Director:
Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise

Starring:
Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, David Ogden Stiers, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury, Richard White

Running time:
84 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
Cinderella (1950), Cinderella (2015), The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, Frozen

Belle is a sweet and imaginative girl tired of her life in a ‘poor, provincial town’. Beast is a self-centred prince whose castle has been enchanted until he can overcome his selfish ways. To break the spell Beast must learn to love another and earn their love in return. When Belle agrees to stay in the castle so her father will be freed, Beast attempts to win her affections with the help of his servants. Can she learn to love a beast?

I last reviewed Beauty and the Beast at the Disney Princess Film Festival 2014. While Belle and her companions concluded the Disney Princess Film Festival in 2014, they have opened this year’s Disney Movie Stars Film Festival. Won’t you be my guest on my journey through four Disney classics over four weeks?

To be honest, my opinion of Beauty and the Beast hasn’t changed over the past couple of years. It is still my favourite Disney movie. I still love all of the characters, even the delightfully wicked Gaston who is positively primeval.

Every time I watch Beauty and the Beast I pick up new and wonderful things I have (somehow) missed in my last five dozen screenings. This most recent cinematic viewing was no different. This is the first time I have noticed the cheeky wink that Gaston does during his self titled musical number. The wink that happens right as he’s boasting “every last inch” of him is covered with hair. What. I bet he just had something in his eye. Maybe a strand of hair.

I was hoping that the screening would include the musical number ‘Human Again’. The servant’s musical number was picked up off the cutting room floor in 2002 and incorporated for an IMAX screening and all home releases since. The number takes place between the musical numbers ‘Something There’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ as the servants prepare the castle for the special evening depicted during ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It would have been lovely to see this number on the big screen. Alas it was not to be. Maybe next time!

Prior to the screening of Beauty and the Beast viewers were treated to a short compilation of snippets from all 54 Disney animated classics. This was a very cute touch to celebrate the achievements of the Walt Disney Studios, namely entertaining children of all ages since 1937.

Also shown before the main feature was the Tangled short film Tangled Ever After. This is a fun short film that features the misadventures of ring bearers Pascal and Maximus at Rapunzel and Flynn’s wedding.

Overall, I cannot rate Beauty and the Beast highly enough. It is a beautifully told story with gorgeous animation and loveable characters. This is a film that deserves to be seen in the cinema time and time again.

Rating: 5/5

“Ma chère mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now, we invite to relax, let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents … your dinner.”