Beauty and the Beast [Blu-ray]

Everyone has that special movie about which it is impossible to be objective. This is that movie for me. I saw it first when my son was seven and he brought it home when a schoolmate loaned it to him. It instantly became a favorite in our house. My son, my daughter, and I have a special bond that this film signifies to this day. From the moment Belle sings, "I want much more than this provincial life," you know you are going to have an experience that goes beyond the ordinary, and you get one that goes beyond your wildest dreams. This film goes into superlatives that leave you breathless. It is hard to list all the summa cum laudes in this film. Disney broke new ground in this film by using a UNIX workstation for the ballroom scene that enabled a three-dimensional representation of the dance sequence, showing Belle and the Beast dancing through the ballroom under the chandelier. The movie features the voices of Paige O'Hara (Belle), Robby Benson (Beast), Jerry Orbach (Lumière), David Ogden Stiers), Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), Chip (Bradley Pierce), and Wardrobe (Joanne Worley). Alan Menken's musical score is outstanding; the title song won the 1991 Best Song Oscar. The combination of a winning score, superb animation, and an unusually magical depth that the cast manages to create -- the viewer will be too spellbound while watching it to be able to say what it is that captivates so totally -- makes this film one that is not to be missed by young and old alike. The story is a traditional tale of a prince turned into a beast by a spell cast by an enchantress. The spell can be broken only if, by the end of his 21st birthday, he falls in love with someone who will also love him. An enchanted rose blooms as a symbol of the spell, and the last petal will fall at the end of the spell. The beauty is a beautiful woman, Belle, in a small French village, who is very intelligent and reads voraciously. She spends much of her time dreaming of living in the worlds she reads about in the books, any place other than the provincial village life she knows. She lives with her father, Maurice, a rather eccentric inventor, and both of them seem to be regarded as odd and unconventional types by the village residents. Gaston, a handsome but arrogant hunter, hopes to marry Belle for no other reason than to be able to say that he has married the most beautiful woman in the village; it is a matter of ego more than feeling, because he admits to no real feeling for anyone other than himself. Maurice heads out for a fair but goes astray from the path and ends up at a castle. The castle turns out to be enchanted, and the ornaments at the castle turn out to be lifelike beings who welcome him. Cogsworth, the pompous clock, Lumière, the romantic candlelabra, Mrs. Potts, the motherly teapot, and Chip, the boyish teacup, all welcome him. All is well until the master, the surly, growling Beast, enters the room, shouting that Maurice is not welcome and takes him prisoner. At a later time in the film, when Belle comes looking for her father, Belle begs the Beast to let her take her father's place, so she becomes the Beast's prisoner. The clash of the high-spirited Belle and the ill-tempered Beast is inevitable, for when the Beast loses his temper with Belle and frightens her, she tries to flee him. Wolves try to attack her, and the Beast comes to her rescue. Somehow the incident draws them together, and the resistance slowly causes the two to start to relate to one another. Before long, the two have become very close. The Beast allows Belle to look into his enchanted mirror, and she sees her father is quite ill. When the Beast sees how distressed Belle is, he releases her. When Belle goes back to her father, she realizes that her feelings for the Beast have changed. As she and Maurice discover, Gaston, in an attempt to intimidate Belle into marrying him, have plotted to put Maurice into an insane asylum. When Gaston discovers that Belle has developed affections for the Beast, he leads the townspeople on a lynch to destroy the Beast. As the lynch mob approaches the castle, all the objects in the castle prepare for the onslaught. Furniture, kitchen utensils, decorations, virtually every object in the castle, turn on the townspeople, and defeat them in the battle. They rejoice in their victory in the end. The only persons left in the battle are Gaston and the Beast. The Beast is so depressed because he has lost Belle that he does not resist and lets Gaston assault him. Suddenly Belle appears, and the Beast rises up against Gaston, throwing him from the castle roof. The Beast is in Belle's arms, dying, as Belle tells him that she loves him. Suddenly, in those last moments, the last petal of the rose falls and the spell is broken. The Beast is transformed into a man. The objects again become human, and the movie ends happily. Somehow at all the right moments in the film, the songs come in to give the story a push forward. Whether it is the opening song that introduces Belle and explains why she can never be content with the life in her little viilage, the song of the conceited Gaston that tells why he can think of nobody in the world except himself, the song that signals the turning point in the relationship between Belle and the Beast, or the title song itself, the music graces the film in the most miraculous way. The film went on to become a Broadway hit as well, and one of the songs from the Broadway play, "Human Again," that was not in the original movie was added in later versions. Too often when the words "entertainment for the whole family" are used, the words mean "boring and awful." Many adults also think of animated films as too juvenile to be good. Such prejudices should be cast aside when viewing this film; it is pure pleasure from start to finish.

