by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, 1991.
Starring Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, Paige O’Hara, Jerry Orbach, Bradley Pierce, David Ogden Stiers, Richard White.
Rating: 8/10, 7.5/10.
OK, so Disney’s Beauty & The Beast came out eleven years ago, and I’m only seeing it now. I’m a loser, what’re you going to do?
I have a feeling this review is going to sound negative, and I want to make sure right off that everyone knows: I loved this movie. Loved it. OK? Are we all set in that? This is not a negative review.
But...
Well, everyone loved Beauty & The Beast much more than I did. Don’t believe me? Ask the dishes! No, just kidding. Don’t believe me? Read Roger Ebert’s review (or, y’know, both of them). He positively gushes. I mean, he has a habit of doing that, and we all love him for it, but I mean, on and on about how this is the best Disney movie since the lightbulb, and how it’s just one of the best movies ever, and so forth. And I’m like, eh. It was definitely very, very good. A very good Disney movie. Possibly one of the best Disney movies. But not so wondrously special. I mean, Disney makes really good movies pretty consistently (I mean, if you disregard, like, Snow Dogs), as much as I hate to admit it.
I don’t really have all that much to say about it, I suppose. Belle and the Beast are both great characters, Belle a strong woman for a change, the Beast a truly tortured soul, trying his best but overcoming great difficulties. Gaston isn’t one of the better villains, but he’s suitable, and the song about how much better he is than everyone else is great ("I’m especially good at expectorating"). And Mrs. Potts, well, I don’t think I could ever say anything bad about Angela Lansbury, but what an awesome character. And the non-Celine Dionized version of the song, "Beauty and the Beast" that she sings is great. But, honestly, my favorite thing in the movie? The footstool doggy guy. That was really cute and funny.
Not much more to say, really. Disney cartoons tend to do this to me: I really like them, but still somehow feel vaguely disappointed, and then have nothing to say later on. And I don’t know why.
roger ebert wrote two reviews of this movie. this is the first.
and this is the second.