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Beauty and the Beast (Disney Special Platinum Edition)

Beauty and the Beast (Disney Special Platinum Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a memorable and enchanting tale ...
Review: Amazing! A great story to really get into, especially for kids! This tale is enchanting with wonderful animation. It features many loveable characters, including hilarious sidekicks and villains. It represents a teaching that true beauty is held within.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not As Good As Little Mermaid. But Close!!
Review: This movie, I remember watching it in 1992 thinking about how they made this movie. Was it based on a true story?? Of course not! Most people think it is and it's not. The idea of a talking beast and the falling in love Belle had for the beast, is almost as good as the mermaid who fell in love with a human. At least it's not a fish and a human but a beast and a human. This movie is one of the best Disney movies besides The Little Mermaid. I give this movie 4 stars cause it's almost as good as The Little Mermaid. Good job Disney!! I wish this orignal as still avaible for buys. Anyway, good job Disney!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Still the best Disney
Review: This is Disney in top form...which, unfortunately, you just don't see anymore. This particular movie is the crown jewel in Disney's repertoire. They should have done more movies like this one.

As was always the case, the music is beautiful, the story is sound, the writing is clever, and the animation is simply astounding.

This Platinum Edition features a new song that was not in the original theatrical release, a funny little number called "Human Again." I was fairy trepidatious going into this film, worrying that the added scene was going to kind of ruin it for me, but lo and behold, Disney pulled it off beautifully! That is something I did not expect. The transition was seamless, you would never have guessed, if you didn't already know, that this scene was not in the original.

And, for those who are total purists and don't care to see the added song, they also give you the option of watching the original without anything extra.

They ALSO put in an option to watch the "Work-In-Progress" -- which shows the movie in its entirety, moving back and forth from sketches to midway to finished product. It's quite interesting to see the transitions!

And of course, on top of all that, they have the making-of, and the special documentay features, which are worth watching if you, like myself, are fascinated by the makings of movies of any kind. I never cease to be amazed at how a traditional cartoon is put together, it's phenomenal!

All in all, this special DVD is well worth the money you pay for it! Disney may be losing its image these days, but movies like this one will forever remain priceless.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good.. but not great..
Review: Another classic from the Disney stables. But I would not call this Disney's best ! For me, a Disney film is not meant to be just a "film" - rather an experience. While the animation is almost as good as ever (though the faces are a little too sharp), I think Disney just tried to make a "film" here. At the end of it, while I could applaud the slick animation and technology, I could not realize any sort of that "bubbling happiness" that I expect from Disney. The music is good (though nowhere near Snowwhite and Sleeping beauty). What I miss most is the lack of sufficient *characters*. For example, in Snowwhite, every animal was given a part - the tortoise, the squirrels, the rats, the birds, the deers, the fly etc. Here, the focus is only on the lead characters.

Anyway, it suffers only in comparison - overall a good watch.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have all time favourite....
Review: Tales as old as time..... This is a all time favourite that cartoon fans should possess. Not only the movie is the only animation movie nominated for Oscar BEST PICTURE, the movie theme song 'Beauty and The Beast' was and is still all time favourite love song [by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson]. I admit that I am a Celine's fan. But, putting away this, I think this animation movie worth to be placed on your DVD, VCD or VHS collection cupboard.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Beauty
Review: Yes, men are abusive beasts transformed by our love. Am I the only person with a problem here? What kind of message are we sending with this idiotic story???

Belle is to put up with the Beast's outbursts, rages, and inappropriate behavior until he comes around? Her love will save him. It will transform him. Uh-huh. Bull mahjockey.

Enough with this idea we give our daughters that somehow they are to be gentile in the face of people being verbally abusive to them. They are to continue on and conquer all with their love. We wonder why women marry men and think they can change them? Why they might stay with a man who never hits.. he only talks ugly to them and yells... breaks into rages... Hmmm... wonder where they might have gotten the idea that all they must do is be patient and wait for him to change?

That being said, kids do seem to love this movie

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: My fondest childhood memory
Review: I remember when I was young, I went to see this movie at the cinema. It completely changed my life. I became a Disney freak. This is by far one of the greatest movies of me generation and of all time. The dvd is even better. With all the extra stuff and the amazing digital remastering, this movie will surely go down in history.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of Disney's Best Ever
Review: When I look at the Disney corporation the last 15 years I have to sit and think. Would Walt Disney be happy with what has been done with what he started. Sometimes I think he'd cry in shame except for when I see a movie like Beauty and the Beast and say to myself no, Walt would have loved this.

Disney has always been the standard for animated movies. Beauty and the Beast is the only to ever get a nomination for "Best Picture" by the academy awards and Disney has called it one of top three best they've ever done. Those are some pretty good credentials.

Beauty and the Beast tells the story of the beauty bookworm Belle. She has moved to a new town in France and doesn't fit it to well. Her father is a crack pot inventor is looked to be a madman from the local town folk. On a way to the fair to show off his newest invention Marious gets lost and ends up at a castle. It is at that castle he is imprisoned by a Beast. Belle who has complete compassionate love for her father finds him and takes his place. It's there that she teaches the Beast to love. Back in town though one of the towns men is angry. The conceited and wicked hearted Gaston wants Belle for himself and no one else, and he'll stop at nothing to get her.

