DVD Reviews

Beauty and the Beast (Three-Disc Diamond Edition) – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Oct 6, 2010, 19:28 GMT

Set in and around a quaint French village during the late 18th century, Beauty and the Beast follows the fantastic adventures of Belle, a bright and beautiful young woman who finds escape from her ordinary life, and the advances of a boorish suitor, Gaston, by reading books. Meanwhile, off in a castle in the distance, a cruel young prince is cast under the spell of an enchantress who turns him ...more

A tale as old as time, a sumptuous visual feast, that’s the Blu-ray release of Beauty and the Beast.  Disney shines once again as they do up their high definition release of one of their flagship films with a gaggle of more special features that you could shake an animated candlestick at. 

Belle (Paige O’Hara) lives in a French village but dreams of bigger things and fantasizes of romance like she reads in her beloved books.  Maurice (Rex Everhart), her father, is an eccentric inventor and her hand in marriage is being pursued by the conceited, arrogant Gaston (Richard White) but she has no desire to become Mrs. Gaston. 

Maurice is on his way to a fair to show off his latest creation, an automated wood chopping machine, when he gets lost in the dark woods.  He stumbles upon an ominous castle that he shelters in from a storm.  He thinks the imposing edifice is abandoned, but finds that the decorations are animated. 

He meets talking teapot Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury) and her teacup son Chip (Bradley Michael Pierce), candlestick Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), and fussy clock Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers).  They seem friendly enough, once Maurice gets over the shock of such common household objects being alive, but then he meets the master of the house – the cold-hearted Beast (Robby Benson). 

The Beast throws Maurice into a cell in the castle’s dungeon, but Maurice’s horse escapes returns to the village.  Belle finds the horse and it leads her back to the castle.  She offers to take her father’s place in being held in the castle. 

The Beast agrees and frees Maurice, who returns to the village for help but the villagers think he’s gone insane.  Belle settles in for her imprisonment, but as time goes on she starts to see through the Beast’s gruff demeanor.

Walt Disney productions were the gold standard of animated entertainment, but during the 1980s the studio had begun to tarnish.  Not only was the quality of the animated features seeming to slip, but box office receipts were also not what they were.  Several animators, including Don Bluth, left the studio to form their own company and were in competition with the House of Mouse. 

In fact, some of Bluth’s productions actually beat Disney at the box office.  It was in this time of malaise that management changes would happen with the intent of restoring that luster that the studio would appear to be lacking.  The result would be 1989’s The Little Mermaid and it would appear that Disney was back. 

The crown jewel of that renaissance would be 1991’s Beauty and the Beast which would become the first animated feature to be nominated for best picture.  It won for original score and song though.  In reality, the story idea, based on the classic fairytale, had been bouncing around Disney since Walt was in charge. 

Hannibal Lector would walk away with all the Oscars, but Beauty and the Beast marked a high note in Disney history.  Many consider it the top of the crop in the Disney canon (probably behind Snow White). 

It’s truly a return to the glory days of Disney and they’ve done it up right in this Diamond Edition.  The characters, casting, animation, and just about everything is superb in Beauty and the Beast.  So it’s no surprise that it’s given superb treatment on Blu-ray.

Beauty and the Beast is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.78:1).  You get three versions of the film.  The theatrical cut, a cut with a deleted musical number back in (complete with a sing-along track), and the “work in progress” edition is found as a picture-in-picture option. 

Special features are in high definition unless noted.  You also get an audio commentary from co-directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise and composer Alan Menken (on the version that adds that deleted musical number back in).  Next is the 13 minute “Broadway Beginnings” of interviews with famous faces that have played in the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast.

The 20 minute “Composing a Classic” is an interview with composer Alan Menken with appropriate reverence to his late collaborator Howard Ashman.  There’s a new music video by Jordin Sparks of “Beauty and the Beast,” two deleted sequences (totaling 27 minutes, with some new characters not used in the film) in storyboards and rough animation, and trailers for other Disney products. 

The disc is also BD-Live enhanced.  Disc two starts off with the massive “Beyond Beauty” interactive documentary that’s over two hours.  You also get the “Enchanted Musical Challenge” and “Bonjour!” games.  You also get the special features from the previous DVD, running about an hour, in standard definition. 

Disc three is a DVD copy of the film.  My review copy came in DVD case packaging, but another version that comes in Blu-ray cases is also available. 

Beauty and the Beast is not only a fantastic, mesmerizing film but Disney has produced a gorgeous visual presentation and an expansive special features selection.  You’ll be the guest of honor when you buy this highly recommended release.  Fairytales doe come true as this release is all beauty and no beast.

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