Beauty and the Beast (1991)

 

This is some high-class Disney right here, folks. Hailed as a classic and rightfully so, this ticks all the right boxes with everything a great animated film should be. 

Honestly, I could stop right there, but that would make this one of the shortest reviews ever. And you don't write reviews because you want to stop early. We're all a bit egotrippers like that. 

Belle lives in a quaint French town and is regarded as a 'weird' girl, because she loves to read a lot and has interests that lie far outside of everything most people are thinking about. You know, reading books stimulates your fantasy and makes you realize there is more to life dan the mundane at times; hence 'weird'. The local hunter and manly man Gaston wants to make her his wife, only because she is the one girl who wouldn't look at him twice and you desire what you can't have. 

When Belle's father gets lost in the woods, he comes across a massive castle and after entering in need of shelter, he is captured by the master of the castle: a monstrous beast. Belle goes after her father and negotiates, placing herself in her father's place at the mercy of the Beast. Little does she know that the Beast is a prince cursed to remain like this unless he opens up his heart and discovers true love.

This is a fairytale, after all. 

Things get off to a rocky start, but after a while, Belle and the Beast grow closer. But then Belle has to go and help her father. When the villagers (Gaston, more like) want to send her dad off to the looney bin, Belle has no choice but to prove that the Beast is real and now the villagers set off to kill this monster that suddenly seems to want to eat them all, even though they have been living fairly close to one another for more than 10 years and nothing ever happened. Lynchmobs, you've got to love them. It all leads to a showdown between Beast and Gaston and Belle finally professing her love for this creature. 

Yes, this is the classic tale Disneyfied, even though it does stay fairly close to the original. Except with a lot more song and dance and antropomorphic kitchen utensils. All the servants in the castle have been turned into appliances like candlesticks, clocks, teapots and the like. Because you need something to tide over the kids as well, right? Otherwise, it would be a little boring. But all the sidecharacters are enormously memorable. Heck, Lumière (the candlestick, obviously) has a great song with 'Be Our Guest' and Angela Lansbury as Misses Potts sings what is probably the best known song of all: the titletrack in the ballroom. 

See, this is part of what makes this film so enjoyable: the great songs. Belle's opener is fun and immediately sets the tone. And makes you despise most of the village as well, I might add, but it does ring true that people mistrust what they don't understand and hey: you have got the theme of the film! Gaston's villainous ditty is great as well and when Le Fou gets the entire bar to sing his praises, it's catchy, even though he is (not to mince words) a total and complete arsehat of a man. He is so full of himself that he becomes dangerous to anyone and everyone. The voice of Richard White fits the character perfectly, by the way. 

And I haven't even mentioned the absolutely gorgeous animation! The backgrounds, the movements, the... well: everything. The design and interiors of the castle and the woods stick in my mind the most, but the colourschemes wonderfully set the tone and the ballroomscene is jawdropping ànd an early combination of CG and hand-drawn animation. 

Is this a masterpiece? Yes. It gave us memorable songs, memorable characters and is still a joy to watch, even after all these years. It is, in fact, timeless and that is precisely what a masterpiece needs to be.