie Andrews, who had portrayed Mary Poppins, was originally considered for the role of Mrs. Potts until this role was given to Angela Lansbury.
===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, California. 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 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 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 an easier combination of hand-drawn art with computer-generated imagery, which before had to be plotted to animation cells and painted traditionally. The latter 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.
==Music==
Ashman and Menken wrote the songs during the pre-production process in Fishkill, the opening operetta-styled "Belle" being their first composition for the film. Other songs included "Be Our Guest", sung to Maurice by the objects when he becomes the first visitor to 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 climatic "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 songs were recorded live with the orchestra and the voice cast in the room 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 from his HIV positive diagnosis 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.
In the Special Edition DVD release, the second disc contained Jump 5's music video for Beauty and the Beast. The newly-released Diamond Edition contains Jordin Sparks' version of the song.
==Reception==
Upon the theatrical release of the finished version, the film was universally praised, with Roger Ebert 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." 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 94% approval rating averaged from 108 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, the 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.
==Releases==
===Special/Platinum Edition===
Beauty and the Beast 2-Disc Special Edition (Platinum Edition) DVD was released on October 8, 2002. It was Fully Restored and Remastered with an All-New Remixed Soundtrack. The special edition includes a deleted song called "Human Again". The Special Edition DVD went to the Disney Vault (out-of-print) on January 31, 2003, along with its sequel (Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas). On October 5, 2010, Beauty and the Beast was released on Disney Blu-ray and again in Disney Digital 3-D.
===Diamond Edition===
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. The bonus material contains never-before-seen art, making of video, and interviews along with new games activities. A two-disc DVD edition was released on November 23, 2010. It was also announced that Disney would release 3D Blu-ray in October 2011.
===Signature Edition===
A 25th Anniversary Edition of the film was released on Digital HD on September 6, 2016, and on Blu-ray/DVD on September 20, 2016. It was later released in 4K Ultra HD on March 10, 2020.
==Videos==
Beauty and the Beast - Sneak Peek -1 (May 3, 1991)|1991 Sneak Peek Trailer
Beauty and the Beast - Original Release Trailer (1991)-2|1991 Original Theatrical Trailer
Beauty and the Beast - 1st IMAX Trailer (2001)-2|2001 IMAX Theater Trailer
Beauty and the Beast - 2002 Platinum Edition DVD-VHS Trailer -1|2002 Platinum Edition Trailer 1
Beauty and the Beast - 2002 Platinum Edition DVD-VHS Trailer -2|2002 Platinum Edition Trailer 2
Beauty and the Beast - 2002 Platinum Edition DVD-VHS Trailer -3|2002 Platinum Edition Trailer 3
'Beauty and the Beast' - Diamond Edition Blu-Ray Trailer-2|2010 Diamond Edition Trailer
===Signature Edition Videos===
Beauty and the Beast 25th Anniversary Edition
Beauty and the Beast Original Release Trailer
Beauty and the Beast Original Music Video
Beauty and The Beast Be Our Guest Oke
Beauty And The Beast Gaston Sing Along
Beauty and the Beast The Recording Sessions
Beauty and the Beast The Missing Link
Beauty and the Beast Be Our Guest Kids Post 15 TV Spot
Beauty and the Beast Be Our Guest Kids Post 30 TV Spot
Beauty and the Beast Music Medley 15 Post TV Spot
Beauty and the Beast Celebrate Bonus Adult Post 30
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*It is the first Disney animated film to have a pop version of the main song performed during the end credits.
*Production for the film began as far back as when Walt Disney was still alive, for years the company had wanted to tell the story but because there was always a missing element in the story, the film was put back on the shelf until this version came to be.
*Originally, when plotting with Monsieur D'Arque to blackmail Belle, Gaston and LeFou were going to actually visit the Asylum, and its interior would have been seen. This scene was cut from the film as it would have been much too disturbing for a Disney movie, especially with the insane laughing and yelling from the patients.
*Originally, Beast was to have brought back a deer he had killed in the forest to the castle and eat it in an animalistic manner, but it was cut because it would have resulted in the audience viewing him with disgust, and not with the intended sympathy. Nonetheless, the Beast hunting for his food in a more animalistic manner is still implied in the film with the presence of a rotting ribcage being seen briefly in the West Wing.
*In previous drafts, Belle was intended to meet with some servants in the Beast's Library shortly after being given it by the Beast, although it was cut for time constraints.
