Continuity Errors
(C) Continuity Error:
This involoves story points, how things look, or even the layout of the setting. They are more commonly called "inconsistencies" on rec.arts.disney. Examples: direction of a door's swing, paths characters take to destinations, etc.
Type: C Where: Beginning narration
Error: In the beginning of the movie, the beast destroys all the mirrors in the castle. As the movie progresses, there are shattered mirrors all over the place. But right before the ballroom scene, the beast is seated in front of a mirror.
Thoughts: Maybe the beast treasures this mirror dearly and decides not to break it.
Correction (?): Dottie and a few other people asked when the beast break all the mirrors. I personally don't really know if the beast did break the mirrors. I gotta watch the movie again sometime.
Contributed by: Dennis Sundquist
Type: C Where: Beginning narration/"Be Our Guest" sequence
Error: Beast must break the spell by his 21st year, but since Lumiere implies that they have been under the spell for 10 years ("Ten years we have been rusting"), that would mean that the Prince was only about 11 when he turned the crone away and was cursed. His clawed portrait--the one Belle found while exploring the West Wing--does not look like that of an 11 year old.
Thoughts: Perhaps Lumiere was exaggerating a little. Or since the Prince was by all indications anti-social, maybe the 10 years includes several years before the enchantment. Presumably, they didn't have many guests then either. This means, of course, that the spell had been cast more recently than 10 years.
Also, there has been more mail coming in about how time has seemed to stop inside the castle walls therefore they don't age under the spell.
Related Errors: Chip would not have been born before the spell, which has led to rather frightening discussions of teapot's reproduction on rec.arts.disney. There is also the question of where the Prince's parents are, which isn't strictly an error, but a curiosity.
More Thoughts: Oh, this is a good one from alai. *Quote* "...the parents could have been out of town for the time being, and then scared away by some beast they presumed had eaten his son."
Some more thoughts: Dottie says, *Quote* "I think that the spell was cast when the Beast was 21 -- and he had the 21 years following to break the spell by changing his 'tude. This would take care of the teapot's kid as well."
Even more thoughts: This one's from Lady Belle. "Ok--I was going through your errors page and it states that the Beast has to break the curse before the 21st year.True the picture he rips up in the opening sequence does not look like that of an 11 yr old boy.On your page there is a theory that states that he was 21 when the spell was cast and had 21 years to break it. If so,then his age and Belle's would have been too wildly different.That would make him 42 when Belle(as put forth by Disney officials)is supposed to be about 16 or 17.I know in that day and age it was common for younger women to marry much older guys,but a 17yr old marrying a 42 yr old in a disney film is a bit much, no?"
Original Error Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Pooh says: Wow! So many people write me about this one! There are so many different thoughts and ideas that now I'm all confused. But keep them coming!
Type: C Where:The opening scene with Belle.
Error: The basket disappears during her scene.
Contributed by: Craig Bullock
Type: C Where: Belle starts for the village in the morning.
Error: There is a well in front of the cottage; it never appears later in the film.
Contributed by: SQUID
Type: C Where: Belle starts for the village in the morning.
Error: The pigsty was never in front of Belle's house before.
Contributed by: Dottie
Type: C Where: "Belle" sequence
Error: When Belle walks through the archway and on her left are the 3 girls behind a water pump. When we see them again they are on her right and the pump has gone, it is not on either side of the archway.
Contributed by: Dr. Bernard Street
Type: C Where: Philippe takes Belle to Beast's castle.
Error: Philippe has never been to the castle himself, so he can not have known where it is.
Thoughts: They could have found it by following the road that he and Maurice took earlier--it probably lead to the castle, but this fact was not explicitly shown.
Contributed by: SQUID
Type: C Where: When Chip tells his mother that "there's a girl in the castle!"
Error: Mrs. Potts is washing the dishes in the kitchen and there are many tall windows. In all the other kitchen scenes, the tall windows are not there anymore.
Contributed by: Alyssa
Type: C Where: Beginning/Belle checks out the West Wing.
Error: The portrait of the Prince was slashed differently in the two scenes it appears in.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: When Belle wanders into the West Wing.
Error: More doors When Belle explores the castle and finds the Beast's room, the door opens outwards into the corridor. It also opens outwards when Mrs Potts opens it. But when Gaston is hunting for the Beast, he opens the door inwards into the room just before he shoots him.
