Beauty And The Beast (Animated) (Collector's Edition) (Wide Screen) (DVD)

Beauty and the Beast was one of those Disney films that when released it was an immediate hit. With a great storyline and a brilliant selection of music it was sure to be a film that would do well. Released back in 1991 this was the 39th ever Disney animated film to hit our screens.

The story:
A young prince lives in a castle hidden away in the woods. He is not a normal Prince though and neither is any of his staff because some ...
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The making of Beauty and the beast
The music video by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson
Mrs Potts personality profile game
The story behind the story: Celebrities reveal the stories behind Disney's greatest classics
Chips challenge: musical memory game
Disney's animation magic: Go backstage at the Disney studio
Cogsworth and Lumiere - Origins of Beauty and the beast
Be our guest

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Beauty and the Beast was one of those Disney films that when released it was an immediate hit. With a great storyline and a brilliant selection of music it was sure to be a film that would do well. Released back in 1991 this was the 39th ever Disney animated film to hit our screens.

The story:
A young prince lives in a castle hidden away in the woods. He is not a normal Prince though and neither is any of his staff because some time ago a beautiful enchantress disguised as an old woman had placed a curse on him and everything within his castle because he did not want to help her believing her to be an old and ugly beggar woman. She made him into a beast but, gave him a beautiful red rose and told him that if he could learn to love before the last petal fell the spell would be broken.
One day whilst out, Maurice father of Belle stumbles across the castle and calls for help on a dark and blustery night after being chased by wild animals. The beast locks him away and only when Belle comes looking for him does he let him go in return for Belle staying in the castle with him.

Will the Beast be able to break the spell with Belle and what will happen when villagers come looking for Belle who have been told of this horrible beast keeping her prisoner?

The Cast:
The list of voices of main characters is quite high in this film as there is so many that appear and makes this film so fabulous! The main ones that we encounter are listed below -

Belle - Paige O'Hara
Beast - Robby Benson
Gaston - Richard White
Maurice - Rex Everhart
Lumiere - Jerry Orbach
Cogsworth - David Ogden Stiers
Mrs Chip - Angela Lansbury
Chip - Bradley Pierce

I think the one name that jumps out here is Angela Lansbury who plays the character of Mrs Chip - a teapot who is in the castle and interestingly she also sings part of the main song for the film 'Beauty and the Beast' which is sung during a scene in the castle where Belle and the Beast have a dance together. The only other voice that really stands out is that of Bradley Pierce who had one of the main roles as the young lad in the 1995 hit film Jumanji.

Extras:
Being a special edition 2disc DVD that I have you can imagine it comes with affair few extras. The main one is that there is all together 3 versions of the film - if I'm completely honest I'm not sure what the difference is between the first two! The difference between them though and the third is that the third is the original version of the film before it was remastered for the special edition so the original artwork.

Along with these 3 versions there are a load of others and these are listed below -

The making of Beauty and the beast
The music video by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson
Mrs Potts personality profile game
The story behind the story: Celebrities reveal the stories behind Disney's greatest classics
Chips challenge: musical memory game
Disney's animation magic: Go backstage at the Disney studio
Cogsworth and Lumiere - Origins of Beauty and the beast
Be our guest

Each section in the Cogsworth and Lumiere and Be our Guest also has many more links so there is plenty to keep children occupied for hours with some really interesting stuff on the making of the film and other Disney stuff.

Overall opinion:
I really do love this film as one of those ones that can be watched anytime - with some of the others I have to be in the mood for them but, with this one it really is a good all rounder. The plus point is a lot of the music in the film is pretty good and you'll find that the songs are pretty well known too. Obviously the most well known is the theme song 'beauty and the Beast' but, don't forget the also brilliant 'Be our Guest'.
I highly recommend this one as it is fun and has a variety of brilliant and quirky characters that make it a great family film!

The DVD is available to buy from various high street and online stores but is pretty expensive at around the £20 mark or above - the best bet may be to buy from an auction site. 

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