Beauty and the Beast

***Beauty and the Beast*** is a Disney animated film featured on ABC's *Once Upon a Time*. It was written by Linda Woolverton, and directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. It was released on November 22, 1991.

*Beauty and the Beast* is based on "Beauty and the Beast", a fairytale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve

## Plot

In France, an enchantress—disguised as an old beggar—offers a prince a rose in exchange for shelter in his castle from the cold, but the prince arrogantly refuses. In response, the enchantress transforms him into a beast and his servants into household items. She gives him a magic mirror that enables him to view faraway events, along with the enchanted rose that she had offered. To break the curse, the prince must learn to love another and earn her love in return before the rose's last petal falls. If he fails, he will remain a beast forever.

Ten years later, a young bookworm named Belle is bored of her village and seeks excitement. Because of her nonconformist ideals, she is ridiculed by everyone but her father Maurice and an arrogant, muscular hunter named Gaston. Despite other women flirting with him and many men admiring him, he is determined to marry Belle. She repeatedly rejects his advances.

Maurice and his horse Phillipe get lost in the forest while traveling to a fair to present his wood-chopping machine. After being chased by a pack of wolves, he comes across the Beast's castle. Inside, he meets Lumière the candlestick, Cogsworth the clock, Mrs. Potts the teapot, and her son Chip the teacup. However, the Beast quickly discovers and detains Maurice. After Phillipe leads Belle to the Beast's castle, she offers to take her father's place. The Beast accepts the offer despite Maurice's objections. While Gaston sulks over Belle's rejection, Maurice returns to town and is unable to convince the others to save Belle from the Beast.

The Beast angrily refuses to let Belle have any dinner that night after she refuses to dine with him. Despite this, Lumière offers her a meal. While he and Cogsworth also give her a tour of the castle, she wanders into the forbidden West Wing. The beast accidentally chases her into the forests by frightening her out of anger and she encounters the pack of wolves. After the Beast is injured while fending them off, Belle thanks him for saving her life. He begins to develop feelings for her while she nurses his wounds and he delights her by showing his extensive library. While the two begin to bond, Gaston pays Monsieur d'Arque to send Maurice to the town's insane asylum if Belle refuses Gaston's proposal again.

While sharing a romantic evening together, Belle tells the Beast she misses her father. He lets her use his magic mirror to see him. She sees Maurice dying in the woods trying to rescue her. The Beast lets her go out to save him and he gives her the mirror to remember him by. She finds Maurice and brings him home. As Gaston is about to bring Maurice to the insane asylum, Belle proves Maurice's sanity by showing the Beast with the magic mirror. Realizing Belle loves the Beast, Gaston convinces the band of villagers that the Beast is a man-eating monster and leads them to the castle to kill him. He confines Belle and Maurice to their basement.

Having stowed away into Belle's baggage, Chip manages to free them. Gaston confronts the beast while the servants fend off the villagers. The Beast initially is too depressed to fight back, though perks up after seeing Belle return to the castle. He battles and defeats Gaston in battle on the rooftops, though spares his life by ordering him to leave. When the Beast reunites with Belle, Gaston stabs him, only to lose his footing and die. Belle professes her love for the Beast, who dies before the last rose petal falls. With the spell broken, the Beast is revived into his human form, and each of his servants also resumes their human form. Belle dances with him in the ballroom.

## Show Adaptation

* The beast, Rumplestiltskin, is cursed into his hideous form after gaining dark powers from a dagger and becoming immortal.
* When she meets Rumplestiltskin, Belle is already engaged to Gaston.
* Belle is a bookworm like in the film, which she got from her late mother, Colette.
* Maurice is a nobleman who has his own castle, instead of being an eccentric inventor.
* Belle agrees to become Rumplestiltskin's housemaid in exchange for her family's protection from the ogres.
* Presumably, Gaston dies after being turned into a rose by Rumplestiltskin, and then having his flower stem cut by an oblivious Belle.
* Belle tries to give Rumplestiltskin a kiss of true love in order to break his curse and revert him to human, but he rejects her out of fear of losing his powers.
* Lumiere wasn't cursed by an enchantress, but by the Wicked Witch of the West.

## Characters Featured

* The Beast
* Belle
* Gaston
* Lumiere
* Maurice