Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romantic fantasy film directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, written by Linda Woolverton, and based on the French fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast". Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, the film stars Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, Bradley Michael Pierce, Rex Everhart, Jesse Corti, Hal Smith in his final film, and Jo Anne Worley. Set in 18th-century France, a selfish prince is cursed to remain a beast forever unless he can earn the love of a spirited young woman named Belle before the final petal falls from his enchanted rose.
Walt Disney had attempted to adapt "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated film during the 1930s and 1950s. Inspired by the success of The Little Mermaid (1989), the studio enlisted Richard Purdum to adapt the fairy tale, which he originally conceived as a non-musical period drama. Dissatisfied with Purdum's efforts, Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg ordered the entire film reworked into a musical with original songs by The Little Mermaids songwriting team, lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. First-time directors Trousdale and Wise replaced Purdum, and Woolverton's involvement made Beauty and the Beast Disney's first animated film to utilize a completed screenplay prior to storyboarding. The film was the second fully made with Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), which enabled seamless blending of traditional and computer animation, particularly during its ballroom scene. Beauty and the Beast is dedicated to Ashman, who died from AIDS eight months before the film's release.
Beauty and the Beast premiered at the New York Film Festival with an unfinished version on September 29, 1991, before its wide release on November 22. It received widespread acclaim for its story, characters, music, and animation, specifically for the ballroom sequence. With an initial worldwide gross of $331 million, the film finished its run as the third highest-grossing film of 1991 and the first animated film to gross over $100 million in the United States. Subsequent re-releases (IMAX in 2002 and 3D in 2012) later increased the film's all-time gross to $451 million. Among its accolades, Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the first to receive a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. At the latter's 64th ceremony, the film received five other nominations, ultimately winning the Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ("Beauty and the Beast") and considered as one of the greatest animated films of all time.
In 1994, Beauty and the Beast became the first Disney film adapted into a Broadway musical, which won a single Tony Award; the show ultimately ran for 13 years. Other derivate works include three direct-to-video follow-ups, a television series, a live-action remake in 2017, and a live-action/animated television special in 2022. In 2002, Beauty and the Beast was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
In a faraway land lives a young but cruel and selfish prince in his castle. One night, an old beggar woman arrives at a castle and offers the prince an enchanted rose in exchange for shelter from a storm. When he scornfully declines, she reveals her true form as an enchantress and transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects. To break the curse, the prince must learn to love someone and gain that person's love before the last petal of the rose falls; if he fails, he will remain a beast for the rest of his life.
Ten years later, in a nearby village, Belle, the bookish daughter of eccentric inventor Maurice, dreams of adventure while constantly rejecting advances from Gaston, an arrogant hunter. One day, Maurice travels to a local fair to present his latest invention, a wood-chopping machine, but becomes lost in the forest. Upon seeking refuge in the Beast's castle, he is eventually detained for trespassing. Maurice's horse, Phillipe, returns to Belle and takes her to the castle. After Belle finds Maurice locked in the castle dungeon, she offers to take his place as a prisoner; the Beast agrees.
Belle meets the castle's servants, including candelabra Lumière, mantel clock Cogsworth, teapot Mrs. Potts, and her son Chip, a teacup. To break the spell, the servants try to help the Beast win Belle's heart, but his temper makes her more distant. When Belle finds the enchanted rose, the Beast angrily forces her to flee outside. Wolves ambush Belle, and the Beast rescues her, getting injured in the process. As she nurses his wounds, they develop a rapport. Over time, they begin to fall in love.
In the village, Maurice fails to convince the townsfolk of the Beast. Hearing Maurice's statements, Gaston bribes Monsieur D'Arque, the warden of the local insane asylum, to have Maurice declared insane and locked up, which Gaston will use to blackmail Belle into marrying him in exchange for Maurice's release. Before they can act, Maurice leaves to attempt a rescue alone. At the castle, Belle and the Beast have a romantic dance, which almost seals their love. After that, Belle discovers Maurice's predicament via a magic mirror. Out of his love for her, the Beast releases Belle to rescue him. After returning to town, a mob led by Gaston and D'Arque arrive to arrest Maurice. Belle reveals the Beast via the mirror, shocking the townsfolk and proving her father's sanity. Realizing she has fallen for the Beast, Gaston jealously has her thrown into the cellar with Maurice and rallies the villagers to kill the Beast. Chip, who stowed away when Belle left, frees the two with Maurice's machine.
As the castle's servants defeat the villagers, Gaston attacks the depressed Beast, who regains his spirit upon seeing Belle return and spares Gaston's life, but Gaston fatally stabs him before losing his footing and falling to his demise. Belle tearfully professes her love to a dying Beast mere seconds before the last petal falls, which undoes the curse, reviving the Beast and restoring him and his servants to their human forms, and the castle is restored to its true appearance. The prince and Belle later host a ball for the kingdom.
