What A Cartoon Movie! - Beauty and the Beast
Added 2022-07-25 04:00:03 +0000 UTCThis month, we're continuing our second Disney Renaissance Summer with an in-depth look at Beauty and the Beast: the Oscar-nominated 1991 feature that unfortunately lost to an iconic movie about a cannibal. Before the dawn of the Clinton Era, filmgoers were absolutely enchanted by this well-animated tale full of singing furniture, forced captivity, bawdy feather dusters, and a surprising amount of beer. So be our guest and listen in as we discuss directors Trousdale and Wise's first animated movie about a reclusive monster living somewhere in France!
Comments
I wish the line was “Crazy Old Maurice, eh?” To fit in with the season 13 Simpsons runner.
Joshua Marchant
2022-08-30 09:38:47 +0000 UTCLike MANY of the other Disney Renaissance movies, I had not seen this one since the VHS days of my childhood, but this holds up damn well, and every time I watch a film from this era, I miss Howard Ashman more and get worked up about how poorly the AIDS crisis was handled again
Dylan (batmanboy11) Freitag
2022-08-15 20:54:12 +0000 UTCman you guys talking about the commentary for this just makes me bemoan that that's a dying special feature. I still remember it being a mainstay for the Disney releases until I popped in the Wreck It Ralph blu ray (especially excited for a Rich Moore discussion) and there was just nothing! amazing podcast as always. lots of laughs at Beast just being an awkward gamer who needs to come out of his cave more. for me, BatB is the perfect Disney movie. putting aside any plotholes on the passage of time, it's just the lightning in a bottle of amazing talent and artistry that hit ALL the definitive beats you associate with a classic Disney movie.
Blake R.
2022-07-27 21:01:23 +0000 UTCI didn't realize Richard White was a trained opera singer, but of course! The only other thing I've seen/heard him in was a touring production of The Pirates of Penzance that my aunt took me to when I was six, with the promise that "the voice of Gaston is the Pirate King!" Because Gilbert and Sullivan isn't that interesting when you're six, I kept telling her I had to go out to the bathroom, because whenever we would, she'd give me hard candy to suck on (the wrappers made too much noise in the theater itself). During one bathroom break, we ran into Richard White himself, running out of the bathroom (probably trying to make it back to stage in time, poor guy), and my aunt insisted that I stop him and say "Hi, Pirate King!" which I reluctantly did. But after that, I was like "I met a celebrity!" and had a great story for my fellow first-graders. I was like "I MET RICHARD WHITE!" and they were like "Who?" and then I could clarify "the voice of GASTON!" which didn't seem to impress anyone as much as I thought it should. I was always mad that the lone celebrity I'd met at that age wasn't more famous. After hearing his voice in the clips, the opera connection—and the fact that he was headlining a touring production of Pirates of Penzance all makes sense now.
Kat Heagberg
2022-07-26 21:45:26 +0000 UTCLive action Aladdin did do some creative stuff especially for the One Jump sequence. They used really vibrant colors and slow-mo and fast forwards to make it visually interesting.
Blandon
2022-07-26 17:56:59 +0000 UTCOnly thing I wanted to mention, to contribute to the Lilo & Stitch discussion, is the big alien monster that accompany’s Kevin McDonald’s character in the movies and tv series was voiced by Cogsworth himself, David Ogden Stiers! Just an interesting connection I felt I had to bring up, given the entire episode is discussing him yet that goes unmentioned. He was certainly doing a lot for Disney in the 90’s and 2000’s, including his performance in the Teacher’s Pet television series and movie. Regardless, thank you both for the quality content, fantastic work as always here!
AllTheTrophies
2022-07-26 15:42:55 +0000 UTCOh and important Simpsons correction: that's not Angela Lansbury/Mrs. Potts in "See My Vest," but the nanny from 101 Dalmations.
nina matsumoto
2022-07-26 04:08:43 +0000 UTCWho else here first encountered Robby Benson as Prince Alexander in King's Quest 6?? He's great as dorky overly-sincere Alex. There's also a Beauty and the Beast side quest in that game. The beast looks kinda like a gremlin crossed with a warthog, and his human form is even worse than the Disney version. A complete fop with a long powdered wig... awful. Must the human beast always be inferior? Tony Jay also voice a character in KQ6. My first viewing of this film was much like Bob's -- it was rolled into a classroom and played on VHS, except it was at Japanese school so I saw the JP dubbed version first (though we didn't get through all of it). I'm actually not a fan of how Disney songs translate. Japanese uses more syllables than English, so they either have to simplify the lines significantly (thereby losing some nuances), or cram in a LOT of words sung really fast, and I think the result sounds awkward. By the way, "Be My Guest" in Japanese is sung as "Youkoso."
nina matsumoto
2022-07-26 04:07:51 +0000 UTCMy mom took me to see Fivel Goes West in the theater over this. Big mistake in hindsight.
Matt
2022-07-26 03:57:35 +0000 UTCThe Special Editions for both Beauty and Beast and Lion King were my introductions to those movies as a kid. I wish Disney would make the DLC accessible on Disney Plus especially since I fondly remember Human Again.
Mr. Animation Enthusiast
2022-07-26 02:41:05 +0000 UTCOne of the only things I liked about the live-action remake, which my wife insisted we see based on her love for this one, is that part of the curse placed on the Beast and his castle is that the townsfolk completely forgot about its existence. That's the only implausible part of this film that I wanted addressed as how would these villagers not know a giant castle was so close by? Aside from that though the live-action film is completely unnecessary. My wife and I had our engagement dinner at the Beast Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. We were seated in the West Wing portion which, aside from the occasional rumble of fake thunder, is not a bad place to eat and we had a good time. We've been there twice since and both times sat in a different area and it is far less enjoyable. The ballroom is basically a cafeteria-like setting, just tons of tables close together and really noisy. The last time we ate there, and probably last time ever, we were with my parents and my sister's family and the check totaled almost a grand. Definitely not worth the experience, which is too bad because the food options at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World are severely lacking. All of that is to say that if you go there Henry see if you can request a table in that part of the restaurant. You can always walk around and look at the rest when you're done. Oh, and I almost forgot, my household was a Beauty and the Beast household in that we watched the Linda Hamilton/Ron Perlman show. My sister was scared of the beast on that one so she had some trepidation about seeing this film when it was released. I don't remember much about the show, but it does live-on via my VHS of Christmas specials since it had to be passed over in favor of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1987 - "Beauty and the Beast will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you a special presentation."
Joe Hodgson
2022-07-25 19:33:29 +0000 UTCAn extra Cranium Command fact: It was one of the earliest projects future Pixar director Pete Docter worked on after CalArts, and the ride's premise did help inspire his film Inside Out. Docter's also been pitched an Inside Out Epcot ride multiple times, but has refused since it'd replace Journey Into Imagination With Figment. Despite the poor reputation of it as an inferior version of the original Journey Into Imagination, he still wants Disney to keep the Figment character around as he's a huge fan of him, and would hate to see his own creations overwrite a character he loves. Don Bluth also tried making his own version of Beauty and the Beast throughout the '80s, and the concept art leans way more on the Cocteau influence than even the Disney film did. He ultimately abandoned it when Disney released their version, and part of me is glad he did that: If it really was gonna be just an animated version of the Cocteau movie, it would've been redundant.
Harry Thornton
2022-07-25 15:34:21 +0000 UTC
