RocShemp

12 Questions Disney Forgot To Answer About "Beauty And The Beast"

I'll be honest, I love this movie and, other than the staff, I never questioned any of this before.

Although 6 to 11 are mostly nitpicks.

dugan

Isn't that also He-Man's real name?

RocShemp

Yup.

Obi-Wanma

#'s 7 and 8 (at least the part about who the hell are all those other cups that look exactly the same as Chip) have definitely ocurred to me before

rocket1312

While I agree that a lot of these are nitpicking, these questions generally reflect my overall opinion of this particular story. None of it ever made any sense to me. The biggest issue for me has always been why Belle would ever fall in love with the beast. This is a weakness of every version of the story I've ever seen. She'd have to have some serious Stockholm syndrome going on for this story to work. I'm sure the same could be said about a lot of the Disney classics (or fairy tales in general), but I was always doubly annoyed by this one because it got (and still gets) so much acclaim. Give me The Little Mermaid over this any day.

Pizza

it's all nitpicks if even that. Some of it is just tiny tiny minutia that is hardly worth thinking about it, such as Chip. He's a young kid turned into a cup. My thought is he didn't age because he was a glass cup and glass cups don't age the same way as people/animals. If you want to argue all this stuff then there isn't any story or movie you'll be able to enjoy, especially if it's a fairy tale or fantasy.

Brack

I like that the writer of the list doesn't understand what the word bloom means. The rose will bloom until the age of 21, but that has nothing to do with how quickly the rose petals will fall.

Supermallet

While I don't have as much of a problem with Belle falling in love with the Beast, I too never understood why B&tB received so much acclaim, when it's bookended by Little Mermaid and Aladdin, two films I consider to be superior, with The Lion King, the best of all the revived Disney classics, coming after Aladdin.

Michael Corvin

#5 - the portrait of Prince Adam never occurred to me, but that seems like the only legit continuity issue in a list full of nitpicks.

Brack

What's nice about Beauty and the Beast, aside from the amazing songs and well-written story, is that there is no real villain at the beginning. Gaston is a bit of a bimbo. He only slowly shows how evil he is near the end. I guess Beast was the villain at first, but he kind of had to be to make the story work. The other 3 movies made it all too clear who the villain was from jump, being mainly ugly and evil. Gaston was neither at first. The other three shared the same villain plot, to have power or to be king.

I love all four movies mentioned, but there's a bit more maturity when it comes to Beauty and the Beast. The other love stories aren't nearly as deep or convincing. Plus it's the only one of the four that has two leads. The rest are supporting characters for the one lead.

moviefan2k4

Here's my thoughts...

1) The opening narration says the magic rose would bloom until the Beast's 21st year...but we're not told whether that includes his life before the transformation. It could easily be interpreted that his relationship with Belle began ten years after the castle's last visitor, since the rose withered more quickly. This also explains the painting of him as an adult, which Belle later finds shredded.

2) No one knows what effect Belle's touch would've had on the magic rose, but the Beast's reaction implies it may have somehow made the curse permanent.

Most of the other concerns can be explained away by my first paragraph.

Supermallet

I don't know, it always was clear to me from frame one that Gaston was the villain of the piece. And at least the other three have legitimate reasons for what they do. Gaston is just a massive, massive douchebag.

As for there being two main characters, okay, I'll buy that, but I prefer Ariel and Jasmine over Belle, and Aladdin and Simba over Beast.

I just think that of all the Disney revival classics, Beauty and the Beast is the least of them, while getting the most praise. And don't get me started on Celine Dion.

Brack

Maybe clear to you, but never obvious enough at that point in the film to know what his character was capable of. He just came of as a huge narcissistic fool.

When is it legitimate to do evil?

Belle is more realistic and smarter than the other women. Beast doesn't have as much fun as Aladdin or Simba, but that's kind of the point.

The praise is because it's more mature and romantic than those other films. It's the only animated movie to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. Simply a fluke? I don't buy it.

resinrats

Its probably it. However, that makes Beast about 40+ years old compared to Belle's 20 +/- (although probably just 18). He's old enough to be her dad.

Pizza

I give up.

Supermallet

I didn't say it was legitimate to do evil, what I'm saying is that the other villains have actual reasons for what they do, as opposed to just "I'm a dick, look at me."

Belle is more realistic? I guess, in that she's not a mermaid or a talking lioness. I don't recall Jasmine reading too many books, but she's more than capable of holding her own and seems pretty smart to me.

I don't really know what makes the movie more mature than the others. And more romantic than "A Whole New World" in Aladdin? Nah.