Voice cast
Paige O'Hara as Belle, a bright young woman who seeks adventure and offers her own freedom to the Beast in return for her father's. To "enhance" the character from the original story, the filmmakers felt that Belle should be "unaware" of her own beauty and made her "a little odd". Wise recalls casting O'Hara because of a "unique tone" she had, "a little bit of Judy Garland", after whose appearance Belle was modeled. Robby Benson as the Beast, a young prince named Adam who is transformed into a talking beast by an enchantress as punishment for his arrogance and selfishness. The animators drew him with the head structure and horns of an American bison, the arms and body of a bear, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the teeth and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar, and the legs and tail of a wolf. Storyboard artist and visual development artist Chris Sanders drafted designs for the Beast and came up with designs based on birds, insects, and fish before coming up with something close to the final design. Glen Keane, supervising animator for the Beast, refined the design by going to the zoo and studying the animals on which the Beast was based.Trousdale, Gary; Wise, Kirk; Hahn, Don; and Menken, Alan (2002). DVD audio commentary for Beauty and the Beast: Special Edition. Walt Disney Home Entertainment Benson commented, "There's a rage and torment in this character I've never been asked to use before." The filmmakers commented that "everybody was big fee-fi-fo-fum and gravelly" while Benson had the "big voice and the warm, accessible side" so that "you could hear the prince beneath the fur". Richard White as Gaston, a hunter who vies for Belle's hand in marriage. He serves as a foil personality to the Beast, who was originally as egotistical as Gaston prior to saving Belle from the wolves. Gaston's supervising animator, Andreas Deja, was pressed by Jeffrey Katzenberg to make Gaston handsome in contrast to the traditional appearance of a Disney villain, an assignment he found difficult at first. In the beginning, Gaston is depicted as more of a narcissist than a villain, but later he threatens to put Maurice in a mental institution if Belle does not marry him, and eventually leads all the villagers to kill the Beast, enraged that Belle would love a beast more than him. Jerry Orbach as Lumière, the kind-hearted but rebellious French-accented maître d' of the Beast's castle, who has been transformed into a candelabra. He has a habit of disobeying his master's strict rules, sometimes causing tension between them, but the Beast often turns to him for advice. He is depicted as flirtatious, as he is frequently seen with the Featherduster and immediately takes a liking to Belle. A running gag throughout the film is Lumière burning Cogsworth. David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth, the Beast's majordomo, the head butler of the household staff and Lumière's best friend, who has been turned into a mantel clock. He is extremely loyal to the Beast so as to save himself and anyone else any trouble, often leading to friction between himself and Lumière. Stiers also narrates the film's prologue. Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts, the housekeeper, turned into a teapot, who takes a motherly attitude toward Belle. The filmmakers went through several names for Mrs. Potts, such as "Mrs. Chamomile", before Ashman suggested the use of simple and concise names for the household objects. Bradley Pierce as Chip, Mrs. Potts's son, who has been transformed into a teacup. Originally intended to only have one line, the filmmakers were impressed with Pierce's performance and expanded the character's role significantly, eschewing a mute Music Box character. Rex Everhart as Maurice, Belle's inventor father. The villagers see him as insane for crafting devices believed impossible to construct in reality, but his loyal daughter believes he will be famous one day. Jesse Corti as LeFou, Gaston's sidekick. He looks up to Gaston as his hero, and sings a song with the other villagers to cheer him up. His name is French for "The Madman" and also a phonetic play on "The Fool". Jo Anne Worley as the Wardrobe, the castle's authority over fashion, and a former opera singer, who has been turned into a wardrobe. The character of Wardrobe was introduced by visual development artist Sue C. Nichols to the then entirely male cast of servants, and was originally a more integral character named "Madame Armoire". Wardrobe is known as "Madame de la Grande Bouche" (Madame Big Mouth) in the stage adaptation of the film and is the only major enchanted object character whose human form does not appear in the film. Hal Smith as Philippe, Belle's horse. Mary Kay Bergman and Kath Soucie as the Bimbettes, a trio of village maidens who constantly fawn over Gaston. They are known as the "Silly Girls" or "Les Filles de la Ville" (the village girls) in the stage adaptation. Jack Angel, Phil Proctor, Bill Farmer, and Patrick Pinney as Tom, Dick, Stanley, and Gramps, respectively, Gaston and LeFou's circle of friends. Brian Cummings as the Stove, the castle's chef who has been transformed into a stove. He is named Chef Bouche in 1998's Belle's Magical World. Alvin Epstein as the Bookseller, the owner of a book shop in Belle's village. Tony Jay as Monsieur D'Arque, the sadistic warden of the Asylum de Loons. Gaston bribes him to help in his plan to blackmail Belle. Alec Murphy as the Baker, the owner of a bakery in Belle's village.