My Review of "Beauty and the Beast (1991)"

Beauty and the Beast is a Disney animated movie that came out in 1991. Back then it was quite ground breaking as it was the first time they would add CGI elements to a hand drawn animated movie. This movie was quite popular and did really well. I remember seeing it back in the day when I was a kid but I was curious how it would hold up after all of these years. Seeing as this was their first foray into CGI with hand drawn animation it would be interesting to see if it would stand the test of time.

The movie starts off with a little backstory of the beast. They mention that he was a good looking guy and quite into himself. One day an ugly old hag came up to his castle and asked to stay for a night but he refused because of how ugly she was. She offered him the enchanted rose and he still refused She revealed she was actually beautiful and cursed him and everyone in the castle.

To break the curse, he has to find a woman to fall in love with him before his 21st birthday. Years go by and we get introduced to Belle. She's a beautiful young woman that loves books. Her father is a bit of an eccentric inventor. Belle is also pursued by a narcissistic sociopath by the name of Gaston.

Belle's father has finally invented something that works. He leaves to see if he can get any buyers but on his way he gets into a bit of trouble. A pack of wolves start chasing him and the weather is horrible. Somehow, he stumbles upon the cursed Beast's castle. There he gets greeted by the cursed servants. They are now objects within the castle but they're still quite hospitable. The Beast finds out about the old man and imprisons the father.

Belle gets worried and looks for her father. She miraculously finds the castle and her father. She pleads with the Beast to take her father's place as the his prisoner. The Beast agrees and the cursed servants believe this woman will fall in love with the Beast.

This movie is a little rough around the edges with the abrupt story telling but somehow it works. It's a really weird shift where Belle will be terrified of this Beast and then all of a sudden realize that he's actually not so bad. I guess this could also be "nightingale effect." It's known during the war when nurses would fall in love with soldiers they were taking care of. Maybe this is the perspective of someone that falls into such a spell.

Or maybe the catchy songs really make you not think of those things as you're watching the movie. These are pretty memorable and hummable songs. The visuals are quite impressive. It's one of the last few times you can see slight imperfections in drawn art. There's a certain charm to it that I kind of miss in animated movies. I also mentioned before this is one of the first forays to utilizing CGI in conjunction with hand drawn art. It really stands the test of time. Throughout the movie, I was really impressed with how gorgeous everything looked. There is such a sense of detail paid in each and every frame of this movie.

There's also an element of innocence to this movie that not a lot of animated movies have anymore. They don't add inappropriate humor or purposely try to find adult things to hide in there for adults to find later on. This movie is targeted purely for children and I kind of liked that about this movie.

Overall, though this movie is quite cheesy at times it has a certain charm to it that is irresistible. I was mesmerized by the visuals while carried away with the memorable songs that they sing. It's a great time for the whole family and that's why I think this movie is a classic. I have to give this movie an 8.5 out of 10.