What if Don Bluth stayed at Disney?/Beauty and the Beast

***Beauty and the Beast*** is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Amblin Entertaiment, released by Walt Disney Pictures, produced by Don Hahn, and directed by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (in the latter two's directorial debut). The 38th Disney animated feature film and the sixth released during the Disney Renaissance period, it is based on the 1756 French fairy tale of the same name by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (who was only credited in the French dub), and ideas from the 1946 French film of the same name directed by Jean Cocteau. *Beauty and the Beast* focuses on the relationship between the Beast (voice of Robby Benson), a prince who is magically transformed into a monster and his servants into household objects as punishment for his arrogance, and Belle (voice of Paige O'Hara), a young woman whom he imprisons in his castle. To break the curse, the Beast must learn to love Belle and earn her love in return before the last petal falls from an enchanted rose or else the Beast will remain a monster forever. The film also features the voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, and Angela Lansbury.

Walt Disney first attempted to adapt *Beauty and the Beast* into an animated film during the 1930s and 1950s, but was unsuccessful. In 1987, following the success of *An American Tale* (1986) and during the production of *The Little Mermaid* (1989), Walt Disney Pictures decided to adapt the fairy tale, which Richard Purdum originally conceived as a non-musical. Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg eventually dismissed Purdum's idea and ordered that the film be a musical similar to *An American Tale* and *The Little Mermaid* instead. The film's screenplay was written by Linda Woolverton and the story was supervised by Roger Allers. Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote the film's songs. Ashman, who additionally served as the film's executive producer along with Steven Spielberg, died of AIDS-related complications six months before the film's release, and the film is thus dedicated to his memory.

*Beauty and the Beast* premiered as an unfinished film at the New York Film Festival on September 29, 1991, followed by its theatrical release as a completed film at the El Capitan Theatre on November 13. The film grossed $331 million at the box office worldwide on a $25 million budget and received widespread critical acclaim for its romantic narrative, animation (particularly the ballroom scene), characters and musical numbers. *Beauty and the Beast* won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the first animated film to ever win that category. It also became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for its title song and received additional nominations for Best Original Song and Best Sound. In April 1994, *Beauty and the Beast* became Disney's first animated film to be adapted into a Broadway musical, which ran until 2007.

An IMAX version of the film was released in 2002, and included "Human Again", a new five-minute musical sequence that had been cut from the film prior to its release, but was included in the 1994 musical. That same year, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". After the success of the 3D re-releases of *The Nightmare Before Christmas*, *Tom Sawyer*, *The Swan Princess* and *The Lion King*, the film was reissued in 3D in 2012. In 2014, *Time* magazine ranked *Beauty and the Beast* as the greatest film of the Disney Renaissance and one of the greatest animated movies of all time.

Other derived works and material inspired by the film include a 2017 live-action remake of the film directed by Bill Condon, which was released on March 17, 2017, and a 2022 musical presentation of the film on ABC as part of *The Wonderful World of Disney*.

## Plot

In the prologue, as told through stain-glass windows, a selfish French prince is visited by an old beggar woman who offers to give him a rose if he provides her with shelter, but the prince refused on account of her hideous appearance and also blows her off again when she warns him not to judge people by looks. The woman is revealed to be a magical enchantress who curses the prince by turning him into a hideous-looking beast and also curses his castle and its inhabitants. The rose is revealed to be enchanted and it will bloom until his 21st birthday and wilt away, which will cement the transformation unless the Beast finds some woman to love and earn her love in return.

A decade later, in a small town, a beautiful bookworm woman named Belle is seen as strange by the townsfolks. Local town hunter Gaston lusts after her, but Belle tries to avoid him because of his arrogance. Belle's dad, Maurice is also an outcast among the townsfolk due to his erratic inventions. When Maurice leaves to go to a fair, he ends up getting lost and stumbles upon the Beast's castle where he is greeted by the castle employees who have transformed into anthropomorphic household objects: Cogsworth, the uptight butler who ended up being cursed as a mantle clock; Lumiere, a kind-hearted maître d' who ended up becoming a candelabra; Mrs. Potts, the housekeeper who was changed into a teapot, her son Chip and his brothers, now teacups, along with a whole bunch of others. With the exception of Cogsworth, the enchanted servants provide hospitality to Maurice, but the Beast comes to lock him up in the dungeon for trespassing into his castle.

