Beauty and the Beast (1991)
★★★½
This review may contain spoilers.
I do like this movie, it is very well done the animation looks great and is well done especially the water in scenes where it appears but also fire there is a lightness about it that makes it visually pleasing to look at, and the color palette looks great as well it's so bright and vibrant in places even when the movie is cast in shadows and blackness the starkness of those colors against the rest of the movie or the cloths that the characters are wearing looks great,
I love the songs they are classic I like the bounciness of most of them, the cadence in Kill the beast is great the way it moves from rhyme to rhyme is great while simple it's please to listen to the brass section kills it in that song, the reoccurring motif of the rose is great, the restraint to use it only in places of importance instead of like everywhere where they are talking about it is great and well done.
I do like the story I think people who talk about the ending being undercut by the prince becoming a prince are right to some degree but also I think the lesson the beast needed to learn more than anything is more about him being spoiled selfish and unkind like the prologue states more than him loving himself because he is not the prettiest beast, it is one of the reasons the princess turns him into a beast because he doesn't help the old woman because she isn't the prettiest but I think more importantly he doesn't help the old woman because he is spoiled selfish and unkind.
notes below
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- I love the opening music, the rose theme in particular is so memorable.
- the stained glass drawings look fantastic
- the slow pull-out on the castle is great and gives such a stark setting for later In the film.
- I love 2D animation and wish we got so much more of it in animated films.
- you can really hear the excitement in the voice actor's singing when she is talking about the book.
- there is something so special about these early Disney films, you can hear the chemistry in all the voice acting, they all go together so well in this film particularly there is a sense of wonder in all the characters as they talk.
- the scene in the beast's prison is a good example, the care in her voice for her father, and the whimsy but serious in tone of the voice acting is great here.
- the thought of lingering long on just a shot of a horse walking down a road is something that you don't see very much these days.
- the color palette in the dark woods is really good.
- the water animation and the water physics look great in this movie, they move very cartoony but also realistic, like how they fall / the speed of how they fall off a person, they look very good!
- the water animation and the water physics are very well done, and very smooth as they follow through on their path.
- I wish the beast was cast in shadows in these early scenes with Maurice because it would make the scene where he steps into the light more significant but maybe the choice to not do this was so that you could further see the humanity behind his eyes even though he is doing something bad.
- why does Gaston keep getting mud on her books?
- is it just me or do I just love the reprisal of songs?
- the sound fx feel low in the mix
- I noticed this at the start of Gaston
- I like how childish the beast is acting, he was turned into a beast as a kid and has grown up as a beast so it makes sense that he would be very childish -- he is essentially throwing a big hissy fit here.
- the mirror disappearing from the shot with the rose feels like an intentional thing and not a mistake although it could be a mistake I just feel like they were trying to emphasize the rose in the shot and didn't want anything to take from it, hence his arm disappearing as well.
- but also the care here takes of the mirror he is angry everything in the tower has been destroyed but the care that he has taken of the rose and mirror is very important.
- be our guest is a wonder to look at.
- are the forks on the top of the chandler animated in a different style?
- I like how he tries to stay restraint in the west tower but his anger gets the best of him and he yells, he is a kid after all the immediate regret on his face after he yells at her is evident.
- this did come out before the lion king so they did learn how to mix the animal noises with the voice acting very well, I only wish it mixed well here how it would add to the movie so much better.
- the voice acting on the asylum guy is great, such a low rumble on his voice.
- the title song beauty and the beast is so magical, the way it's shot is amazing and the CGI while aged still looks great. -- what I love about this song in particular is how long the shots hang on them and how wide they are, there is a want to make this moment last forever with very little cuts, this is the emotional center at the film, the beast is going to confess his love to belle but doesn't get a chance because he realized that yes it's what he wants but it isn't what he needs. what he needs is the connection with belle not her act to break the curse.
- on the note of the 2017 version I haven't said much but I did want to note that I do see the want to put a song here, it is a moment that would be enhanced by a song, to hear what the beast is thinking.
- kill the Beast is a good song I love the cadence in the lyrics and how they bounce from one line to the next -- the fact that there is only like three songs where a full ensemble sings makes the fact that when the ensemble is singing is so powerful.
- gaston is obviously trying to kill the beast because of the connection he formed with belle. and not the connection that she formed with him.
- the sound design on the fight with the beast on the roof is really well done, the echo is nice but not overly done.
- one of my favorite parts of the film is the fact that the beast isn't saved with a true loves kiss but the simple act of belle finally admitting that she loves the beast.
- I wish that the film played a bit more with the act of Belle recognizing him through his eyes I think it would have enhanced the film a bit especially that ending but again that is something that I would have done and probably really wouldn't;t have matter all that much.
