BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Hey! Well its time for another deep look into the halls of Disney Animated classics. I’m sure we all remember that ‘tale as old as time’ right? Well today I will be taking an in-depth look into the classic feature that brought music and magic to the 90s-Beauty and the Beast.

This 1991 classic won 3 Golden Globe Awards and was the FIRST ANIMATED FEATURE to win the Best Picture Academy Award. 

This story has roots from diverse cultures including Greece, Italy, France, India and our very own Africa ofcourse.

The master of animation himslef Walt Disney, took a look at the story of Beauty and the Beast in the 1930s and it was also looked over in the 1950s. However, the task of bringing this visual story to life was way ahead of its time back then and was then placed back on the shelves. During the reign of Disney’s nephew-Roy E. Disney-as Executive Vice President, the Disney studio hit its period of renaissance thanks to the beauty and power of the classic-The Little Mermaid. 

This beautiful story ushered in the new age of Disney animation leading Disney studios back to the tale of Beauty and the Beast.

It was clearly a huge talent to adapt the story of a beauty who falls for a beast. The animators faced challenges in adequately recreating the powerful story.

Howard Ashman and Alan Menken-two talented musical geniuses- that had previously worked with the Disney studios on the Little Mermaid lent their talent again to the Disney studios. They wrked hand in hand with the story team to create music that propelled the plot and enhanced character development.

The original story of the Beauty and the Beast only had two characters-the Beauty and the Beast obviously. Hence, the filmmakers, had to build on this foundation to make the story more appealing and that is exactly what they did.

Belle-the French translation for ‘beautiful’, adequately explains the female lead character. To make Belle more interesting, Disney storytellers made here eccentric as shown through her clear love of books and adventure.

Beast-Well this loud but lovable charcacter was a mixture of personalities. Hero/Villian, Victo/Victim and so on. The studio worked really hard to convey the multifaceted features of the Beast’s personality by communicating his thoughts through his rich blue eyes. Clever isn’t it?

Well what about Lumiere and Ms Potts? The suave candle stick and matronly teapot are only a few of the enchanting objects that Disney animators used to move te story forward and add warmth and colour to an otherwise depressingly gloomy tale.

I think most people would agree to that Beauty and the Beast is a tale of human perceptions. For me, Gaston portrays this feature of the story through his rogue good looks and yet raw and cringing egotistical personality.

Well, Disney animators clearly had their time cut out for them bringing these rich, complex characters to life.

The young artists of the Disney studios that had joined the company in the 1970s had grown into genuinely gifted animators.

The goal with Belle was to communicate her heart and soul which I think is safe to say was done really well through her deep, yearning songs of hope and dreams like ‘Little Town’ and ‘Something There’

With the Beast, the animators faced the challenge of showing his complex emotional personality.

Cogsworth and Ms Potts are interesting examples of the ingenuity of the Disney animators. For Cogsworth, he was visualised as a clock becuase of his desire for order and promptness and Ms Potts cheery round motherly features where accentuated through her rich facial expressions.

This timeless classic was directed by the young Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.

The actors behind the believeable voices are Donna Paige O’Hara for Belle, Robby Benson for Beast and Richard White for Gaston.

 Here’s to one of the best animation pictures of all time-Beauty and the Beast.

Tolu Falode.