After Belle turns down Gaston's marriage proposal (made ludicrous by the fact that he organized a wedding just outside her house, foolishly expecting her to accept out of the blue), Maurice's horse comes back and takes Belle to the castle where she soon finds Maurice in the dungeon, but she soon meets the Beast. In exchange for her dad's freedom, Belle offers to be the Beast's prisoner in his stead. The Beast agrees and lets Maurice go and he and his servants plan to make Belle try to fall for him in order to revoke the curse, which is hampered when the Beast's nasty temper makes Belle spurn coming to dinner with him. Back at the village at Gaston's tavern, Gaston is still reeling from Belle's rejection, but his spirits are lifted when his friend, LeFou and the townspeople sing about how no man measures up to him. Maurice bursts in and frantically seeks assistance to save Belle from the Beast at the castle, which earns him nothing more than ridicule and rejection by the townsfolk, who simply dismiss him as "Crazy old Maurice".

Belle curiously decides to explore around the castle where she meets the servants and at her request, they give her some dinner despite the Beast's orders against it. She soon enters the West Wing, which is the one section of the castle the Beast ordered her not to, and she happens upon the enchanted rose. But before she touches it, the Beast arrives and frightens her out of the West Wing and out of 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 Beast 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 the Beast begins acting more selfless, even giving Belle access to a library where she can read all of the books she wants.

Meanwhile, inspired by Maurice's 'crazy' story about the Beast, Gaston bribes the head warden of the local insane asylum, Monsieur D'Arque, to incarcerate Maurice unless Belle concurs to wed him. When they go to Belle's cottage, they find it empty as Maurice just left before they arrive, so he forces LeFou to stay at the house until they return.

After sharing a romantic dance, the Beast lets Belle use a magic mirror to see her father and discover that he's lost in the woods. Seeing her worried, the Beast 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 was 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 Beast let her take with her. Seeing that Belle has feelings for the Beast, a jealous Gaston twists the truth that the Beast is a monstrous creature and convinces the villagers to attack him, and they lock Belle and Maurice in the cottage den to prevent them from interfering. 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 when they break open the castle doors. During the battle, Gaston abandons LeFou, who then sides with the servants to chase off the entire townsfolk. Meanwhile, Gaston soon finds the depressed Beast in the West Wing. They have a fight outside in the rain, where Gaston taunts the Beast for his feelings to Belle. When he sees Belle has returned to the castle, he finds the strength to defend himself and threatens to drop Gaston off the rooftops, but he becomes merciful and relents. As the Beast attempts to reunite with Belle, Gaston stabs Beast in the back, but this causes him to topples from the balcony to his death.

The Beast dies in Belle's arms before the last petal falls. Belle tearfully professes her love to the Beast, and the spell is undone, reviving the Beast and restoring his human form along with all his servants and his castle. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily.