*Originally, Gaston was going to stab the Beast a second time before Beast knocked him off, though it was cut to tone down violence. In addition, one of the earliest renditions of the scene had him ready to shoot the Beast with his blunderbuss, only for Belle to stop him by whacking him in the head with a slab. This would cause Gaston to lose his footing and fall of a cliff. Upon landing, he would have survived with only a broken leg, only to be mauled to death by the same wolves Belle and Maurice encountered.
*The theatrical version only has the song "Beauty and the Beast" at the end credits. The IMAX and Special Edition versions have the song and the unused score "Death of the Beast" due to having longer credits involving the addition of "Human Again".
*In the stained-glass image at the beginning of Beauty and the Beast it looks as though the prince has two pedigree looking dogs; one white and one brown. But throughout the movie, there is one dog depicted and when returned to its true form it looks more like a mutt, that is Sultan.
*Beauty and the Beast is the first Disney animated classic (other than 101 Dalmatians, The Lion King, and the first two Toy Story films) to feature the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures logo and the Walt Disney Animation Studios logo at the beginning of the film on current releases.
*There was originally talk of a sequel, where Gaston had a younger brother, named "Avenant" (named as a nod to Belle's unwanted suitor from French poet and filmmaker 's 1946 adaptation of Beauty and the Beast), who would seek revenge for his brother's demise (and establish himself as superior to Gaston (their late-father's favorite), and finally stepping out of his shadow, once and for all); this idea was, instead, recycled for the sequel to the The Little Mermaid, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, with Morgana, sister to the late Ursula, claiming to be seeking revenge for Ursula's death, but really wanting to succeed where Ursula (their mother's favorite daughter), had failed.
*Before David Ogden Stiers was chosen for the role of Cogsworth, John Cleese, along with several actors, was originally intended to voice Cogsworth, but actually turned down the role to voice Cat R Waul in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (which was released the same day as this film).
*The animation at the end of Belle and the Prince dancing was actually reused animation of Aurora and Prince Phillip dancing at the end of Sleeping Beauty. This was done because it was near the end of production, and they had already gone over budget.
*This is the first Disney animated film to have a separate Spanish dub for Spain since their previous films released in said country used the Latin American dubbings. It was also the first film to not have a separate French dub in Canada since Disney had begun doing so, due to its explicitly French setting.
*According to Linda Woolverton, Beauty and the Beast's themes acted as the inspiration for the 2014 Maleficent film.
*The village was inspired by Alsace, France.
*This is the second Disney Princess film to briefly show blood after Sleeping Beauty.
*This is the first Disney Princess film to have a male main antagonist which is Gaston.
*This is the first Disney Princess film to have guns.
*This is the first Disney Princess film that doesn't have full opening credits.
*This is the last Disney Princess film to be released during the time of the Cold War, which was a geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, which started in 1947 and lasted to 1991, the year it was released.
*Similarly to The Little Mermaid, the film was intended to be shown in a 1.85:1 ratio but was produced in an open matte 1.66:1 aspect ratio in order to be shown in European theaters, which normally used 1:66:1 screens at the time. As the producers preferred the 1.85:1 ratio, it is used on the Platinum Edition DVD, though the compromise ratio of 1.78:1 was used for the Diamond Edition onwards.
*This is the only CAPS-produced film where the colours dramatically differ between releases, which has caused controversy. This is ultimately because this film was the first time the system was used, before Disney perfected the technique of transferring from the CAPS data to film stock, and most likely unintentional.
==Goofs==
*During the song "Belle", Belle opens a door to a building, and when she exits the building, the door is closed, despite her not closing the door.
*When LeFou and two of Gaston's buddies are chasing Sultan, LeFou's left foot is bare as Sultan had stolen his left shoe and is running off with it, but when the three enter the kitchen, LeFou is wearing his left shoe again even though Sultan is still holding it.
==References==
==External links==
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ar:الجميلة والوحش (فيلم ١٩٩١)
da:Skønheden og udyret
de:Die Schöne und das Biest (1991)
es:La Bella y la Bestia
fr:La Belle et la Bête (film, 1991)
hr:Ljepotica i zvijer (1991.)
it:La bella e la bestia (film 1991)
ja:美女と野獣 (1991年の映画)
nl:Belle en het Beest
no:Skjønnheten og udyret
pl:Piękna i Bestia (film 1991)
pt-br:A Bela e a Fera
ru:Красавица и Чудовище (мультфильм)
sv:Skönheten och Odjuret
tr:Güzel ve Çirkin
zh:美女與野獸（1991年电影）
Category:Films based on books
 
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Category:Disney Princess films
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Category:Films based on fairy tales