Everyone has a favorite Disney film. You know, the one you saw at one point in your life and stuck with you forever. Not to mention that there so many classics to choose from. For me that film is Beauty and the Beast. I start with that because if while reading this, I wax poetic about how this is the best of the Disney films and a work of genius while the reader is thinking "Well, its not Fantasia (or insert your favorite here) but its not bad." Please understand that the film is very close to my heart so it is hard for me to be objective. The first and only hand animated film to be nominated for a best picture Academy Award, Beauty and the Beast is a major departure from the classic Disney formula, at least where the Disney Princesses are concerned. Belle is not your run of the mill damsel in distress, waiting to be saved by Prince Charming. While the setting of the film seems from a long time ago, this is a firmly modern main character, especially for a woman. Everything is turned on its head. Belle reads and thinks (a bad thing according to the villain in the film) and in her notion of marriage the relationship should be emotionally and intellectually stimulating. Not to mention equality. Not 20 minutes into the film our heroine makes a very hard act of self sacrifice to save her father (as opposed to fathers helping their daughters in other films, if they are there at all) and not long after that gets in trouble for her curiosity rather than her beauty (which is usually what gets princesses into trouble). Her relationship with the Beast doesn't exactly "click" from the get go. They argue and fight (some of the best moments in the film)and while Beast does save her life at one point. It is Belle who saves him in the end, again turning a stereotype on its head. Of course, you can't get away with all these changes in tradition without something "Disney" to anchor the film and all this drama. The Fantasy element is very much present. Every secondary character that lives in the Beast's castle is some sort of stationary object. And you can't talk about a film like this and not mention the score and music that goes with it. The songs are all memorable in the best Disney tradition but the score, in my opinion, is one of the best ever by Disney. It perfectly complements the darkness of film. (Who would ever think you could use darkness and Disney in the same anything.) Disney has so far done an outstanding job releasing its back catalog into Blu-Ray. The transfers so far have been pretty much perfect and this film is no exception. The colors look amazing and the detail is so remarkable that if you look closely you can see the pencil strokes in the drawn characters beneath the ink. It is that good. The only thing missing from this release is a digital copy. I'm having a hard time understanding the logic behind Disney's combo packs. Some include the digital copy, some don't. A little bit of consistency (preferably in the "included digital copy" department) would be greatly appreciated. In closing, this is a must have release if you are a fan of Disney films. It is an incredible film. The transfer is awesome. The bonus features are plentiful. Despite lacking the digital copy, I highly recommend this release.