## Voice cast

* Paige O'Hara as Belle – A bibliophilic young woman who seeks adventure, and offers her own freedom to the Beast in return for her father's. In an effort to "enhance" the character from the original story, the filmmakers felt that Belle should be "unaware" of her own beauty and made her "a little odd". Wise recalls casting O'Hara because of a "unique tone" she had, "a little bit of Judy Garland", after whose appearance Belle was modeled. James Baxter and Mark Henn served as the supervising animators for Belle.
* Robby Benson as the Beast – A young prince who is transformed into a talking beast by an enchantress as punishment for his arrogance and selfishness. The animators drew him with the head structure and horns of an American bison; the arms and body of a bear; the eyebrows of a gorilla; the teeth and mane of a lion; the tusks of a wild boar; and the legs and tail of a wolf. Chris Sanders, one of the film's storyboard artists and visual development artists, drafted the designs for the Beast and came up with designs based on birds, insects, and fish before coming up with something close to the final design. Glen Keane, supervising animator for the Beast, refined the design by going to the zoo and studying the animals on which the Beast was based. Benson commented, "There's a rage and torment in this character I've never been asked to use before." The filmmakers commented that "everybody was big fee-fi-fo-fum and gravelly" while Benson had the "big voice and the warm, accessible side" so that "you could hear the prince beneath the fur".
* Richard White as Gaston – A vain hunter who vies for Belle's hand in marriage and is determined not to let anyone else win her heart. He serves as a foil personality to the Beast, who was once as egotistical as Gaston prior to his transformation. Gaston's supervising animator, Andreas Deja, was pressed by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Don Bluth to make Gaston handsome in contrast to the traditional appearance of a Disney villain, an assignment they found difficult at first. In the beginning, Gaston is depicted as more of a narcissist than a villain, but later he threatens to put Maurice in a mental institution if Belle does not marry him, and eventually leads all the villagers to kill the Beast, enraged that Belle would love a beast more than him.
* Jerry Orbach as Lumière – The kind-hearted but rebellious French-accented footman of the Beast's castle, who has been transformed into a candelabra. He has a habit of disobeying his master's strict rules, sometimes causing tension between them, but the Beast often turns to him for advice. He is depicted as flirtatious, as he is frequently seen with the Featherduster. A running gag throughout the film is Lumière burning Cogsworth. Nik Ranieri served as the supervising animator for Lumière.
* David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth – The Beast's majordomo, the head butler of the household staff and Lumière's best friend, who has been turned into a mantel clock. He is extremely loyal to the Beast so as to save himself and anyone else any trouble, often leading to friction between himself and Lumière. Will Finn served as the supervising animator for Cogsworth. Stiers also narrates the prologue.
* Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts – The castle cook, turned into a teapot, who takes a motherly attitude toward Belle. The filmmakers went through several names for Mrs. Potts, such as "Mrs. Chamomile", before Ashman suggested the use of simple and concise names for the household objects. David Pruiksma served as the supervising animator for Mrs. Potts.
* Bradley Pierce as Chip – Mrs. Potts' son, who has been transformed into a teacup. Originally intended to only have one line, the filmmakers were impressed with Pierce's performance and expanded the character's role significantly, eschewing a mute Music Box character. Pruiksma also served as the supervising animator for Chip.
* Rex Everhart as Maurice – Belle's inventor father. The villagers see him as insane for crafting devices believed impossible to construct in reality, but his loyal daughter believes he will be famous one day. Ruben A. Aquino served as the supervising animator for Maurice.
* Charles Nelson Reilly (speaking) and Jesse Corti (singing) as LeFou – Gaston's flamboyant, illiterate, well-meaning and long-suffering sidekick who bolsters his friend's ego but often disagrees with his decisions. His name is French for "The Madman" and also a phonetic play on "The Fool". Chris Wahl served as the supervising animator for LeFou.
* Jo Anne Worley as the Wardrobe – The castle's authority over fashion and a former opera singer, who has been turned into a wardrobe. The character of Wardrobe was introduced by visual development artist Sue C. Nichols to the then entirely male cast of servants, and was originally a more integral character named "Madame Armoire". Wardrobe is known as "Madame de la Grande Bouche" (Madame Big Mouth) in the stage adaptation of the film and is the only major enchanted object character whose human form does not appear in the film. Tony Anselmo served as the supervising animator for the Wardrobe.
* Hal Smith as Philippe – Belle's Belgian horse. Russ Edmonds served as the supervising animator for Philippe.
* Mary Kay Bergman and Kath Soucie as the Bimbettes – A trio of village maidens who constantly fawn over Gaston, known as the "Silly Girls" in the stage adaptation.
* Jack Angel, Phil Proctor, Bill Farmer, and Patrick Pinney as Tom, Dick, Stanley, and Gramps, respectively, Gaston and LeFou's circle of friends.
* Brian Cummings as the Stove – The castle's chef who has been transformed into a stove. He is named Chef Bouche in the 1998-2002 animated series *Belle's Magical World*.
* Alvin Epstein as the Bookseller – The owner of a book shop in Belle's village.
* Tony Jay as Monsieur D'Arque – The sly warden of the local asylum who is bribed by Gaston to help in his plan to blackmail Belle.
* Alec Murphy as the Baker – The owner of a bakery in Belle's village.
* Kimmy Robertson as the Featherduster – A maid and Lumière's sweetheart, who has been turned into a feather duster. She is never mentioned by name in the 1991 film (listed as Featherduster in the credits); Babette is the name given to this character later in the 1994 stage adaptation of the film; Fifi in *Belle's Magical World* and Plumette in the 2017 live-action remake.
* Frank Welker as Sultan – The castle's pet dog turned into a footstool.