Beauty and the Beast

1991
G
1h 24m

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

487K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,320

Robby Benson and Paige O'Hara in Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Belle, whose father is imprisoned by the Beast, offers herself instead and discovers her captor to be an enchanted prince.

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Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale Hand-Drawn Animation Romantic Epic Animation Family Fantasy Musical Romance

A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman's love.A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman's love.A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman's love.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

487K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,320

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Oscars
- 33 wins & 32 nominations total

Belle
(voice)

Robby Benson

Beast
(voice)

Jesse Corti

Lefou
(voice)

Rex Everhart

Maurice
(voice)

Angela Lansbury

Mrs. Potts
(voice)

Jerry Orbach

Lumiere
(voice)

Bradley Pierce

Chip
(voice)
(as Bradley Michael Pierce)

David Ogden Stiers

Cogsworth
(voice)
…

Richard White

Gaston
(voice)

Jo Anne Worley

Wardrobe
(voice)

Mary Kay Bergman

Bimbette
(voice)

Brian Cummings

Stove
(voice)

Alvin Epstein

Bookseller
(voice)

Tony Jay

Monsieur D'Arque
(voice)

Alec Murphy

Baker
(voice)

Kimmy Robertson

Featherduster
(voice)

Hal Smith

Philippe
(voice)

Kath Soucie

Bimbette
(voice)

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Storyline

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Trivia
All songs were the last complete works for a movie by Academy Award winner Howard Ashman. Ashman died eight months prior to the release of this movie. This movie is dedicated to Ashman; at the end of the final credits, you can read the dedication: "To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful."

Goofs
During the fighting scene between Gaston and Beast, Gaston says "Belle is mine!" But his mouth is saying something else. This is because, he was originally supposed to say, "Time to die!" but the writer changed it to fit Belle back in the scene.

Quotes
Beast: [struggling] You came back.
Belle: Of course I came back. I couldn't let them... oh, this is all my fault!
[Belle cradles the Beast's head]
Belle: If only I had gotten here sooner.
Beast: Maybe... it's better... it's better this way.
Belle: [Belle tries to silence him] Don't talk like that! You'll be alright. We're together now; everything's going to be fine, you'll see.
Beast: At least... at least I got to see you... one last time.
[Beast dies from his injuries and blood loss]
Belle: No, No! Please--please--please don't leave me.
[Belle begins to sob]
Belle: I love you!
[the last rose petal falls]

Crazy credits
"To our friend, Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful. Howard Ashman (1950-1991)"

Alternate versions
This film was re-released in IMAX and other large format theaters on January 1, 2002. The following changes were made to the film for this release:
The "In Association with Silver Screen Partners IV" credit is replaced with "The Special Edition Of--" on the opening title sequence. The 2002 Platinum Edition DVD omits this credit and the Walt Disney Pictures Presents credit stays on screen.
The 2002 Platinum Edition DVD omits the Beast's "stutter" ("You wan-wanna stay in the tower?").
The animation in some of the scenes went back through the clean-up animation department a second time, to correct problems such as wavering lines and missing details, which, while not very noticeable during a traditional 35mm showing of the film, would have been discomforting on a much large IMAX screen. Small details, such as the blood in Beast's wound after his fight with the wolves, were also added.
At the end of the "Something There" sequence, the background has been changed from Belle and Beast in front of the fireplace to an empty hallway, and a bit of the character animation has also been altered in this shot.
Six minutes of new footage was added between the songs "Something There" and "Beauty and the Beast," most of which is made up of a new musical sequence, "Human Again." This song was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken for the original version of the film, but cut for continuity purposes. After Alan Menken altered the song to make it work for the Broadway stage version of Beauty and the Beast, the song was worked back into the film.
During the "Human Again" song sequence, the household objects clean up the Beast's castle, which necessitated having the background artists go back and digitally re-paint the backgrounds for the castle scenes that followed so that the castle was clean.
The animation for Cogsworth's line to the Beast after Belle is freed ("Yes-yes-yes, but...why?") was completely re-done, as the directors never liked how the animation looked in the original version.
New sound effects are added to the shot where Belle and Phillippe leave the castle to find Maurice, which are supposed to suggest that the Beast trashes his room in anguish (and also so that the backgrounds from this point on would not have to be repainted).
The ending credits are longer to necessitate the addition of an additional passage of score music, the version of the 'Transformation' theme that was cut out of the original film, to the end of the film.

Connections
Edited from Bambi (1942)

Soundtracks
Prologue
(uncredited)
Music by Alan Menken

User reviews517

Review

Featured review

10/10

One of my all-time favourite movies.

The only animated movie to receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and it deserved it.

Magic from the opening prologue to the final credit, "Beauty and the Beast" is the last real classic to come from the Disney crew before John Lasseter came along. This was one of the few movies I happily paid to see twice in the cinema, and sitting in a sparsely-populated Friday night audience (I was living in Barbados at the time, and it was hardly the most artistic place on Earth... it was a crying shame that there was hardly anyone there while "Home Alone 2" went through the roof) the second time, the magic remained.

You all know the story, so apart from pointing out the movie's one flaw (the prince's spell had to be broken before he turned 21 or he would remain a beast forever; so if it was cast ten years before the events of the movie, wouldn't that mean he was 11 when the spell was cast...?), let's look at how well the movie works. You have a monster who's more human than the movie's medallion-man villain; you have a heroine who's PC but engaging with it; you have a supporting cast of magic utensils who wisely never upstage the couple at the centre of this love story (and despite the Disney animated trappings, it IS a love story); and you have a captivating story, beautifully told.

The movie's also got wonderful design of its French setting and characters, with the ballroom scene a standout (the tiny but appreciative audience were impressed by the sight of the Beast and Belle in their evening wear - the only time I've ever seen cartoon characters get wolf-whistled in a cinema); and Alan Menken's score is his finest work for the Mouse, with matchless lyrics from the late and much lamented Howard Ashman - how many musicals can you name where ALL the songs are brilliant? But ultimately it's the movie's very real heart that makes it a keeper; the cliche "You'll laugh, you'll cry" is all too true in this case. A lot of movies called 'classic' don't deserve that appellation, but this one does.

I'll be slaughtered by anime fans, but what the hell... one "Beauty and the Beast" is worth a thousand "Akira"s. And "Shrek"s. And, I'm willing to bet, "Treasure Planet"s. This is a truly adult animated feature that's also one for the entire family. Forget "The Silence of the Lambs" - this is the real best picture of 1991.