Beauty And The Beast (25th Anniversary Edition): Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
An arrogant young prince (Robby Benson) and his castle’s servants fall under the spell of a wicked enchantress, who turns him into the hideous Beast until he learns to love and be loved in return. The spirited, headstrong village girl Belle (Paige O’Hara) enters the Beast’s castle after he imprisons her father Maurice (Rex Everhart). With the help of his enchanted servants, including the matronly Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), Belle begins to draw the cold-hearted Beast out of his isolation.
In a world where traditional animation has become a thing of the past and all we have now are computer generated animated films it’s nice to know that Disney hasn’t forgotten about the classics. It’s always fun to revisit these films and with this film specifically it was like watching it for the first time again because I hadn’t seen it in over 15 years. The one thing that I was really impressed with was the clarity of the transfer. It looks breathtaking! Every scene is so colorful (even the dark and dreary ones) and you can actually pick out small details throughout the film that you may not have been able to before. I thoroughly enjoyed and so did my 6 year old son who had never seen it before. He was amazed at the animation style and the story that was told. I always tend to use him as a gauge for kid films but this one was one that I told he that couldn’t miss out on so we watched it together. Seeing his eyes light up throughout the entire film told me right then and there that this movie still holds up fantastically. If you’re a Disney fan then without a doubt you’re going to want to pick this up and if you already have some of the previous releases you might be happy to know that this version does contain a good amount of new Bonus Features along with all the previous features as well on the Digital HD copy. Bottom line: Pick this up now while you can! 10/10
Special Features:
Always Belle – Photos and interviews of Paige O’Hara who voices Belle and it shows how she continues to inspire everyone around the world.
Menken & Friends: 25 Years of Musical Inspiration – Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Stephen Schwartz sit and talk about how the film and its music inspired them over the years. It also ends with a fantastic rendition of “Be Our Guest”
#1074: Walt, Fairy Tales & Beauty and the Beast – Don Hahn and Becky Cline talk a bit about how a European trip inspired Walt Disney to create fairy tale stories and how it lead to a version of Beauty and the Beast that wasn’t produced and given the number 1074.
The Recording Sessions – This feature gives you a picture in picture look at songs performed in the movie and a look at the recording session.
25 Fun Facts About Beauty and the Beast – Disney Channel Stars Kayla Maisonet and Gus Kamp give us some facts about the film that people may not know.
Beauty and the Beast Sneak Peek – This feature shows a really small look at the live action version of the film.
Song Selection – This feature lets you pick between 9 songs that are performed in the film in an “on demand” moment.
Audio Commentary
