Beauty and the Beast Review
by Tim Wick

I know that you've seen this movie. I am equally certain that most of you (certainly any of you with Children) own this film on video. So why write a review of the film?

Because you have the chance to see it on the big screen again and so I think it's important to tell you why you should get out of your house and over to the IMAX theatre at the Minnesota Zoo to see this movie. So here are the reasons, in no particular order, that this film is worth $10 to see again.

1. The Animation.

   Please try to ignore the fact that this film is from the corporate behemoth that is Disney and focus on the artistry of this film. The "modern" Disney style was perfected for this film. The style that has a little of the classic Disney mixed with a clear influence of Japanese Anime. I think the work in this film shows remarkable subtlety in character design and amazing detail. Add to that some of the earliest effective melding of hand and computer animation in a scene that involved some of the most complicated "camera" work yet done in an animated picture and you have a film that is not just a great piece of entertainment, it is literally a work of art.

2. The Music

   Beauty and the Beast was the final collaboration of Alan Menkin and Howard Ashman - the team responsible for The Little Mermaid and Little Shop of Horrors. Menkin's score is amazing, but Ashman's lyrics are absolutely perfect. Ashman died of AIDS before this film's initial release so this film becomes his swan song. Best reason to be amazed with Ashman's ability as a lyricist is the fact he found a way to work the word "expactorating" into a song. In his review of the re-release, Roger Ebert mentioned that this is not just one of the greatest animated films of all times - it is one of the great musicals of all time. I can't disagree.

3. The character development

   What is so impressive is the fact that these characters in this film exist as more than just single dimension caricatures. Even the servants (Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts) have personalities that go beyond being simple servants. The best example, however, is the Beast. His character is so difficult to balance properly. When we first see him, he is unquestionably a monster. Years of despair have made him hard and cruel. A change that happens too quickly is simply not believable. But we do see softness in him even at the beginning. The problem is that he can't accept that he can behave in a way that is contrary to his outer appearance. Watching him slowly convince himself that he doesn't have to be the monster he views himself to be is the only way we can believe Belle would fall in love with him.

4. The voice work

   Having just watched the truly atrocious Trumpet of the Swan, I can honestly say that good voice acting is CRITICAL to the success of an animated film. Very rarely has voice talent been so well cast. The main characters are not anyone you would have heard of and that really solves the problem of playing "guess who is doing the voices" that is so common in most animated films. Instead, there is a reality to Belle and the Beast that transcends most animated films.

5. IMAX

   What better way to see a great movie than to see it SIX STORIES TALL???? I think it's interesting in one way because at that size, you can see when the Disney animators cut corners (in one long shot, you can see that Mrs. Potts is just a little ball with a smiley face painted on it) because of the distance the characters were from the camera. But seriously, this is a film that really does benefit from being on a super big screen.

This is the only animated film that has ever been nominated for a best picture Oscar. Believe it or not, there was a reason.

Beauty and the Beast

Five Beakers
(out of five)

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