Beauty and the Beast
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The Film Itself
Roger Ebertonce said “Beauty and the Beast reaches back to an older and healthier Hollywood tradition in which the best writers, musicians and filmmakers are gathered for a project on the assumption that a family audience deserves great entertainment, too”. And with its entrance for the Disney studio in early 90’s it brought back a time that was once forgotten for them. The definite studio that gave us ageless films such as ‘Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs’ and ‘Bambi’, the same animation that showed us the true beauty of vibrancy with hand-drawn animation. Started to make a rumble in animation once again for it had gone though a tough late 70’s and 80’s period with lackluster animated features that just did not hold the same fine quality that Walt Disney had once set into place. Yet there comes a time when a team of young determined artist assemble together and collaborate restlessly, which was the case here that ended up with the product of Beauty and the Beast.
The first animated feature to be nominated for an Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’ but lost to ‘The Silence of the lambs’, though it went on to win the awards for ‘Best Music-Original Score’ and ‘Original Song’. The first thing with ‘Beauty and the Beast’ that comes to mind is the exquisite musical numbers from it, as all of Disney animations are associated with, the numbers here are in the high rankings of Disney’s greatest musicals. Though its direction by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale as first timers cannot be forgotten, for they re-set the level of achievement in the field of animation and seriously set the standards high for others to follow. It was a time for animation to make a comeback, and did it ever so.
The tale has to do with “Love” which happens to be the case in most Disney features since its main audience is the younger demographic, a simpler message to understand. Borrowing the same fairy tale written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont under the title of ‘La Bella et la Bête’, we get a more simplified version of the original but more ideas borrowed from the French film made in 1946 under the same name. Here the prince is transformed into the beast and the lady is imprisoned in his castle, and every night the beast proposes to marriage her which she refuses. Over time she becomes drawn towards him. With many ideas borrowed from both works, Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay to Disney’s latest adaption of a fairy-tale along with the help of many others.
When you look at this feature and notice the beauty of this film it all lies in its musical nimble lyrics, which were the works of ‘Howard Ashman’ who tragically died of AIDS a few months before the release of the film itself. He brought around new vibe to the musical numbers for Disney, with his presence first on ‘Oliver & Company’, then lyricist on ‘The Little Mermaid’ until his final work on ‘Aladdin’. His blending of dialogue into songs worked a new territory for feature animations since it hadn’t been done before, to have one break into song and stop to converse only to go back into song came off so naturally that it was a surprise.
(Disc Review)
I happened to
get one of the limited edition ‘Beauty and the Beast’ blu-rays that are housed in a red iron-pack, housed with 3 discs (2 blu-rays, 1 dvd). Besides the cover it is the same material and extras in all the other blu-rays (even the disc-art is the same), besides those with digital copies. Coming in two 50 gig disc, one with the film and the other with the extra material, now the one thing where personally for myself that Disney surpasses anyone is the little booklet it presents you with that happens to lay out a map system of both disc, a table of how to get to which extra you may want to watch. Last note before the listing of the extras, Disney was kind enough to provide all the previous extras from the last dvd release dating back to 2002.
Now lay on the heavy extras:
Original Theatrical Release – (85 Minutes, HD) This as it says in the title is how the feature was released in the theatres.
Special Extended Release – (92 Minutes, HD) This was totally a surprise for myself, I did not notice this till I was reading the back and apparently this happens to be the biggest change in the film, restoring a musical number that was cut ‘Human Again’, thankfully it is inserted into the film with no difference to be noticed in quality, just as if it was there all along.
Original Storyboard Release – (85 Minutes, HD) Producer Don Hahn is presented in a picture-in-picture track that runs along the first version of the film, here he tells us how the progress of the film went from storyboard stage to the final product. Very exciting stuff here, a rare look at the way an animated film works.
