Friday, September 25, 2009

Beauty & the Beast

Who doesn’t know the plot of Beauty & the Beast? Though the Disney tale varies in form and minutia from the archetype, it is still the same basic story. The beautiful girl meets the cursed prince who has been turned into a beast and switches places with her father who was to be the beasts prisioner. The beast needs the girl to fall in love with him to end the curse and yet how do you get the girl to see past the exterior?

Disney’s Beauty & the Beast was the first time I remember having a visual in a film just awe me. At the time it came out I was a kid fascinated with art and the ballroom scene between Belle and Beast was one of the most stuffing animated sequences I’ve ever seen. To this day the chandelier, the movement of her dress and the realism and fluidity of the scene just make me melt a little.

What’s funny about this is that the ballroom scene is not my favorite scene in the film. My favorite scene is when Belle runs away and is attacked by the wolves and Beast saves her, then she saves Beast by using Philipe (her horse) to take him back to the castle and mend his wounds. The fight they have is well written and very real as they bicker over whose fault it is that she ran away. Belle is a sassy, strong & intelligent woman and one of my favorite Disney Princesses.

This is a great film. For those that don’t remember, not only were many songs in Beauty & the Beast nominated for Oscars, but this is one animated film that actually broke in and was nominated for Best Picture.

Directors: Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

1 comment:

Adam said...

Actually, it's the only animated film to ever be nominated for Best Picture to date. It's one of my all-time favorite films. There's just something magical about it.