Contributed by: Amanda
Type: C Where: General: first look in "Belle" sequence.
Error: (Chris D. Smith) Belle's fingernails are not the same length in different scenes.
Thoughts: The general trend is longer nails as the film progresses. So it could be said that her nails grow with time! :-) More likely, it is a result of the fact that Belle had two supervisors--most major characters have only one--working on either side of the continent.
Contributed by: Chris D. Smith cdsmith@eos.ncsu.edu
Type: C Where: "Belle" sequence.
Error: Gaston is carrying his gun one moment, is without it in another take, and then has it again, all throughout the sequence. This is especially noticeable near the end while he is climbing over and through buildings to get to Belle.
Contributed by: SQUID
Type: C Where: "Belle" sequence: Belle is with the sheep/Gaston.
Error: Gaston says that there are no pictures in Belle's book. When she is reading to the sheep at the fountain, there is a large picture in her book.
Thoughts: Gaston might have heen expecting pictures on every page with large, "Look Mom! I can read now!" print, rather than a few pictures here and there. It has also been suggested that Gaston was looking for a centerfold by the way he held the book. :-)
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney; centerfold idea by Rob Flax raf4s@faraday.elas.virginia.edu
Type: C Where: When Gaston complains about the "image-free" book.
Error: Gaston tosses the book over and it falls in mud. Belle picks it up and wipes it with her dress. There isn't even the slightest stain on her dress!
Contributed by: marie
Type: C Where: Gaston proposes to Belle.
Error: The door to her cottage is left open. It is mysteriously closed when she backs into it and opens it for Gaston to take flight.
Thoughts: Maybe there's a slow spring mechanism of some sort that closes the door(?). Maurice IS an inventor, after all.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: Gaston proposes to Belle.
Error: The door swings outward most of the time in this sequence. Most of the rest of the time, it opens inward. Especially note when Belle opens it INWARD to put Gaston's fetid boots out.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where:When Gaston and LeFou were in the tavern.
Error: The chair Gaston is sitting in is on top of a bear rug. The rug seems to disappear in other certain (camera) angles during the music.
Contributed by: Craig Bullock
Thoughts: In the Gaston Scene, not only does the Bear Skin rug move, but so does the chair. Here's the low down on the scene: At the end of the first part of the song, before Maurice comes in, the guys pick up Gaston in his chair, carry him away from the fire, and drop the chair on Lefou, then gaston stands up for the Grand Finale. Then maurice comes in, the chair is back by the fire again, Gaston is suddenly back in the chair, and the chair is on a bear skin rug, not Lefou after the guys help Maurice out, the rug is by the fire. Lefou is under the chair, after Gaston pulls out Lefou, the chair is on the rug again!
Contributed by: Tigger 007
Type: C Where: Maurice runs into the tavern, pleading for help.
Error: The skinny fellow with missing teeth is not always missing the same teeth.
Contributed by: Robert Cook rcook@sdcc13.ucsd.edu
Type: C Where: Belle is in her room and Mrs. Potts pays her a visit.
Error: Chip's contents keep changing: full, nothing, half-full, on and on.
Explanation for Chip's contents: The reason Chip's tea keeps on changing amounts is because Mrs. Potts pours tea into him to make him full. Then Chip's bubble trick and his hopping around makes him lose tea. From dehoyos
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: Before the "Be Our Guest" sequence.
Error: When Lumiere is
introducing himself in the kitchen, his "hand candles" are lit, then unlit, then lit again.
Contributed by: Dennis Sundquist
Type: C Where: The "Be Our Guest" sequence.
Error: When Belle goes into the kitchen for food, the door she enters from stays open into the kitchen. When Lumiere walks out, the door is closed and he opens it the other way.
Thoughts: It could have been a swinging door, but no one closed it.
Contributed by: Alyssa
Type: C Where:The tankards sing in the "Be Our Guest" sequence.
Error: The amount of beer in the tankards keep changing.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: Belle ventures into the West Wing.
Error: The West Wing is to her LEFT as she ascends the stairs. When she is frightened by Beast, she runs out of the RIGHT side.
Correction (?): Contributed by Dottie. She is not running from the West Wing, rather, from the main stairs in the front hall -- the ones in front of the door.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: Belle ventures into the West Wing.
