Beauty and the Beast Review

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) is my favourite film of all time, there I said it! Everything from it’s story, themes, characters, visuals, music is just perfect to me. It is an adaptation of the book La Belle et la Bete by Jean-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, while it’s neither the first or the last of the adaptations, it is for me the definitive version even more so than the book.

The original story is beautiful, with a great message about inner beauty and not judging a person on their appearance that is still relevant today, however there were some flaws. I couldn’t really make sense of the mythology of the curse/enchantment it seemed it was being made up as it was going along. The Beast’s character was supposed to be a gentleman who kind on the inside throughout despite his beastly appearance, yet I never understood why he would give the merchant such an extreme punishment for picking the rose. It just seems out of character for the rest of the story and seems like a forced plot device to get Belle to the castle. The rose itself is practically a logo for pretty much most of the adaptations, typically symbolising beauty, power and balance.

I never got on board the whole Stockholm syndrome arguments; a lot of it is because Belle in most versions don’t apply with most of the attributes. It’s usually used to diagnose kidnap victims who are forcefully taken against their will and subject to mistreatment, possible torture and living in solitude for an extensive period of time and the victim develops an acceptance as a way of coping and eventually gets attached to the kidnapper and forgetting their life and family. Belle doesn’t apply because she volunteers in her father’s place as a prisoner, she’s given privileges to make herself feel at home, she doesn’t obey the Beast’s commands and when she’s given the opportunity to go home to her father she takes it and only goes back to save the Beast’s life. Belle’s story is not supposed to be about succumbing to Stockholm syndromes, it’s about her learning to look past the Beast’s ugliness and see the beauty within.

Before I talk about my love for 1991 Disney film I will talk about my thoughts on the many adaptations that have so far come before and after it.

La Belle et la Bete (1946)

Jean Cocteau’s classic French film is the other adaptation that is remembered most fondly even more so by some audiences and critic. It’s easy to see why as Cocteau creates a really fascinating film with lushness cinematography.

Sure the film is quite dated – the practical effects and editing techniques - but what makes up for it is the atmosphere Cocteau creates. The sets and camerawork are beautiful, also being a black-and-white film adds to gothic and dream-like world, as well as the mesmerising and at times eerie music which adds wonder and dread.

While the Beast’s look is obviously a costume with fur and gloves, it is Jean Marais’ performance that sells it, his eyes have a lot of expression behind them making him sympathetic and makes you root for. Josette Day gives a lovely performance as Belle, making her likeable and fearless. The audience can easily experience what she’s feeling as she explores the enchanted kingdom.

While I don’t consider this the definitive version, most adaptations including the 1991 film owe a lot to this film. This film creates the good-looking antagonist, Avenant (Gaston, anyone?) who is used to contrast the Beast and make the audience realise who the real monster is. The film also contains moving candelabras (*cough* Lumiere *cough*) as well as other moving objects; in the book it was invisible servants. The look of the Beast in this film is like a lion/werewolf hybrid, which would be incorporated into future designs, whereas in the book he is described as looking more like a boar. Part of the inspiration of the look of the Beast was Petrus Gonsalvus, who had hypertrichosis – hair growth all over the face and other body parts – who’s marriage to Lady Catherine is said to be a partial inspiration for the original tale.

There are some other flaws as well, for one it kept the rose picking plot device. I also don’t like that Jean Marais plays both the Beast/Prince and Avenant, I understand wanting to draw the parallels between the two characters but I feels it’s too on the nose, especially when they outright acknowledge that he looks like Avenant, then of course Avenant turning into a beast when he dies. I also don’t like the out of nowhere explanation that the prince turns into the Beast just because his parents didn’t believe in spirits, so the spirits punished him for it.

Overall this is still a great classic while I’m not too keen on some of the writing of the plot but it’s visual style and atmosphere is what makes it deserving of its place in classic French cinema.