Nice quality

I absolutely adore this film for so many reasons but one of them is the immensely likeable cast. Belle is the perfect leading female for this film, and like all Disney 'princesses', she is gorgeous, has a wonderful singing voice, and is destined to live happily ever after! Paige O'Hara voices the character perfectly, from her rich speaking voice full of emotion, to that gorgeous singing voice which captures the innocence of Belle so well, and is now one of the iconic female Disney voices. There's nothing dislikeable about Belle, she's simply perfect and we love her all the more for it. In turn, Robby Benson voices the Beast, and his gruffness works so well with the softness of Belle, and he has a lovely singing voice too in 'Something There'. The fabulous Jerry Orbach voices the candlestick Lumiere, one of my favourite characters in the film, and is cast alongside the amazing Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts... you'd know that voice anywhere, and she seems perfectly cast as the caring housekeeper-turned-teapot! Each of the cast take their turns in singing roles, and it all comes together to create one of the best Disney soundtracks. One great thing about this film is that there is no complicated meaning to find within it, it's just simply about teaching us that love can prevail when you look beyond the other person's appearance, as Belle is able to for the Beast. Beast is convinced that he is unloveable, and as such treats those around him disrespectfully and rudely. Belle is able to show him the error of his ways and through her attitude and friendliness is able to turn him around and show the gentle, loving side she knows is there. It's a tale of true love, and is extremely emotional to watch, even for an animated film. The gentle scenes involving Belle and Beast are so sweet, with the music accompanying them perfectly, and it is a joy to watch from start to finish. Yes, it's convenient that they start off hating each other and it turns to love, but that is part of the magic of Disney for me! Beast's lesson of learning to change for love is an important one - changing for the better, and as Mrs Potts sings... 'bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong' - I'm sure we could all take something away from that line. The songs in this film are just magical, and it won't take long for them to be embedded in your musical memory forever! I found myself singing along quietly in the cinema while the main songs in the film played, and I loved them just as much now as I did as a young girl. The movie opens with the brilliant 'Belle', a fairly long musical number introducing us to Belle, Gaston and her village. It's such a happy song, and very iconic for the movie. The wonderful 'Something There' is a duet between Belle and the Beast, with other singing by Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts, I particularly love the sequence in the movie for this song, it really shows the change in relationship for these characters. My favourite song, and favourite scene in the whole movie is the absolutely perfect 'Beauty and the Beast', sang beautifully by Angela Lansbury (Mrs Potts). The moment those infamous piano chords hit and Belle emerges in the iconic yellow dress... wow, that is movie history right there, and the audible of the little girls in the audience just made it all the more precious. 'Be Our Guest' is the most uptempo of the numbers, involving the enchanted household objects, and is so wonderful to watch on-screen, full of action, colour and is mesmerising for young children and adults alike... try to avoid singing along to that one! The animation in the film was flawless, and both Harry and I really enjoyed watching the whole thing. It is the traditional style Disney animation, rather than the CGI of their more modern releases 'Tangled' and 'Cars', but it's perfect as it is. Harry had reservations that it was a film for girls, but afterwards told me he loved the Beast and how Belle fell in love with him at the end. Everything about this film comes together to create a cinematic masterpiece, and became the first animated movie to nominated for the Best Picture Oscar... rightfully so too. There's something magical about watching the beautiful girl fall in love with the Beast, and the magic surrounding them both... no matter how old you, you can't fail to be moved by the movie, especially that tear-jerker of an ending. Every little girl will want to be Belle after watching this, and I could watch that famous ballroom scene again and again. I loved everything about this movie, and the fact it is still so popular 22 years after it's release speaks volumes - amazing Disney at it's best.

You fell in love with Belle in the first song, because you learn that she's the one who doesn't quite fit in, and a lot of people are actually like that. She wants more, but she doesn't really know how to get more. Also, Lumiere, Chip & inc. are adorable and all have a very distinctive personality, which is entertaining. As for the Beast, even if he's not the most ordinary guy, you can see that on the inside, he wants what any of us wants: to be loved. Beauty and the Beast was my favourite princess movie as a kid, and it still is. Belle was also always my favourite Disney princess because of what she stood for. You can't judge a book by its cover, and it's exactly was she teaches us. I recommend this item to everyone, it's definitely a classic worth watching. Plus, the bonus features are quite fun!

Película en buen estado, la calidad es muy buena, es original y trae un juego.

Buena presentación en Blu-ray. La carátula genial, y venía con sello de la fábrica de Disney, para que compruebes que es un producto original claro está y que "hay pocas piezas" Muy recomendable y barata. Si eres fan no te arrepentirás.