It is the only animated film nominated for best picture, and as we know, the Academy never gets anything wrong ever.

Goat3001

I always watched Beauty and the Beast as a tragedy. Gaston, a legend in the town, goes after the horrid Beast for kidnapping a sweet father and daughter from his village. Then he loses his life trying to save her and the crazy bitch isn't even grateful.

Brack

That sounds like Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. He always roots for the villains.

Brack

Gaston wanted Belle for himself. She was his biggest challenge. He felt threatened by Beast. Those aren't reasons?

Jasmine didn't know Aladdin was the "prince" for a bit. She's smart all right.

A Whole New World, while nice to watch, isn't as intimate or feel as earned as the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast, and it was just one scene. Plus Belle and Beast weren't instantly attracted to each other (they didn't even like each other) like every other Disney movie. That makes it more mature, or at the very least the most complex of these films. Belle didn't even know she loved Beast until she thought she was going to lose him.

How do you get a nomination wrong? Isn't it all based on opinion anyway? There's no right or wrong here. Just pointing out a fact that an animated film was liked enough to get a nomination, nothing changes that no matter what your opinion is of the Academy.

It's fine if you don't like the movie as much as the others, not trying to convince you otherwise, but you talk as if it's a mystery why the film is so well liked or regarded. The others feel more like kids movies, that might not be fair, but that seems to be the case.

Supermallet

I'm just disagreeing with a lot of your assertions. Beauty and the Beast is very much a kid's film, and scarcely more mature or complex than the films that surround it. And if Lois Lane can't figure out that Clark Kent is Superman for decades, then I think we can forgive Jasmine for not figuring out that the street urchin she met once in a marketplace is also this lavishly decked out prince.

Brack

It'd be one thing if I was the only person ever who made such assertions. I'm not. There are plenty of reviews and people out there that agree with this notion of it being more than a kids film and that this film actually deals with a real romantic relationship at its heart, and doesn't have a stereotypical Meet Cute, love at first sight like most of the other films, specifically The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. This is what resonated with people, and left a lasting impression.

Since when was Lois Lane in these movies? Just because one girl is smarter in comparison to another doesn't make them smart by default. This wasn't a Counte of Monte Cristo disguise by any stretch of the imagination, or even a lengthy amount of time passing in Aladdin from from when they first met. I know she meets suitors all the time, but cmon.

The thing that bothers me is how you consider the other films mentioned as "superior", while I see them as companion pieces for a time when Disney could do no wrong in providing entertaining animated musicals that people wanted to see and love dearly to this day.

It's a shame about Howard Ashman. Who knows what he could have done with these movies. The later musicals just felt forced or stiff. The Lion King did okay without him, but Pocahontas, Hunchback, etc, just didn't have the magic or lyrics that propelled those earlier films into memorable, loveable films. Then Pixar came along and the musicals went mostly bye bye. Enchanted was the closest thing to a Disney musical like the early 90's ones.

Jay G.

To me, The Little Mermaid is still a little rough around the edges, with Disney reviving the classic fairy tale formula and revising it for a new generation, but no quite as solid as their later efforts. Also, it makes some major changes to the original story, subverting some of its themes. So while it may be a good movie, it's not a good adaptation.

Aladdin, on the other hand, is very accomplished on a technical, musical, and story level, but just feels lighter and less substantial. It veers too far into levity, with Robin William's Genie being the prime example. It's a great romp, but doesn't have the emotional resonance of B&B.

B&B is Disney firing on all cylinders. It's got great music, a good story, it's fun and silly at points but still has emotional weight and resonance, with just a hint of heartbreak.

Additionally, I feel it should be pointed out the difference between understanding an opinion, and agreeing with an opinion. One can disagree with an opinion and still understand it. Supermallet's original post premised a lack of understanding:
I think Brack has provided enough reasons to understand why someone may prefer B&B over the others, and that it's the opinion of many.

Obi-Wanma

Actually, it's not anymore. Up and Toy Story 3 were both nominated.

Jay G.

Both of those were nominated after the number of Best Picture nominations jumped from 5 to 10, so the barrier of entry was lower. B&B was the only animated film to be nominated under the more restrictive number. More to the point, neither Little Mermaid, Aladdin, nor Lion King received a Best Picture nomination.

bluetoast

The numbers were less restrictive in the past, ranging from 8-11 Best Picture nominees from 1931-1943, which was during the release of three of Disney's biggest movies ever: Snow White, Pinocchio and Bambi. To be fair, Snow White did get a special achievement Oscar.