Audio Commentary – (92 Minutes) As you can tell by the minutes its only with the extended version, here we get Don Hahn Who is the producer, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale who are the co-directors. The trio discuss about the importance of this story in the Disney history along with the entire history of the story from its fairy tale to how they expanded on it. They talk about the animation techniques they used for some scenes like the Ballroom Dance, along with the filming and talent behind the film, I heard it for two chapters and it was very informative, truly a better commentary.
Sing-Along Mode – (HD) Oh yes, time for the children to enjoy the film, just like we did with Grease here they can with the musical numbers.
Sneak Peak – (15 Minutes, HD) Trailers for Toy Story 3, Bambi, The Lion King, Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 and Alice in Wonderland: 60th Anniversary Edition. These are for the upcoming Blu-ray/dvd releases.
(Older Features from last dvd release)
The Story behind the Story – (25 Minutes, SD) A look at some fairy tales and how Disney gave them the famous treatment.
‘Beauty and the Beast’ Music Video – (3 Minutes, SD) Celine Dion, do I need to say anymore?
Early Presentation Reel – (35 Minutes, SD) Substitute version to ‘Be Our Guest’ and the deleted musical number ‘Human Again’, with a exchange about the other score during the transformation scene, some rough animation test and camera move test. This personally would have been slightly nicer to see in HD.
New Extra Materials
‘Beyond Beauty’ The Untold Stories – (157 Minutes, HD) Longer than the film itself, is this truly remarkable, entertaining and mind-melting behind the scenes of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. This is more an interactive feature, for which you must hit the button on the remote once the icons appear. This is the mother-load, this is truly worth the price alone, what we have here is a very informative story of how and what it took to bring this story to life and the impact of trying to follow in ‘Walt Disney’s´ footsteps. This is something all should watch and understand what it takes to make such a remarkable film.
Composing a Classic – (20 Minutes, HD) Here we have Don Hahn, composer Alan Menken and Disney historian Richard Kraft talk about the score for the film. This is just lovely to watch, the three of them talk about how music makes the film and it’s the stamp of the Disney films, without them the body is just soulless.
Deleted Scenes – (28 Minutes, HD) Thank Disney for making this in HD, nothing is more annoying than deleted scenes not being converted up the standard of the disc, especially after viewing the film in HD. Here there is an introduction from Disney Chairperson Peter Schneider for two deleted scenes, one is for an alternative opening which has such a different mood for the film that I can’t even phantom it. It is around 24 minutes and presented through storyboard, and the other scene is Bella meeting four unknown characters, it was decent nothing too great.
Disney Family Play
Broadway Beginnings – (13 minutes, HD) A long advertisement for the Broadway adaption of the film.
Enchanted Musical Challenge – (HD) You get to search the castle and answer trivia games. Be excited to play this with your family, or friends.
New ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Music Video – (3 Minutes, HD) I have no idea who Jordan Sparks is but I guess she’s one of the Disney girls, well enjoy another video from Disney I believe they did this just for this release.
Bonjour, Who is this? – (HD) Interactive game with 2-8 players that require the use of cell-phones to play, I haven’t tried this out.
Conclusion
Phew, after such extensive extras being listed up there, it can’t be helped but to recommend this release of one of the most astounding animated films that grows on you each time you observe it. It is so commanding and heart-rending with its imagery that you cannot help but feel like a child watching this. Disney really showed they spend the time and money here, unlike most of the blu-rays that have been coming out with lackluster transfers and no extras yet still charging upwards of $30, it’s an insult to the customer, and although this might be a little steep and you may not have converted yet to blu-ray do remember that Disney was and is one of the leading examples of not pushing you into that technology, they provide you with a copy of both formats on separate. This is not a movie but a fairy tale come to light in a style that has sadly come to an end, hand-drawn animation may not look as clean or sharp or even as bright as computer animation but the difference is very simple. Computer animation lacks a soul that hand-drawn animation had, each brush and stroke spoke to you and while you sit back at home and re-watch this or watch it for the very first time you will witness this and see each object represent a little bit of the animators soul within it.
Star Rating
Film- 4.5/5
Disc – 5/5