Beauty and the Beast (1987)

Rebecca De Mornay is called “Beauty” in this film, yes I know the word ‘belle’ means ‘beauty’ in French but it is also a name, even in 19^th Century France. No one is called “Beauty”, yes I know most English translations of the original story, as well as the 1946 film subtitles, translate Belle’s name to “Beauty” which I just consider as a mistranslation. So I could tell just by this that no one involved in this film was actually trying. The film has terrible dialogue and songs that would belong in a pantomime, which could’ve worked but the visuals are too dull to match it. The sets and costumes could be passable in a low-budget period drama but in a fairy-tale it’s ill fitting, as the film is quite colourless, lots of browns and greys. The visual effects are especially cheap and lazy with stupid editing tricks anyone can do on their computer. The Beast make-up looks like a Halloween mask and throughout the film he makes annoying cat growls. Rebecca De Mornay could’ve made a great Belle if she was in a better film, but with bad dialogue and poor direction her acting suffers and her character acts so clueless throughout. Also the castle appears to be in the middle of a desert and has a mechanical bird. Beauty’s father not only agrees for Beauty to take his place as the Beast agrees but actually accompanies her to the castle practically handing her over and taking trunk of gold in exchange?!

Beauty and the Beast (1987 TV Series)

This show is an interesting reimagining set in modern-day New York, when DA Catherine Chandler is viciously attacked she is rescued by Vincent, a mythical man-beast living in a utopian community underground the ‘World Below’. The two are the complete opposite and living separate lives but have a strong psychic connection that keeps them connected between the two worlds. It’s interesting that the fantasy element is only restricted to just Vincent being a man-beast and his psychic ability, the rest is about them dealing with humans and everyday problems. The beast element is also kept a mystery, Vincent has no idea why he is the way he is, he was just born this way and just accepts it.

The first two seasons are episodic - Season 1 mainly focuses on Catherine and her job solving crimes in New York with Vincent occasionally leaving the underground to help her out; Season 2 is mostly focused on Vincent and his life in the ‘World Below’ with Catherine helping the inhabitants with their problems. Season 3 took a dark turn mainly due to circumstances behind-the-scenes, which divided fans which lead to a shorter season and being cancelled.

Spoiler warning
Linda Hamilton decided to leave the show when she became pregnant, so they killed Catherine off. Writing her pregnancy into the show, Catherine becomes pregnant with Vincent’s baby and is captured by criminals who want the mystical baby and murder her after the birth. She is soon replaced by another female lead Diana Bennett, a profiler hired to investigate Catherine’s murder. She eventually meets Vincent and team up to search for Vincent’s missing son. Diana is actually is a well written character, she’s not just a replacement love interest (in fact any hints at romance between Vincent and Diana at subtle at best) she’s her own character and functions in the story quite well. Spoiler ends. 

Personally I admired the braveness of it as it did raise the stakes and made the season more focused of on an arc. The problem I had with the first two seasons is that they were long at 22 episodes each, they had a lot of filler and not enough progression and with 12 episodes it made Season 3 feel tighter.

The show has got a lot of talent involved –Ron Pearlman and Linda Hamilton are the stars, yes Sarah Connor and Hellboy are our Beauty and the Beast. Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin wrote several episodes and served co-producer. Multi-Academy Award winning make-up artist Rick Baker did Ron Perlman’s Vincent design and make-up and it still holds up to this day. Roy Dotrice is great as Father, the patriarch of the ‘World Below’. The production design for the ‘World Below’ is very creative, with various staircases and bridge and old-fashioned props giving impression it’s been there for several decades.

Catherine could be named after Petrus Gonsalvus’ wife, while not entirely I like to think Vincent could be named after Van Gogh. The rose significance is also present - Catherine has a rose bush on her balcony, both red and white.  When a character talks about her rosebush they say “The red rose means passion and love, the white rose is eternity or death”.

I only watched the pilot episode for the 2012 remake series that I disliked immediately and have no intention of watching it any further. The characters were badly written and the acting was terrible. They omitted the underground world, so I’m guessing the show just focuses on the New York and crime solving elements. Catherine is a detective in this version and not a very good one, she does a lot of things that would get her struck off in reality, in fact the police in this are all terrible and they all look like fashion models. I hate they made Vincent a good looking man with a scar on his cheek who occasionally forms into a beast and even then not all that beast looking. It’s basically Twilight meets The Incredible Hulk.