There are so many reasons this movie is great. It has some of the most loveable characters ever. Belle and the Beast are both fantastic. In the castle all the workers were imprisoned into different animate objects. There's Cogsworth the Clock and Lemuix the Candlestick. There is Mrs. Potts the Teapot and many other loveable characters that leave you feeling good inside.

The music is fantastic. It did win the best score and best song Oscars. "Beauty and the Beast" is an awesome song sung by award winning artists Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. Other notable songs are "Gaston," "Be Our Guest," and Many Many more. I'd watch the movie just to see the music.

Beauty and the Beast is one of the best movies you will ever see. It's easily up there with the Wizard of Oz as the best family movie ever made. If you don't have this DVD you can't seriously have a DVD collection. It's one of the best of all time and will be forever. So be there guest and sit down for a ride you'll never regret.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent job Disney.
Review: I saw this when it first came out in theaters back in 1992. I was only 7 or 8 at the time, and it just didn't appeal to me as much as The Little Mermaid or The Rescuers Down Under. I don't really know why, but having just getting the DVD in the mail, my view of the movie is completely different.

Beauty and the Beast really is one of Disney's top 4 animated films. How they managed to combine a massive cast of characters into the main plot is amazing. Beast is one of my favorite Disney characters after re-watching this. There's so much emotion inside of him. Anger, rage, pity, ambition, and love. You'll really care for him from the moment he appears on screen. Belle is possibly the most humble heroine to date. She doesn't see that she's beautiful, but just cares for helping others and reading books. The supporting cast is just as good. Gaston, the villain, is just a....well I can't use the word. You can bet your money you'll feel the same way. But the characters are just the icing on the cake. The story is what the strong point's always been. Disney did a great job adding so much more to it, whereas the original didn't focus on anyone but Belle and the Beast really. But I'm sure you all know the story, so I'll just get into the features on this DVD.

On the first disc, you get 3 different versions of the film- theatrical, work in progress, and special edition. The theatrical is what you saw in theaters or on the home video release. Work in progress is mostly drawings in black and white while the voices and everything else is put in. The special edition has a few lines changed here and there, and the added musical "Human Again" into the film. Personally, I hated "Human Again". It comes right after and before other songs in the film, making you want them to just get on with the story. Plus the animation in it really stands out since it's newer and has those annoying shadows on every character that you see in so many made for video animated movies. There's also a commentary track that adds a lot of depth and information, and a game that unlocks another game. People complain about the picture quality of the movie, but it's not that bad. On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it a 7.5.

The second disc has a well done documentary on the making of Beauty and the Beast, story origins of a few other Disney movies, art galleries, music videos, more games, and much more. Amazon lists that the Broadway Musical is on this, but it isn't. It's mentioned in the documentary, that's all. This sets the standard for extras on Disney special editions of their movies. It's too bad The Lion King has nothing compared to this. Either way, if you like Disney at all...or just movies, you should go for this while you can. It's a masterpiece, and getting harder to find.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A storytelling. musical and animation accomplishment!
Review: The legendary story of the Beauty and the Beast never looked better than on this lovely Disney animated feature. In a time (1991, after the Little Mermaid) when the classic Disney appeal had long passed (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc.), the entertainment powerhouse for all ages came back with a film that resurrected the fairy tale story concept, giving it a much deserved technical make-up with animation that was up to the best of its time, in fact setting new standards for the genre. As an example, take the scene where Beauty and the Beast are in a dance hall and the virtual camera does a pan from the top of the room to the height of the characters: it has more depth (physical depth, I mean) than most if not all animated features I've seen.

As for music, it's tough to run into a contemporary animated flic with so many musical pieces so perfectly integrated into the story, and actually aiding it in a way that leaves you humming the songs for days at a time, after seeing the movie. The least that can be said about the role of music in the story is that the title song that won it an Oscar in 1991 is just a bit of what the music does for the movie: it moves you, makes you smile, and takes you in a thousand different directions.

As for a story and their characters, this movie has them all:
-The classic "villain" concept was beginning to evolve into more of a character getting in the way, but almost in a funny way, such as the case of Gaston in this movie. This concept would later become the norm in most Disney movies with soft "villains" that are not such, and at times with no villains at all.
-Hilarious big and small characters in disguise of teapots, chandeliers (Lumiere is my personal favorite, hands down!) and all sorts of furniture pieces.
-A Beast that can scare you with his initial anger or win your heart with the tenderness it exudes as his character evolves in the movie.
-Finally, a Beauty (Belle) that can be paired with some of the most beautiful animated characters, portraying a woman ahead of her time, wanting to read and travel in a stagnant peasant environment that would not relate to her 'crazy' dreams of exploration, much less coming from a woman whose place -in their minds- was "back at home," raising kids, caring after her husband, etc.

All in all Beauty and the Beast is a storytelling, musical and animation accomplishment of sorts. It totally deserves all the praise.


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