Beauty and the Beast

This animated classic is the thirtieth feature-length animated film produced by Disney Studios, based on the novel by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont. It’s the second fairy tale themed film after the 1989 release of the Little Mermaid, and is the only animated film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.


The film begins with the tale of a young prince who refuses to help an old beggar who offers him a rose in exchange for shelter, disgusted by her appearance. Though she warns him not to judge people by their looks, the Prince ignores her. The old beggar then reveals that she is really a beautiful enchantress, and seeing the coldness of the prince’s heart, magically transforms him into a grotesque beast and transforms his servants into household items matching their station in life. His once majestic castle becomes cold and dark; a prison for the miserable Prince. The Prince must learn to truly love and be loved in return before the last petal of the sorceress’s enchanted rose falls, or remain a lonely, hideous beast forever.

Ten years pass, and a pretty but bookish young woman, Belle, has just moved to a nearby town with her father, Maurice. She is relentlessly courted by the local muscle-bound lothario, Gaston, but the girl is not impressed by the vain brute’s obnoxious advances, preferring to be left alone with her books. On an overnight excursion to an inventor’s fair, Belle’s father, a flighty inventor himself, loses his way and is set upon by wolves, chasing him through the night till he arrives at a dark, foreboding castle. Exhausted, he enters the castle and is greeted by the help: Lumiere, a suave candelabra, the matronly teapot Mrs. Potts and her shy son Chip the teacup, the sultry french feather-duster Babette, and Cogsworth the clock.


The Beast soon discovers the trespasser and in a rage, locks the old inventor in the castle tower. Worried about her father, Belle heads out in search of Maurice when his horse returns home without him. She soon finds herself at the desolate castle. Discovering her father in the tower, she is caught by the Beast before she is able free him. Pleading with the Beast and offering herself in exchange for her father’s freedom, the Beast agrees, releasing Maurice and forcefully sending him home aboard an enchanted, spider-like coach. The Beast gives Belle free reign of the castle, allowing her to roam anywhere she wished but forbidding her from entering the West Wing of the castle. Lumiere quietly suggests that the Beast should invite the young woman to dinner, but after she refuses the dinner invitation, the enraged Beast departs, informing the staff that if she will not eat with him, then she will starve. Later, the staff secretly prepares an elaborate dinner and entertainment for the girl against the Beast’s orders.

When Maurice returns to the town, he goes to the local tavern and frantically tries to enlist help in rescuing his daughter from the Beast, but the townspeople don’t believe the eccentric inventor’s story, and Gaston decides that he will blackmail Belle into marrying him by threatening to have her father thrown in the looney bin.

Back at the castle, during a tour she is given by Lumiere and Cogsworth, Belle sneaks into the West Wing and finds herself in a dark, messy room with a torn painting of a handsome young man and the beggar’s enchanted rose in a glass case. The Beast discovers her and flies into a rage, tearing the room apart as Belle attempts to flee the castle, but she is attacked by the ravenous wolves. The angry Beast rushes after Belle and saves her, but not before being wounded by the wolves.

Grateful to the Beast for saving her life, she tends to the Beast’s wounds, and the animosity between the two slowly begins to fade. After some time, They become friends and Belle and the Beast enjoy an elaborate dinner together and a romantic dance in the ballroom. Belle still misses her father, however, and with the help of an enchanted mirror, she learns that her father is exhasted and lost in the forest. Having slowly fallen in love with the girl, the Beast allows her to leave and rescue her father. Having found him, Belle and Maurice return to the town.

Gaston and his cronies immediately try to take Maurice to the looney bin, and Gaston offers to release him if Belle agrees to marry him, but she adamantly refuses. Belle shows the townspeople the image of the Beast in the enchanted mirror, terrifying them although she explains that the Beast is kind. The spurned Gaston tells the frightened townspeople that clearly, Belle is as crazy as her father, and calls upon the townsfolk to join him in storming the castle and killing the Beast. He then has Belle and Maurice locked in the cellar to prevent them from returning to the castle and warning the Beast.

As Gaston and the townspeople head to the castle, Belle and her father escape the cellar with the help of Chip the teacup, who had hidden himself in Belle’s bag. At the castle, Lumiere and the rest of the castle staff battle the townspeople who had barged in through the front door as Gaston searches for the Beast, finding him sitting alone and dejected in the West Wing. Believing that Belle had left him for good, the Beast had lost the will to fight, and gets thrown out the window and onto the roof, but upon hearing Belle calling to him from below and seeing that she and her father had returned to the castle, he regains his strength, ferociously fighting Gaston until the man pleads for his life.


Having defeated Gaston, The Beast orders him to leave and never return. As the Beast goes to greet Belle, Gaston sneaks up behind him and stabs him in the back, but then slips and falls from the balcony, disappearing into the chasm below. Writhing in agony, the Beast’s wounds appear to be mortal, and he falls unconscious.

The teary-eyed Belle tells the Beast that she loves him just as the last petal falls from the enchanted rose, breaking the curse. The Beast is transformed back into a human prince, and they finally kiss. The staff are transformed back into their old human selves, and the castle is once again bright and majestic. The film ends as the happy couple dances in the ballroom as the servants look on.

Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney feature-length animated film to use computer animation, encouraging further research into the new medium. It was also nominated for several Academy Awards for the memorable music, winning the award for Best Original Score, and Best Original Song.