Movie Review — Beauty and the Beast

The large-format debut of Walt Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has just opened a five-month engagement at the Crown Odyssey Giant Screen Theatre, 330 New Park Ave. in Hartford.

This 1991 instant classic from Walt Disney Pictures hits new heights on giant screens worldwide in celebration of its tenth anniversary. Reformatted from its computer-generated production (Disney's second digitally animated film), the result is a pristine print with dimensionality and enhanced sound levels that leave the viewer in awe of something that almost transcends itself through the wonders of technology.

For those who want to see more of terrific animation so much more real than the majority of live-action features, Beauty and the Beast is magnified to make an ideal fantasy tale truly a magical and joyous one. For all ages, the power of animation is even more apparent now with the coming of enlarged format images that can be foreboding or exhilarating.

The opening of this film, which explains how the Beast came to be from his actions as a young prince, shows a castle that is as ornate and ominous as one ever seen on film. The Gothic architecture is strikingly detailed, as is a rose protected by a glass covering that is coveted by the Beast—which is what he will remain, unless someone can love him.

From the French fairy tale on which it's based with slight modifications, Beauty and the Beast is transformed with greater theatrical stature and character presence. The beauty is Belle; in her comfortable French village three centuries ago she finds escape by reading, and doesn't think the brawny Gaston who is pursuing her is very manly, but more oafish.

In her life is her amiable, doting father who has come up with a device that chops wood neatly and quickly. He soon gets lost on a stormy night while traveling in the forest and winds up a prisoner in the Beast's enormous castle. Belle knows something is wrong and sets out to find him. Eventually, a critical romance begins, which will entail some harrowing moments after Belle's efforts land her in the presence of the towering lion of a monster.

Besides the leads, there are lively secondary characters that add to the film's warmth and wit. In the Beast's spellbound, staggering sanctuary are household items that serve his primary needs. Lumiere is a candlestick; Cogsworth, a clock; Mrs. Potts, a teapot whose son is Chip. They know what kind of influence Belle can provide to their haunted, withdrawn master.

In this magnificently realized experience, which Disney first incorporated with Fantasia 2000, there is a lofty synchronicity of animation and music that spawned a long-running musical. There's nothing holding back the memorable choreographed numbers, which include the funny "Gaston" and his personal and domestic vainglories. "Be Our Guest" gives a Busby Berkeley quality to the cheery way Belle is greeted by the personified castle inhabitants, and Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts sings the title song with understated emotion that poignantly graces a dance in a grand, golden ballroom.

If one took the songwriting of the late Howard Ashman and the music by Alan Mencken for granted, then it's clear that it adds to the excitement of the visuals that were digitally remastered for giant screens. In addition to the talents of stage and screen veteran Lansbury, Paige O'Hara voices the wistful but resolved Belle, and Robby Benson is unrecognizable, but has the range to make the deep basso of the Beast threatening while compassionate. Also, David Ogden Stiers fills Cogsworth with nervous energy, and Jerry Orbach provides a European flair to the candlestick Lumiere. And Richard White makes Gaston more reprehensible as the cretin who has Belle's father locked away as a lunatic.

What Beauty and the Beast does so well is entertain with elegance and admiration for its audience. The insertion of the extra number "Human Again" complements the swirling camerawork that is seen often in this enchanting masterpiece. You may not think that Beauty and the Beast could ever top itself, but it does, thanks to the hard, innovative work by the Disney animators and technicians. They transform an amazing fairy tale into a more vividly colorful world, while never letting its audience forget the indelible, transporting effect created through the direction of Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.