Beauty and the Beast (Golden, g2)

Beauty and the Beast is a love story of a beautiful young woman and a hideous monster under a curse.

## Plot

Once upon a time England in the countryside of a kingdom, there was a kind-hearted young woman named Beauty. She was raised to think of others and be grateful for what she had. Her three older sisters, though, grew up on their father's money and have become gluttonous, selfish, lazy, and vain women. Despite Beauty's selfless nature, she secretly wishes to find a life outside of her own and a handsome young man to take her away. Within the center of the kingdom was a castle ruled by a monstrous young prince. His trusty, cynical and goofy three servants, a trio of ghosts, have been secretly looking for a young woman to help break the curse on their master.

One night, a storm rolls into the kingdom and Beauty and her family take shelter in their basement. The next morning, they find Beauty's garden destroyed, having Beauty stunned, and the mansion with minor damages. Beauty's father decides to leave and check on his ships, but not after all of his daughters give him a list of things they want. However, he discovers that the ships have sunk, thus ruining Beauty's father. While waiting for her father to return, Beauty asks her sisters what they want from their father, seeing as how unsatisfied they are with what they get. They explain that they simply want more, no matter what it is. Meanwhile, Beauty's father is struggling to find his way back home through the blizzard. He then releases the horse and sends him back home, trying to find shelter for himself. Suddenly, a light shines on him and leads him to the Beast's castle. The three ghosts invite him in and give him food and a room to sleep in for the night.

The next morning, Beauty's father leaves the castle and gets in a carriage prepared for him. However, a rose garden catches his eye and, remembering Beauty's wish to have a rose to rebuild her garden, decides to take. [The Beast] appears and angrily confronts him about stealing from him after showing him kindness. As punishment, he says that Beauty's father's crime is death. He pleads for his life, telling him that his other three daughters asked for expensive gifts while Beauty asked for one rose. The Beast agrees to let Beauty's father live in exchange for one of his four daughters. Beauty's father refuses and is now the Beast's prisoner.

Beauty sees her father's carriage and she and her sisters assume that he has returned. When Beauty sees the carriage empty, she decides to go look for him, using the horse as a guide. They arrive at the castle and Beauty enters the castle with the three ghosts following her. Beauty finds the dungeons and her father in one cell. Just as Beauty and her father are about to leave, the Beast shows up. He offers Beauty the chance to free her father and take his place, which she agrees to. After being shown her room, she starts crying with only her small cat to comfort her. The ghosts show up and attempt to cheer her up. As the Beast passes by her room, he ignores her sobs.

The next morning, Beauty explores the castle. She discovers a portrait of the Beast's human form and thinks that the young man is somewhere in the castle. She then hears a piano being played and looks for it. Much to her surprise, it's the Beast playing it. She compliments him on his skills, but he shrugs it off, claiming that nothing about him is beautiful. She decides, after that moment, to give him another chance. That night, in the dining hall, the Beast asks if there's a chance that Beauty would consider marrying him. She says no, which makes the Beast upset and run away. When Beauty thanks him for his hospitality and asks him how it's possible for his castle to have so much beauty while the Beast is in his cursed form. He breaks down and demands to be left alone, feeling insulted by Beauty's words, and Beauty runs out of the room. However, she trips on the stairs and is knocked unconscious, got spoilt.

The Beast finds the broken Beauty on the floor and takes her to her room. While the Beast is out, the ghosts explain the Beast's backstory to Beauty's kitten. The Beast, once a cold hearted prince, had denied the people of his kingdom any food or water from his castle. All of the villagers, with the exception of the three ghosts, were forced to leave the kingdom. One night, a spirit showed up at his door and cursed him into his beastly form as punishment. Now if someone were to fall in love with the Beast as he is, seeing the beauty of his heart, he will be freed from his curse and the ghosts can move onto the next world. It is this reason why the ghosts are determined to make Beauty fall in love with the Beast before winter starts.When Beauty wakes up, the Beasts apologizes for scaring her earlier. He then pressents her a rose from his garden, hoping that it will make amends with her.

The next day, Beauty finds a magical mirror and asks where the handsome man in the portrait is. The magical mirror unknowing shows her an image of her father sick and was about to be dead in bed, which encourages her to return home. Just then, she sees the Beast's human form and promptly sees the Beast behind her. The Beast wrathfully demands to know what she was doing in the room and orders her to go back to her room. Beauty apologizes and explains that she has to go home and be with her father. The Beast accepts her wish and makes preparations for her. Before she leaves, though, he tells her to return within a week before the first snowfall, then he will die of a broken heart.

When Beauty returns home, her three sisters notice her dress and her carriage. Wanting to know where she got the fancy-looking items, they decide to make her stay deliberately by giving her too much to do. They hope by doing this, Beauty's friend/benefactor would be willing to give Beauty's sisters whatever they desire. While waiting for Beauty, the Beast falls into weakness and depression, believing that she won't be coming back for him. That night, Beauty's sisters climb into the carriage and ride off towards the castle. They are initially impressed by the castle, but they are soon scared off by the dying Beast. Back at the mansion, Beauty remembers the Beast and heads back to the castle.

On the way there, her sisters' carriage passes by. The three sisters round up the villagers and form a lynch mob, claiming the Beast is a killer and he has captured their sister. Just as Beauty tries to comfort the Beast, her three sisters and the mob show up. The ghosts try to keep them out, but the mob breaks in all the same. Beauty tries reasoning with them, which fails when one of her three sisters declares that she's under a spell. Beauty denies it and states that she loves the Beast. The spirit responsible for the Beast's curse shows up and turns him back into a human.  The Beast, overjoyed by Beauty's proclamation of love, proposes to Beauty in front of the mob. After some time, they get married and ride off together in the carriage.

## Trivia

* This is somewhat accurate to the original story than the Disney film.
	+ Beauty had three evil sisters.
	+ The three evil sisters tried to keep Beauty from going back to the Beast.
	+ The Beast wanted one of the daughters in exchange for the father's freedom.
* The Beast's cursed form has the same fur and eye color as Prince Adam from the Disney flim.
* The only additional characters are the three ghosts that serve the Beast and Beauty's cat.
* Beauty vaguely resembles Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty from Sleeping Beauty in they both have long blond hair and wear a similar dress.
* Beauty's father's character is different than in the original story. In the story, he offers Beauty to the Beast where as is the movie, he refuses to give up one of his four daughters.

* Golden Films helped another animation studio company, Good Times, with their version of *Beauty and the Beast*.