In 1991, Walt Disney Pictures released the 30th film in their Animated Classics canon, Beauty and the Beast, to wild critical and commercial success, even nabbing an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (It is still the only animated film given this honor.) and becoming the first animated film to won a Golden Globe Award for Best Picture. In addition, Beauty and the Beast became the first film to have three of its songs be honored with Academy Award nominations. (The title track, along with the film's rich score, both won the Oscar.) The soundtrack also won Grammy Awards for Best Album For Children, Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture, Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture, Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group for the pop single version of the title track as performed by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson, and Best Pop Instrumental Performance. In addition, the soundtrack was certified platinum three times by the RIAA, and the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast" was certified Gold and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
In 2002, Disney re-released the film, this time to large-screen theaters such as IMAX. The film, which was animated using the CAPS system, (CAPS is a program that takes hand-drawn animation that has been scanned into the computer and allows the color artists to digitally color them and add shading and such, allowing for far more painted cels in a smaller period of time.) was enhanced to fix details that one might not notice on a TV screen or a regular theater screen, but would be very obvious in the larger format. In addition, a song that was dropped from the early storyboards but worked into the Broadway show, "Human Again," was voiced by the original cast, animated, and integrated into the film seamlessly. Just a couple of months prior to the film's January 1, 2002 IMAX premiere, Disney also reissued the soundtrack in a new Special Edition. The new Special Edition contained the digitally remastered original soundtrack, with the addition of Human Again, as well as two songwriter demos and the original early version of the Beast's death music. The new CD was issued in a brand new package with brand new liner notes and a new cardboard slipcover replicating the IMAX reissue's poster.
Beauty and the Beast is my all time favorite film. I've seen it at least fifty times, if not more, and the soundtrack is one of my all time favorite CDs. And unlike most subsequent "Special Edition" soundtrack reissues from Disney, this one does it right. The soundtrack has never sounded better. For music that is now sixteen years old, it still sounds fresh and vibrant and new, with the exception of the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast," which naturally sounds dated now. The lush orchestral arrangements of the score, written by Alan Menken, come to life as you listen, and the Broadway-like feel of the songs, written by Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman, makes it truly one of the most unique Disney soundtracks of all time.
The three songs from the film that were nominated for the Best Song Academy Award are "Belle," "Be Our Guest," and "Beauty and the Beast." The first two are big, loud, and splashy Broadway-styled numbers that blow you away, while "Beauty and the Beast" is its musical opposite. The subtle track is relatively quiet in its emotions, but very powerful. Performed in the film by Angela Lansbury, a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star and Academy Award-nominated movie star best known outside of the film as Jessica Fletcher from the long-running mystery TV series Murder She Wrote and as the title character in the Tony Award-winning musical Mame, her vocal performance is very subtle and vulnerable. In a featurette on the DVD, Angela admits that she'd been hesitant to record the song and didn't want to do it as she felt she wasn't the right one to sing it. But they (As Judy Garland said at Carnegie Hall, "I don't know who THEY are...") insisted that Angela perform the vocal. In that same featurette, composer Alan Menken praised her performance, saying it was an absolutely incredible say in the studio and shared a nice little fact - Angela recorded only one take of the vocal, which is what you hear in the film and on the CD.
"Belle" is the perfect opening number for the film. Within five minutes, you're introduced to several of your major players and get a glimpse into their personalities - odd Maurice, kind-hearted Belle, pig-headed Gaston, and his sockpuppet, LeFou. It's big, loud, very theatrical, and opens the film with a bang. A short reprise that follows soon after also shows you more of Belle's burning desire to get away from "this provincial life" that she expressed in the full-length number.
"Gaston" and its reprise are basically what it sounds like - everyone, including Gaston himself, singing his praises. Another rousing Broadway-inspired number, this one boasts some of the film's most amusing moments. The reprise also shows us a little more of the devious side of Gaston, which comes out slowly as the film progresses, climaxing at the end when he completes his internal transformation into an all-out villain.
"Be Our Guest" is the biggest number in the entire film, performed to perfection by the late great Jerry Orbach, best known as Det. Lenny Briscoe in the TV series Law And Order and as the original Billy Flynn in the original Broadway production of Chicago. The Disney staff pulled out all the stops for this one. It's a non-stop feast for the eyes and ears.
"Something There" crams what would take almost an entire movie in non-musical and crams it into about five minutes. In this song, we see the budding friendship between Belle and the Beast. This song comes after the Beast gives his library as a gift to Belle. (One of my favorite scenes in the entire film, and I'm PISSED that the score for this scene isn't on the soundtrack.) In the original version of the film, this immediately segues into the bathtub scene where the Beast is preparing for the ballroom scene, so seeing the original theatrical version, to me, it kinda leaves me wanting more now. Just a little more interaction between the two. Which leads me to...
"Human Again" is the new song here. Well, it's only new in that it wasn't previously included in the film. The song was actually part of the storyboards and was even demo'd. (The full-length demo can be found on the now out of print The Music Behind The Magic box set. An edited version of the demo can be found, along with early storyboard footage, on the DVD.) However, due to a motif in the song about the passage of time, which caused some story issues, the song was deleted. When Disney was preparing the film for its stage adaptation, the song was dusted off and they realized that if they merely removed the "passage of time" bit from the song that it would actually work. Now, I much prefer seeing the Special Edition of the movie with this song. It feels so much more complete and offers something the original film didn't have - anything about the breaking of the spell from the point of view of the enchanted objects. It also provides one more little moment between Belle and the Beast, which also goes back to the original storyboards - Belle teaching the Beast how to read.
"The Mob Song" is the final song in the film, save for the pop version of the title track during the end credits. In this song, Gaston finally makes the transition that has been building up throughout the entire film from a pig-headed dumb guy to jerk to full-blown villain who would literally kill to get his way, never getting the hint that no matter what he does, Belle will never want to marry him. The best part of this is the same thing that's great about all of the songs - it's not just there for the sake of being there. It shows character development and moves the story along.
As for the gorgeous score, there's two tracks that stand out for me - "The Beast Lets Belle Go" and "Transformation." Both are gorgeously dramatic when they need to be and subtle and soft when necessary. "Transformation" ends with a beautiful choral reprise of "Beauty and the Beast."
My only complaint about this soundtrack is that I wish more score was present on here. I find it hard to believe that there's only approx. 55 minutes of music in a 90-minute movie where it seems like you're hearing background music almost every minute. The Special Edition CD is just under an hour and five minutes, meaning they could have placed 10-15 minutes more of score cues and such on here and made it more complete. I'm sure ALL of the score wouldn't fit onto here, but most of it would be nice. Especially the score from the scene where the Beast gives his library to Belle, which I think is one of the most beautiful pieces in the film.
However, it's hard to find any other fault with this CD. The sound quality is fantastic, the music is gorgeous, and it's just CLASSIC. I give it 9 stars out of 10. If only Disney had given the Pocahontas soundtrack this same treatment when they released a new DVD edition of the film with the deleted song "If I Never Knew You" fully animated and integrated into the film. Instead, they chose not to even BOTHER re-releasing it or anything, making the song commercially unavailable outside of the DVD. Shame on you, Disney!
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