Beauty and the Beast Discussion

[Disney Duster]

I agree with Kyle.

[Haralampos]

there's really no evidence that screenshot is remotely accurate, doesnt matter that its of caps, and to me the lower screenshot looks more natural, the top one just looks like basic primary colors. Very neon, and untreated.

You're right, we can't tell from that, it also seems to be printed on paper and not well preserved.
In any way it's an interested document.

[DisneyJedi]

I'll never understand why Disney will keep the original master of the film (original colors and original "Something There" ending/"I'll tell you when you're older" shot) as exclusive to theatrical releases while having the recent "digital remaster" be the "definitive" home media release.

Like, they're willing to make new home media releases of Snow White and Cinderella from the original negatives. Why not Beauty and the Beast?

[Sotiris]

We first offered Beauty and the Beast to Bob Zemeckis. We were done with Roger Rabbit, he was going to go out and make Back to the Future sequels though which he did. Then we offered it to Richard Williams, he was going to go out and make The Thief and the Cobbler which was his lifetime movie. And then Richard said: "One of my protégés, Richard Purdham, would be great for this". And so we approached Richard Purdham, a Canadian animator who was living in London and had his own commercial studio. And we actually set up shop in London to work with Richard Purdham on it. I brought over Glen Keane, Tom Sito, Thom Enriquez, Jean Gilmore... We had a great cast in London. We did 20 minutes of the film in London and took it over to Walt Disney World actually to show during the opening weekend of The Little Mermaid and show it to Jeffrey, Roy, and Michael. And the lights came up afterwards and Jeffrey said: "Well, it's time to fish or cut bait", meaning 'This is awful, we can't go on with this'. So, we continued working and by that time also Aladdin was in huge story problems which meant Ashman and Menken were available. And so we cornered Howard at a beach party in Malibu at Jeffrey's house and said: "Howard, you're not doing anything on Aladdin. Would you be willing to come over and do Beauty and the Beast?" and he said yes.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8EUmEhY-3s

[Disney Duster]

That's cool to know!

[Farerb]

Jodi Benson auditions for Belle:
https://youtu.be/BoQMuOu1ysQ?si=9u-1pY1iIiZnvjDS

[PatchofBlue]

Fantastic finds here and on the Little Mermaid thread.

I think Jodi's natural bubbliness comes off a little chirpy under the Belle mantle, but make no mistake, this is precious material!

[UmbrellaFish]

Jodi Benson auditions for Belle:
https://youtu.be/BoQMuOu1ysQ?si=9u-1pY1iIiZnvjDS

Wow, amazing to hear this! I know Jodi has played Belle once or twice when Paige wasn’t available in spin-off media, but this is still an amazing what-if.

Ultimately, I am glad that both Ariel and Belle have their own, unique voice artists.

[Disney Duster]

Damn, Jodi's audition was VERY good! That girl can act! I don't even remember Paige's Belle sounding so sad when she lost her father. Of course, Paige was the right choice for Belle, I am glad we have different voices, but, Jodi would have been an excellent Belle as well, if we couldn't have Paige. She sings a little loud in "Belle", and perhaps Ashman would have directed her to sing a bit more quietly as the bookworm, but she has such a glorious voice.'

I'm sure many of you already know, but in case you don't, they considered making Belle have the same voice as Jodi, very similar to how Cinderella was once considered to perhaps be played by Snow White, in voice and body.

[Sotiris]

Gaston & Scar Animation Demo & Stories with Disney Legend Andreas Deja
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45tgxAXRso

[Disney's Divinity]

I did know they thought about Jodi Benson for Belle, but didn't know they'd considered SW's actress for Cinderella. Thank God that didn't happen, I vastly prefer Ilene Woods. I do like Benson much more than O'Hara, but I definitely thought Ashman was right that the role of Belle needed to sound more European, less American.

[Thumper_93]

I'm glad that they choosed Paige for the rol. She gave Belle a strong personality with her voice. Jody is amazing but in my opinion She sounds more naive.

[Disney Duster]

i think both Divinity and Thumper are completely right!

[Farerb]

Be Our Guest (35 mm):
https://youtu.be/ON4JZq8vB7A?si=E8yvKfSQavEaLKEV

[Farerb]

I'm going to a screening of the film at the end of the month. I wonder if they'll use the infamous DCP, which I saw back in 2018 but it was at a different theater.

[Farerb]

I went to the screening of the film and not only was it not the DCP, but it was the special edition as well. However, the colors were the 4K's and not the Blu-ray's. I sort of think the Blu-ray has messed up encoding or something that makes it look terrible. Since I'm fine with the 4K's colors I didn't suffer.

It was a sing along screening for adults and it's nice to see the film is still beloved by people to this day, and people sang evey song, but only a few sang Human Again, which makes me wonder how many people are familiar with the special edition nowadays compared to 15-20 years ago.

The theater I went to is a Cinematheque and they did a Disney night. The films they decided to screen were Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Hercules and Mulan. I only went to Beauty and the Beast (all the others except Mulan were screened at the same time), but what is interesting is seeing that they chose to screen Hercules instead of Aladdin or The Lion King, and it's interesting to see how the movie gained new appreciation and popularity since the '90s.

[Patricier21]

I went to the screening of the film and not only was it not the DCP, but it was the special edition as well. However, the colors were the 4K's and not the Blu-ray's. I sort of think the Blu-ray has messed up encoding or something that makes it look terrible. Since I'm fine with the 4K's colors I didn't suffer.

It was a sing along screening for adults and it's nice to see the film is still beloved by people to this day, and people sang evey song, but only a few sang Human Again, which makes me wonder how many people are familiar with the special edition nowadays compared to 15-20 years ago.

The theater I went to is a Cinematheque and they did a Disney night. The films they decided to screen were Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Hercules and Mulan. I only went to Beauty and the Beast (all the others except Mulan were screened at the same time), but what is interesting is seeing that they chose to screen Hercules instead of Aladdin or The Lion King, and it's interesting to see how the movie gained new appreciation and popularity since the '90s.

DCP? And if you don’t mind me asking, where was the theatre You were at located?

[Farerb]

DCP?

Digital Cinema Package:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Cinema_Package

And if you don’t mind me asking, where was the theatre You were at located?

Not in North America.

[Lavendergolden]

Does anybody know if Belle ever hums or vocalizes a song in any of her movies? I love when the classic princesses all hum their love songs to themselves in romantic moods.

Snow White hums One Song in the forest picking flowers when she falls in love with the prince and gets a new dress.

Cinderella hums So This is Love when she finds out the man she loves is a prince who wants to marry her and gives away her identity to her stepmother.

Aurora vocalizes and hums Once Upon a Dream to her aunts when she tells them she's in love.

Ariel hums Part of Your World when she's at her mirror with her sisters.

Jasmine hums A Whole New World after her magic carpet ride in front of her mirror.

Even Anastasia hums Once Upon a December when she reunites with her grandmother and sings their song over the music box.

But I can't remember any scene where Belle hums to herself and I think that's super tragic as she's a classic princess and should be allowed to hum! Anyone think of any example where she does?

[DisneyJedi]

So I've watched an upscaled-to-4K 35mm print of Beauty and the Beast and, despite the dirt and smudges, it somehow looks infinitely better than most home video releases of the film!

It even looks better than the original VHS release, namely the Beast's scenes before his reveal in the light.