Beastly (2011)

I hate this film! This came out when the Twilight series was really popular and many film studios wanted to cash in on the success. So they made a high school version to appeal to that demographic. Instead of turning into a beast, our protagonist Kyle goes bald with scars and tattoos. Granted most people don’t look like that but in this day-and-age we’re used to seeing people with various experimental looks and deformities that it wouldn’t scare them off. Making him still look like a beastly animal would’ve been more justifiable hiding him away than this. Alex Pettyfer is a decent actor but you can tell he just doing this film for a paycheque. Vanessa Hudgens has never once impressed me in anything she’s done and her performance is non-existent as Lindy, the Belle of the story. The whole setup for Kyle and Lindy’s relationship is laughably bad and the romance is just as creepy and forced like Twilight. Neil Patrick Harris has some good comedic timings as the blind tutor and Mary-Kate Olsen is oddly well cast as the goth-girl witch who curses Kyle. I have nothing against high school adaptations of classics, in fact they can be a great way to get young audiences into literature, I love 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and that got me interested in Shakespeare. I’ve never read Alex Flinn’s novel, I hear it’s good and has won awards.

Once Upon a Time (2011 TV Series) – This show pretty much a reimagining of various fairy-tales with a large ensemble of characters and their lives between the fantasy world and the real world. Rumplestiltskin serves as one of the antagonists for the show and his role is merged with the Beast. Belle serves as the key to his redemption as she sees the goodness in him that she tries to bring it out. Belle’s warmth and kindness is carried over well into the show, unfortunately for a show with so many main characters she only serves as a supporting character. Rumple/Mr Gold and Belle and their relationship is written well enough but does get a little frustrating as Rumple/Gold’s constant switch from good to bad and Belle’s forgiveness gets repetitive. However Robert Carlyle and Emile de Ravin do fantastic jobs in their roles and their story arc does reach a satisfying conclusion. The show itself is needlessly complicated, if you’re not interested watching the whole series then I recommend watching episode Skin Deep, Season 1 Episode 12.

La Belle et la Bete (2014)

I actually loved Christoph Gans’ videogame based film Silent Hill (2004) whether you loved or hated it there’s no denying it was visually stunning and full of atmosphere. So it makes me happy that he got to do his own adaptation because he creates an unbelievably beautiful film that sucks you right into this fantasy world.

  

The way the relationship is handled is kind of problematic; Belle is extremely bitter towards the Beast most of the time, which is justifiable as he is rather unlikeable and forces himself onto her. The bitterness of the relationship was actually fun and refreshing to watch but it when it came to the romance it’s very difficult to see where any mutual respect originates and comes across as an afterthought. They do try to justify it with Belle seeing the Beast’s backstory in visions so that she could sympathise with him but that still doesn’t explain why she falls in love with him. The Beast in this also not a gentleman, in fact for the most part he is rather unpleasant throughout that he doesn’t develop like the Disney character. Another major flaw is the villain Perducas is pretty forgettable, he’s a gangster whom Belle’s brother owes money to and goes to the castle to steal from it. So he has no real direct connection Belle or the Beast and makes the climax of the film rather pointless.

Despite being visually stunning, there’s some poor CGI in places particularly in the climax. The Beast is done well, while some of the close-ups of him were clearly CGI for the most part I thought it was prosthetics. Also I don’t care that they were CGI I loved the little dogs with the huge eyes.

Despite the CGI, I can’t stress how grand this film looks. The design of the castle, interior and exterior has enchantment in every corner. It was clear Christoph Gans wanted create a whole fantasy world and let his imagination run wild. The costumes are amazing, it was kind of fun seeing Belle with a new dress every other scene. The use of colours are just breath taking, it’s like watching a painting come to life. The music by Peirre Adenot is also incredible that enhances the mystical environment.

The Beast’s backstory was interesting and very different to what I’ve seen before; it’s both tragic and twisted. It helps show how turning into a beast is a fitting punishment and also why the castle is enchanted. It also makes the rose the picking scene make a little more sense, as well as being in character for this version of the Beast.

