"For Who Could Ever Learn to Love a Beast?"

So I recently have been listening to The Little Mermaid Broadway soundtrack (I have no idea what brought this on). I've been feeling really nostalgic lately, probably cuz I'm going to be leaving for college in August, so I've been focusing all my energy on my childhood love of animated Disney movies. My favorite is Beauty and the Beast, with The Little Mermaid as a close second. However, I think I have seen The Little Mermaid more times than Beauty and the Beast cuz I rented it so much as a child.

I've always liked Belle better than the other Disney princesses. She's so different from them. 1.) She's not blonde or blue-eyed. 2.) She thinks for herself and doesn't let anyone tell her what to do. I used to humor myself when I was in kindergarten, thinking I looked like Belle. Not really. But I did wear my hair in a ponytail a lot, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Another thing I like about Beauty and the Beast is its dark atmosphere. Really, if you think about it, fairy tales are kind of dark and gothic. I've always liked the darkness of some movies. It works with Batman and it works with this. It is kinda intense, as well. it doesn't exactly deal with things light-heartedly. The climactic ending with the fight between Gaston and the Beast is like a live action fight scene, and it does not hold back. The whole movie is shot like a live action film. The transitions and angles are great examples. There are smash cuts and crane shots. It reveals everything through camera shots and scenes, and not all at once like in some animated features.

Beauty and the Beast is a different fairy tale. It shows that a prince is not always good-looking and perfect. The Beast is kinda an anti-hero. He has a bad temper and is selfish (in the beginning). He doesn't have a name in the movie either, but I did just find out that it is Adam. (What kind of name is Adam for a Prince???) Anyway, it's a good lesson for young kids that beauty is skin deep, and being attractive doesn't automatically make you a good person.

Take Gaston, for instance. He was evil (hopefully, every villain is). Though his manly vainness did add some funny comic relief. Also Belle proves that the beautiful people can be smart too. I don't know of too many, however...

This movie has something for everyone. It's one of those rare films that pleases and satisfies both children and adults because is can be seen at two levels. Also Disney wanted to promote it that way by distributing two posters. One to appeal to adults; the other, children. (Top of page: adult poster; Below: kids).
The film satisfies the older crowd with something they love and miss from their childhood because this film reminds them of this. It's entertaining and emotional, and it embraces a more classic Hollywood approach on romance than is done today. Forget sex scenes and embrace genuine romance. For children, it's pure entertainment. For young children, they will not grasp the romance aspect but it involves singing/dancing, talking objects and magic.

There's also a really funny line ad-libbed by David Ogden Stiers aka Cogsworth, when the Beast is asking him and Lumiere what he should give Belle.

Beast: I want to do something for her. But what?
Cogsworth: Well, there's the usual things: flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep.

I thought it was funny.

Beauty and the Beast strikes a cord for some, myself included. I watched this the other night (I haven't watched it in years and I should have been trying to sleep, I had work the next day) and I became engrossed in the movie like I did when I was young, but this time I watched it with a more mature eye. I admit I am a sucker for romance and cried at the end. Shut up, I admitted it!

This is the first animated movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. A cartoon being nominated for the most prestigious awards a film can get? That never happens, but it does go to show that this film is not just a kid's movie. It's a movie, period.