Meanwhile, next up in 1991's shortlist is the first animated film to gain a Best Picture nomination...
Beauty and the BeastDirector:
Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Screenplay:
Linda Woolverton
Starring:
Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Angela Lansbury, Bradley Pierce, Rex Everhart, Jesse Corti
Academy Awards:
6 nominations
2 wins, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song
In this classic fairy tale, a heartless prince (Benson) is transformed into a monstrous beast by an enchantress, who explains that the only way to reverse the curse is to fall in love and be loved in return. Ashamed, the Beast isolates himself for many years in his castle, accompanied only by his servants who have themselves been transformed into household objects.
When an old man, Maurice (Everhart), stumbles upon the castle after losing his way in the forest, the Beast imprisons him for trespassing. Maurice's daughter, bookworm Belle (O'Hara), tracks her father to the castle and makes a deal with the Beast: she'll stay with him in the castle if he lets Maurice go. As the two get to know each other, Belle slowly discovers that the Beast is not as gruff as his outwardly appearance would suggest.
It's not often the Academy nominates a family film for its big prize, and indeed, this was the first animated film to achieve the accolade, so that in itself gives Beauty and the Beast a permanent place in Oscars history. And while the traditional hand-drawn animation is certainly outdated compared to today's shiny 3D effects, the film's beauty (no pun intended) is genuinely charming. In fact, the truth is this picture does indeed employ some early computer animation techniques, culminating in the 3D background during the ballroom dance sequence, a groundbreaking feat for the time.
This picture also came at a time when Disney was at its height in terms of musical animation (though, I suppose some would argue they've always dominated that space). The Little Mermaid was a couple of years earlier, with Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas to follow soon after. All five of those films accomplished the double feat of Oscar wins for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Some have complained that, while the songs may have deserved their respective wins, the only reason Alan Menken won four Score awards (Hans Zimmer scored The Lion King) was because Academy members didn't truly comprehend the distinction between a film's score and its songs. Certainly, the songs in Beauty and the Beast are worthy of praise due to their classic toe-tapping Broadway style and witty lyrics (hence the three nominations for Best Song) but I'd also argue that Menken's incidental music which underscores the scenes between the musical numbers is just as wonderfully emotive, well worthy of its win.
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Along with witty song lyrics, the film's dialogue is often witty as well. It's easy to dismiss all these old-fashioned Disney kids movies as just that, exclusively for kids, but there's plenty of laughs for the grown-ups too. In particular, I enjoyed the banter between Lumiere and Cogsworth (pictured), expertly voiced by Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers who sound like they had a lot of fun in the booth.
It's not often the Academy nominates a family film for its big prize, and indeed, this was the first animated film to achieve the accolade, so that in itself gives Beauty and the Beast a permanent place in Oscars history. And while the traditional hand-drawn animation is certainly outdated compared to today's shiny 3D effects, the film's beauty (no pun intended) is genuinely charming. In fact, the truth is this picture does indeed employ some early computer animation techniques, culminating in the 3D background during the ballroom dance sequence, a groundbreaking feat for the time.
This picture also came at a time when Disney was at its height in terms of musical animation (though, I suppose some would argue they've always dominated that space). The Little Mermaid was a couple of years earlier, with Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas to follow soon after. All five of those films accomplished the double feat of Oscar wins for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Some have complained that, while the songs may have deserved their respective wins, the only reason Alan Menken won four Score awards (Hans Zimmer scored The Lion King) was because Academy members didn't truly comprehend the distinction between a film's score and its songs. Certainly, the songs in Beauty and the Beast are worthy of praise due to their classic toe-tapping Broadway style and witty lyrics (hence the three nominations for Best Song) but I'd also argue that Menken's incidental music which underscores the scenes between the musical numbers is just as wonderfully emotive, well worthy of its win.
.jpg)
Along with witty song lyrics, the film's dialogue is often witty as well. It's easy to dismiss all these old-fashioned Disney kids movies as just that, exclusively for kids, but there's plenty of laughs for the grown-ups too. In particular, I enjoyed the banter between Lumiere and Cogsworth (pictured), expertly voiced by Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers who sound like they had a lot of fun in the booth.Granted, it's often cheesy and over the top, both in the cheap laughs and the forced melodrama, so it doesn't hold a candle to the brilliance of a Pixar movie, but it's not quite as childish as I'd imagined. In the end, of course, this is a fairy tale, and the script plays to those strengths with its streamlined and efficient story, capped off by a satisfying, albeit cliched, ending.
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