Lea Seydoux puts in a great performance as Belle, making her likeable while giving her a strong backbone. Vincent Cassel is able to be intimidating with his voice while also giving him a subtle soft side.

Like Cocteau’s 1946 film, it’s very flawed in it’s writing but its visual style and atmosphere makes up for it. The film itself was mostly received positively in France, which suggests the French are more accustomed to the art of it over the story logic.

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

I already reviewed this film when it came out, you can click here to see that review so I won’t repeat myself too much. I still consider it a lazy remake of the 1991 film, while it has some good production values, nice sets and costumes. The attempts to fix plot holes just add new ones, most of the additional scenes just come across as pointless filler, the editing with the many cut to blacks is irritating, the CGI and design of the Beast looks awful, Emma Watson gives a flat performance as Belle and the singing from the cast is mediocre at best. In the 1991 film the characters had well defined personalities and the actions flowed very naturally with the story, in this film any attempts to make changes to the characters or add depth are undermined when they forcefully have to do what they do because that’s what they did in the 1991 film.

The only way I can enjoy this film is just looking at it as a big budget tribute to the 1991 film, but not as a film in its own right.

Others

Beauty and the Beast is pretty much used a concept for various stories and not as direct adaptations. Here are a few standouts that use it that’s not King Kong or Phantom of the Opera.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) – Tim Burton’s classic is an original story, it’s full of nods to various classics and Beauty and the Beast is no exception. Particularly the relationship between Edward and Kim, she had to look past the weirdness of Edward to see how kind he is and falls in love with.

Shrek (2001) – A great fantasy film, with clever parodies of numerous fairy-tales and the relationship between Shrek and Princess Fiona is a great spin on the story.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) –The film is a comedy horror, where clueless college students mistake two hillbillies, who are in fact kind at heart, as psycho killers. When Allison from that group is injured Tucker and Dale take her to help her, while the others think they’re kidnapping her. When Allison realises she’s not in any danger she begins to bond with Dale and actually form a believable romance. The film is silly and quite gory, but it also has heart and has similar themes about inner beauty.

The Shape of Water (2018) – Described as Beauty and the Beast meets The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Guillermo del Toro creates a beautiful film dealing with the inner beauty but also disability, race and homosexuality.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Now here it is the one that truly matters to me. This film is remembered extremely fondly among critics and audiences. It received a standing ovation at the New York Film Festival. It is the first animated film win the Golden Globe for ‘Best Picture’ and is the first to be nominated at the Academy Awards for that category, which later inspired them to add the ‘Best Animated Feature’ category. Walt Disney himself was working on making the film but waited because it was too challenging, sadly he died before that became a possibility.

The Beast’s character is expanded on from the book, besides the rose scene the Beast is a gentleman and it was Belle who needed to learn the lesson to see the good person underneath. Here the Beast started off a spoilt and selfish prince, who looked down on others and was cursed as punishment for turning away an old beggar woman. Over the years of being a Beast, he’s developed a terrible temper making him even more beastly. Throughout the film he must learn to overcome his temper and amend his selfish ways. His development to being kind-hearted person feels natural as they do a great job setting it up, even during his beastly modes. When he takes Belle as prisoner, you can see regret in his face and at times struggles to know what to say to her. Which is even carried through to when he starts being kind to Belle, with his struggles to be sophisticated. Even more during the ballroom dance scene where he is nervous but takes confidence from Belle. His ultimate moment of redemption is after the dance, when Belle sees her father ill in the magic mirror, he tells her that she must to go to him and releases her for good, sacrificing his last hope to end the curse. When Gaston attempts to kill him, he initially accepts his fate until he realises Belle has come back to save him. Robby Benson delivers a strong vocal performance, with various effective tones - when he's angry he can make his voice is extremely terrifying, when he's calm his voice goes soft making him likeable.

