Beauty and the Beast

***Beauty and the Beast*** is animated musical romantic comedy fantasy film in the Disney Animated Canon and the third film in the Disney Renaissance. 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 Barbot 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.

## Plot

In rural France, an enchantress disguised as an old beggar woman offers a selfish young prince a rose in exchange for a night's shelter from the extreme cold, as a test of his heart and emotion. When he turns her away, repulsed by her old and ugly appearance and sneering at the simple but lovely gift, she turns into an Enchantress and punishes him by transforming him into an ugly beast and turns his servants into furniture and other household items, despite his pleas for forgiveness for his behavior. She gives him a magic mirror that will enable him to view faraway events and also gives him the rose, which will bloom until his 21st 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.

Ten years later, a beautiful but unusual young woman named Belle lives in a nearby unnamed French village with her father Maurice, who is an inventor. Belle loves reading and yearns for a life beyond the village. She is also the object of frequent unwanted attention and lust from the arrogant local hero, Gaston, who wants to marry her and make her his "little wife" who will bear him handsome sons, cook the food and scrub the floors.

Maurice's latest invention is a wood-chopping machine. When he rides off to display the machine at the fair, he loses his way in the woods and after fleeing from a vicious pack of wolves, stumbles upon the Beast's castle, where he meets the transformed servants Lumiere (who was turned into a candelabra), Cogsworth (who was turned into a mantle clock), Mrs. Potts (who was turned into a teapot), her son Chip (who was turned into a teacup), and Fifi (who was turned into a feather duster). After getting used to seeing talking objects, the servants warm him by the fire, only to be found by the Beast, who is not happy to find a trespasser in his castle and frightens his servants. The Beast imprisons Maurice, but Belle is led back to the castle by Maurice's horse, Philippe, 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, so he goes to rescue her alone, but gets lost on his way back to the Beast's castle.

Meanwhile, Belle refuses the Beast's "invitation" to dinner, and the Beast orders his servants not to let her eat, but Lumiere serves her dinner anyway (in the song "Be Our Guest") and Cogsworth gives her a tour of the castle. However, she wanders off on her own and finds the West Wing, which the Beast had forbidden her to go into. She goes in anyway, discovering many broken items, including a shredded portrait of a young prince and the enchanted rose. Before she can touch it, the Beast sees her and angrily screams at her to get out.

Frightened, Belle tries to escape, but she and Philippe are attacked by wolves. Suddenly, the Beast miraculously arrives at her rescue and fends off the wolves, showing that he may have some feelings towards her. After Belle nurses his wounds, he gives her the castle library as a gift, and they become friends. Later, they have an elegant dinner and a romantic ballroom dance. However, afterwards, Belle feels lonely at missing her father. When Beast lets her use the Enchanted Mirror, she sees her father dying in the woods as he struggles to come to her rescue, and with only hours left before the rose wilts, the Beast allows her to leave, giving her the mirror to remember him by. This horrifies the servants, who fear they will never be humans again.

Belle finds Maurice and takes him home, but Gaston arrives with a lynch mob led by Monsieur D'Arque of the local insane asylum. Unless she agrees to marry Gaston, Monsieur D'Arque will lock her father up. Belle proves Maurice sane by showing them the Beast with the magic mirror, but when Belle furiously confronts Gaston after he mocks her for being in love with a "monster" by saying that he is the real monster, Gaston becomes jealous, snaps, and arouses the mob's fear of the Beast, leading them to the castle to kill him. Gaston locks Belle and Maurice in their basement, but Chip, who stowed away in Belle's luggage, chops the basement door apart with Maurice's machine, allowing Belle and Maurice to hurry back to the Beast's castle on Phillipe.

While the servants and the mob battle for control of the castle, Gaston wanders off by himself and, finding the Beast, attacks him. However, since Belle's departure, the Beast is too depressed to fight back. The Beast soon regains his will when he sees Belle arriving at the castle. After winning a heated battle, the Beast spares Gaston's life and climbs up to a balcony where Belle is waiting. Unknown to them, Gaston has secretly followed the Beast and, still consumed by his lust for Belle and jealousy of the Beast, stabs him from behind, mortally wounding the Beast, but this proves to be his downfall as he loses his balance and falls off the balcony to his death.

As Belle finds out that the Beast truly loves her as he lies on the ground, apparently dead from his injuries, she begins weeping over his loss and sadly whispers that she loves him, just as the final petal from the enchanted rose falls off, breaking the spell. Belle watches in amazement as the Beast is revived and turned back into a human. Belle studies him carefully, recognizing him as the man from the portrait in the West Wing, and seeing that he still has the same eyes, she says "It *is* you!" The two kiss, turning the servants human and transforming the castle back into its original elegance. The last scene shows Belle and the prince dancing in the ballroom as her father and the servants happily watch them, while Lumiere and Cogsworth enter a feud.

## 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 (uncredited)
* 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 Walter
* Phil Proctor as Dick
* Ron Faber as Wolves (uncredited)