Beauty and the Beast

Details: Category: Cartoons

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Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated musical romance–fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on the French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, Beauty and the Beast is the 30th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Additionally, it is third in the Disney Renaissance period. Starring Paige O'Hara and Robby Benson, Beauty and the Beast focuses on the relationship between the Beast (Benson), a prince who is magically transformed into a hideous monster as punishment for his selfishness, and Belle (O'Hara), a beautiful young woman who he imprisons in his castle. The film also features the voices of Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers and Angela Lansbury, who occupy supporting roles.

Walt Disney first attempted to adapt "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated feature film during the 1930s and 1950s, but was unsuccessful. Following the unprecedented success of The Little Mermaid (1989), Walt Disney Feature Animation decided to adapt the fairy tale, originally conceived by then-director Richard Purdum as a non-musical. Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg eventually discontinued the idea and ordered that the film be a musical similar to The Little Mermaid instead, resulting in Purdum's resignation. Beauty and the Beast was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, with a screenplay by Linda Woolverton story first credited to Roger Allers. Lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken wrote the film's songs. Ashman, who additionally served as an executive producer on the film, died of AIDS eight months before the film's premiere. The film is dedicated to him.