Belle is such a kind and likeable heroine; it’s so admirable that she live solely by her own standards. She’s happily doing her own thing not worrying what other people think of her, yet she doesn’t hide away in fact she’s very open about what she loves. I also love her backbone, she’s not afraid to stand-up herself even against strong men. She’s not totally perfect either; she knowingly breaks the Beast’s rule about going into the west wing, which had consequences. Her reason for doing it is likely that she felt she had nothing left to lose after giving up her life to stay in the castle. Even after the Beast saves her from the wolves and passes out, she’s still anticipating leaving him behind. She of course quickly comes to her sense and nurses him, but still doesn’t thank him for saving her till after giving him a piece of her mind. Belle’s arc from the book is still there, she still needs to look past the hideousness of the Beast to see kind person underneath, but it’s not as strong as the Beast has to learn to be a good person.

Belle starts off wanting an adventure, like ones she reads in her books, “far out places, daring swordfights, a prince in disguise” which is what she experiences throughout the film. She realises the reality of it is not what she thought it was, it was not exciting, it was frightening. What she truly wanted was to live a life of her own not by the standards of the people in her town. She struggled to find someone to talk to besides her father or the old librarian, to share what she loves. She finds that companion in the Beast, they can relate to each other being isolated and they share each other’s interests. I don’t see her marrying the prince at the end as giving up her adventure, the prince has been stuck in his castle as the Beast for 21 years, he’s going to want to get out and experience the world. He and Belle now have the freedom to experience it together. Paige O’Hara’s vocal performance is beautiful and sweet as well her amazing singing.

The Beast’s design is amazing, his look was inspired by various wild animals – lion, boar, bison, bear, wolf – which makes him look scary and menacing. Belle’s appearance is loosely inspired by Judy Garland’s Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz (1939) with her brown hair and light blue dress, as a nod to her desire for a fantasy adventure – which makes her look sweet and innocent. It helps create a contrast between the two.

The servants became enchanted objects to symbolise how the Prince would’ve seen them, not as people but just objects to him. The three main servants also serve purposes symbolised as the objects they’ve become. Lumiere as a candle represents the light in the darkness of the curse, Cogsworth as a clock represents the time and reality of the situation and Mrs Potts as a teapot represents nurture. Three things that the Beast requires to help put an end to the curse, when he finally listens to his servants he learns these aspects and develops appreciation for his servants.

The rose in this film is used heavily, as the beggar woman to seek shelter in the castle initially used it as a bargaining chip. She also used it as a way to teach the prince about inner beauty, which he didn’t listen and cruelly turned her away. She then used the enchanted rose as an hourglass for the length of the time the curse will last. Therefore he has no choice but to keep the rose, to keep it safe and it serves as a reminder of the lesson the enchantress is teaching him. The rose picking scene from the original is split into two scenes that make far more sense – the Beast imprisons Maurice not for picking a rose but for trespassing in his castle which is a call-back to turning away the beggar woman showing he hasn’t yet learnt anything since being cursed. When Belle discovers the enchanted rose in the west wing, she attempts to touch it when the Beast catches her he is understandably furious with her as she could’ve destroyed it and unknowingly doom the kingdom. It’s a powerful scene as it’s the most violent we see the Beast, breaking furniture, which frightens Belle out of the castle, despite giving him her word to stay and we see the Beast instantly regret his action.

There’s often a misconception about the timeline and the Beast’s age – the narrator says the rose “will bloom until his 21^st year” and Lumiere says “10 years we’ve been rusting” – many think that it means they’ve been cursed for 10 years and that the Beast was 11 years old when he was turned and turns 21 when the curse ends. I don’t think this for many reasons – pictures of the Prince at the beginning show him clearly older than 11 years old, he looks about the same age as he was after he turned human again. Which suggests to me that the Beast’s age was frozen as long as the enchantment, which was 21 years. The ‘10 years’ comment means that they spent that long in a depressive state, it was used during the song “Be Our Guest” the purpose of the song was to relieve Belle after such distress she’s suffered but it’s a bit of a celebration for themselves as Belle’s has brought hope which they likely didn’t have for 10 years. Also Chip is clearly much younger than 10 years old, so his age had to have been frozen during the curse.

