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I can't remember not having seen this movie, so I guess for me it really is a tale as old as time. It's pretty much always been one of my favorite movies, and it's one of only three that I watched at least once every year from 2003-2012 (the other two are numbers 1 and 2 on the list). In fact, Beauty and the Beast is so near and dear to me that it's quite difficult for me to even know how to begin talking about it. I know I won't be able to do justice to the effect it's had on me, but I'm going to try.
First of all, I absolutely love the characters. They're all unique and well-developed and complicated, despite the seemingly simple story they're in. I've always been particularly fond of the servants-turned-household-objects, like Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, and Chip. Obviously, the focus of the story is Belle and the Beast, but the supporting characters are all extremely important. I find the fact that the servants are still able to put on a happy face, despite the stress they must experience as their hopes of becoming human again have almost completely faded and are suddenly restored if only their master will pull through for them, endlessly fascinating. I also think Gaston makes a terrifying villain, simply because of how normal he is. Most of the Disney villains either have evil magical powers, like Maleficent and the Wicked Queen, are over-the-top ridiculous, like Cruella De Vil and Captain Hook, or a combination of the two, like Ursula and Hades. Gaston is not the brightest person in the world, and yes, he is a bit eccentric, but basically he's just a normal, handsome guy, except for the fact that he's a total jerk. He's the exact opposite of the Beast, and I think the juxtaposition of their characters is quite well done and interesting.
Then there's the music. I can't even express how much I love the music of Beauty and the Beast. Seriously, I'm pretty sure the soundtrack is my all-time favorite album. The lyrics are at times moving, as in the title song and "Something There", and at times just plain clever. My personal favorite lyric is "When I was a lad I ate four dozen eggs every morning to help me get large./ And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a barge!" How do you even come up with something like that? Howard Ashman was a lyrical genius. It's one of the great injustices of this world that he didn't live to see this film released, although I think the fact that he was sick while writing these songs makes his feat even more impressive. And then there's the score, haunting and uplifting and sad all at once. I still get chills from the opening notes of the Prologue, which I listen to all the time because it's on the soundtrack. The music in this film is Alan Menken at his best, and I'm pretty sure Alan Menken at his worst is better than most people (see Newsies). Somehow, every song in Beauty and the Beast is incredibly familiar, yet still new and fresh every time I listen to it. It's like magic.
I also love the messages in this movie, particularly that looks aren't everything. Oddly enough, it's the villagers who point this out first, in the opening number when they sing, "She's a beauty, but a funny girl." Just because someone fits society's idea of beauty does not mean that person will conform to society's ideas of what beautiful people should act like. I have always looked up to Belle precisely for this reason. She doesn't care what the villagers say, she's going to keep reading all the time because that's what makes her happy. Following her example, I've always tried to remain true to myself even when it wasn't popular. While I know that my peers often ridiculed me for it, like Belle who remains engrossed in her book while the villagers sing about her, I was often too busy to notice. It's always encouraged me that Belle's refusal to conform really works to everyone's advantage, as she and the Beast end up first bonding over her love of books when he shows her his library. In the special edition, there's also a really great scene where she starts helping him re-learn to read. Another thing I love about this is that, unlike in most Disney princess films, the hero and heroine actually get to know each other before they fall in love. Not that I don't believe in love at first sight, but I don't think everyone who falls in love does so at first sight, so I think it's grossly over-represented in Disney movies. One could argue that if the prince wasn't disguised as a beast in this story, Belle would have fallen for him at once, but I don't think so. If that were true, she would have married Gaston, but as she explains to her father, "He's handsome all right, and rude and conceited..." Belle doesn't like the Beast at first because he acts like the monster he looks like, and it's only when he starts trying to be nice to her that she starts to like him. I also think it's interesting that the Beast doesn't really fall in love with Belle right away either; it happens gradually until he lets her go. Love is more than just physical attraction or necessity and it doesn't always happen instantaneously, and I really like the way this movie portrays that.
These are just some of the many reasons why this has always been, and probably will always be, one of my favorite movies. Of course, I don't think I analyzed it this deeply when I was little, but therein lies the brilliance of good Disney films: thoroughly enjoyable to both children and adults. It probably helps that I grew up with it, so it's kind of my childhood, but it's also my adolescence and adulthood. I think everyone needs a movie or two like that.
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