Error: The West Wing is an open space until she reaches the huge main doors of Beast's chamber. In the "Beauty and the Beast" sequence, there are average-sized doors near the staircase on both wings.
Error error (?): Belle and the Beast, in the "Beauty and the Beast" scene, are not descending from their rooms, (which would, however, make out that Belle is living in the West Wing) but from a different section of the castle. This is contributed by Dottie.
Contributed by: SQUID
Type: C Where: Beast protects Belle from the wolves.
Error: The wolves concentrate their attack on Beast's right shoulder. When the fighting is over, Beast is wounded on his forearm. This seems to be an inconsistency.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: When Lefou and Gaston come for the first time to get Belle's father.
Error: After they get to Belle's house, they find out that Belle's father is not there. Gaston picks up Lefou and storms out the open door. In the next scene, they are outside and the door is closed, Gaston didn't close it.
Contributed by: Alyssa
Type: C Where: Leading into the "Something There" sequence.
Error: Beast's face is covered with porridge, then it isn't, then it is again.
Thoughts: This kind of "error" pops up quite frequently. I think that the Disney artists don't consider it as big a deal as some of us do. :-)
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
This is interesting... In the scene where Belle and Beast are outside in the snow feeding birds and tossing snowballs, listen to the words carefully as they are being sung. Starting when Belle hides behind the tree. At the line, "True, he's no Prince Charming...", you will hear her voice crack on the word 'prince'. And it's exactly the sort of sound you would likely make when trying to stifle a laugh. It makes perfect sense how this could happen, since voice-overs in movies (animated or live action) are done with the voice actors watching the scene being played back. Evidently, Paige O'Hara found the sight of the Beast covered with birds as funny as most people do.
Just one thing, you may not hear this little crack in her voice on some TV sets. It's a fairly subtle detail and to be honest, the speakers in a lot of TV sets just aren't up to the task.
Contributed by: Chris
Response to this: "Disney record the voices first, before the animation is drawn, so this is impossible. The animators draw afterwards, to suit the soundtrack. Every "The Making of..." program shows this process, with film footage of the voice actors recording the soundtrack in a studio before the animation is begun. My guess is the director asked her to do it, and the animators later drew the scene to suit." ---from Bronwyn
Type: C Where: Near the end of the sequence, "Something There."
Error: Belle and the Beast sit down in front of the fire to read a book. It's the same room Belle's father sat in when he first came. The "master's chair" is gone.
Thoughts: This is from Liz: "The master's chair may have been pushed back or removed from the scene by servants so Belle and Beast could have room there to "get a little closer." Also, it may have been for the benefit of the scene...more flexibility in the shots of them by the fire, i.e. back view of the two."
Contributed by: Alyssa
Type: C Where: Gaston is whipping the mob into a frenzied blood lust.
Error: The mirror in his belt seems to disappear once or twice, especially noticeable when he retrieves it (to show it to Le Fou) when it apparently isn't there!
Thoughts: The perspective of the location of the mirror was exaggerated throughout the sequence. That is, when Gaston twists, the mirror moves a little more than we'd normally expect it to. The mirror could have been completely behind his back when we expected to be able to see it.
Contributed by: Todd Liebenow
Type: C Where: During the mob.
Error: When Gaston is trying to convince the mob that
Belle's father is crazy, Belle uses the mirror to show them that there
really is a beast. Well, one minute she has her apron on and the next
she doesn't, then it's there again.
Contributed by: Kate
Type: C Where: The fight between the castle servants and the invaders.
Error: The Pooch (footstool) takes Le Fou's shoe from his foot, but in some scenes he still has both shoes anyway. Sometimes the footstool seems to lose it himself.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: Gaston shoots Beast in the back with a bow.
Error: The arrow disappears in the next scene with Beast.
Thoughts: It has been suggested that the arrow had hit a shoulder blade and was therefore shallow. This would explain why Beast wasn't seriously injured. The arrow simply fell our or broke off when Beast fell out.
Contributed by: rec.arts.disney
Type: C Where: The fight scene between Gaston and the Beast.
Error: During the fight, Gaston's quiver has arrows, then it doesn't, then it does.
Thoughts: They fell out during the fight, then Gaston happens to roll back across the arrows and they fall back "in" the quiver.
Contributed by: Richard