Belle’s vain and selfish sisters from the original story, who were most likely omitted due to their similarities to Cinderella’s stepsisters, likely inspire the blonde triplets who idolise Gaston. Just like in the original story they are used to contrast Belle, being equally beautiful on the outside but have none of Belle’s intelligence. They think she’s crazy for turning down Gaston because “he’s gorgeous”. It’s also interesting how Gaston barely notices them, he’s constantly looking to get Belle on his side, which shows his lust for power he can have the triplets if he wanted but it’s too easy for him. The scene where he tries to get Belle to marry him is almost symbolic of rape, when she’s resilient he starts to becomes forceful as he backs her against the door. But then she overpowers him by opening the door letting him fall out into the pond leaving him humiliated and which turns him more evil as he needs to regain more power.

The songs are great and add to the story as well as pleasant to listen to. “Belle” perfectly demonstrates how Belle is not accustomed to her life in the community and how the others see her as odd. “Gaston” is a great way to show Gaston’s egotism and narcissism and how he’s perceived by others as a hero. “Be Our Guest” is highly energetic celebration song to help Belle feel welcome to the castle. “The Mob Song” is a great climax song, as ‘hero’ Gaston manipulates the town’s people the Beast is dangerous and must die. “Beauty and the Beast” is a beautifully romantic song during the ball scene, sung beautifully by the legendary Angela Lansbury. The music itself by Alan Menken is also breath-taking that adds enchantment and mysticism, the west wing sounds very similar to Camille Saint-Saëns – ‘Aquarium’ and the transformation scene at the end is extremely powerful, some the richest music I’ve ever heard.

The animation is beautiful in all aspects, the characters are drawn with a lot of expression. Every frame of their faces there is a lot personality that you know what they’re feeling, whether they’re happy, scared, angry or even conflicted. The transformation is beautifully done, as you see the Beast slowly turn human, with the smoke in the background and the glittery lights falling everywhere. The castles’ transformation is also beautiful as you see the dark blackness melt away to whitish stone, and demonic statues turn angelic. The CGI backgrounds merge with the 2d animation seamlessly and successfully enhances the movements, creating an illusion that it was actually shot on film.

The prologue opens with a beautiful forest in daylight with a waterfall, animals and a rose bush, then a zoom into the castle in the background, before we get backstory. After the stained glass narration, when zoom out of the castle and it’s night with all darkness and thunderstorms. It’s a great way to start the audience off at ease with relaxing imagery before going into the backstory and getting them intrigued for the darkness to come.

The film is not afraid to go dark, there were parts that terrified me as a child; Maurice getting chased by wolves, Beast catching Belle in the west wing. Scenes with Belle just wondering around the castle in the dark also kept me at the edge of my seat, the scenes are slow paced and the music and visuals create an unsettling atmosphere.

The design of the castle is amazing, very gothic and so many little details that even today I notice something I’ve not seen before like a painting, architecture or patterns on the floors etc. Many sculptures in the background come earlier designs of the Beast. Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’ can be seen as one of the paintings in the background.

I love the use of colour in the film, particularly in what the main characters wear. Belle’s main dress is blue, which symbolises her intelligence and calmness and being the only person in town who wears this colour demonstrates how unique she is among them. Gaston’s main outfit is red which symbolises his power and rage. The Beast starts off wearing red and later switches to blue, symbolising his evolvement from angry and dangerous into a kind-hearted person. It’s also interesting that both the Beast and Gaston have blue eyes, which adds to the parallel between the two characters that Gaston could’ve been redeemed if he didn’t resort to such evil actions. Belle’s outfit changes during her time in the castle also carry significance- the green dress symbolises the peace and harmony she’s bringing to the kingdom, the pink dress and coat symbolises the romance blossoming between her and the Beast, and the yellow ball gown symbolises the happiness and joy not just in herself but what she’s brought to the Beast and his servants.

I don’t consider animation being just for children, as an adult I have developed an appreciation for all the details in the animation, writing and music even the small ones that I haven’t noticed as a child, as well as it conveys it’s overall message. It helps keep the film fresh every time I watch it. There is no other way I can describe this film other than – Perfect!