The story follows young Belle as she sacrifices her freedom to free her quirky father from the clutches of the "evil" Beast, and soon learns that there is more to him than his furry exterior would reveal. You see, Beast was once a young prince who slighted an enchantress in disguise, and in response, she turned him into a monstrous sight and cast a spell on the rest of the castle and its inhabitants. The spell states that he would stay that way unless he can fall in love and have someone fall in love with him before his 21st birthday. If he doesn't, they will all stay in their new forms forever.
As the birthday grows close, all of the enchanted inhabitants fear the spell will never be broken. One fateful day, Maurice, Belle's father, stumbles into the palace looking for help since he has lost his way. Enraged by his presence, Beast locks Maurice in the dungeons and inadvertently sets into motion the chain of events that lead to not only a "Don't judge a book by its cover" morality tale, but the inevitable "Happily Ever After" that wraps up most Disney animated features.
When Belle goes out looking for her father, she finds him, thanks to the help of some of the enchanted inhabitants of the palace, and bargains for the older man's life. She agrees to stay in the castle if Maurice is let go. Beast, believing her to be a captive audience and a sure cure for the spell, agrees to the deal and works hard to win her over. Too bad his years of brooding has made his personality hard to bear.
The palace's many inhabitants, including the candlestick, Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), the clock, Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers), the young cup, Chip and his mother Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), help to not only temper Beast's personality, but warm Belle up to their master.
Besides the cosmetic issues preventing Belle and Beast from growing close, there is also another character, Gaston. As the town's most desirable bachelor, he has chosen Belle, the most beautiful young lady in the twon, to be his wife, even if she does have odd notions of independence in her head. When he learns of the Beast's existence, he not only becomes enraged by Belle's choice to stay at the castle, but feels the need to rally the entire town against our furry protagonist.
Beauty and the Beast's story is a classic to say the least, but one of the aspects that makes this film so wonderful are the many good songs scattered about it. Not only does it have classics like "Be Our Guest" and "Something There," but it also has a song that was a hit single in its own right, "Beauty and the Beast." In the film, it is sung by Lansbury and won Best Original Song (going up against two other songs from the same film), but the radio version was sung by Celine Dion (who wasn't really known in the States at the time) and Peabo Bryson.
To make things better, the Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition not only contains the Theatrical Version, but the Extended Version created for IMAX in 2002 which features a previously removed song, "Human Again." To round out the list of film versions, there is also a Theatrical Version that contains a Picture-in-Picture presentation of the film's Story Reel, a kind of colored, roughly animated storyboard), and to top things off, you can even turn on a Sing-A-Long track - a sure hit for the kiddies.
That's far from everything the Diamond Edition has to offer, though. All of the original DVD special features are available including a section called "The Story Behind the Story." This section of the special features covers several Disney films and talks about the origins of the story. These include, but aren't limited to, Cinderella, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, and Mulan.
Also included under the "Classic DVD Bonus Features" option are early story reels, alternate versions of "Be Our Guest" and "The Transformation" score, as well as a discussion of "Human Again" and various animation tests and discussions. Among these in this last topic includes a short featurette on the work that went into the film's famous ballroom scene that blended the CG room with the dancing characters like never before.
Of course, the Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition comes with quite a few new special features as well. One of the more interesting featurettes is titled "Composing a Classic." Here Alan Menken (the film's Composer), Don Hann (Producer), and Richard Kraft (Music Agend and Disney Historian) talk about the work that went into making the music of the film. There are quite a few interesting anecdotes conveyed in this featurette, including several concerning Howard Ashman, one of Disney's biggest musical contributors who died six months before the film's release.
An additional featurette talks about the film's transformation into a Broadway production and interviews several of the cast members over the years, including Donny Osmand who played the role of Gaston. The disc also contains a few amusing games, but the real gem in this edition is the documentary called "Beyond Beauty." This lengthy extra covers pretty much anything you might want to know about not only the film, but the state of Walt Disney Studios at the time. Everything from Ashman's passing, to the animation department being moved off to a warehouse, to Beauty and the Beast being the first animated film to receive Best Motion Picture in the Golden Globes. This documentary alone makes the rest of the package worth buying for big-time Disney fans.
Of course, the fact that the film has been beautifully remastered and cleaned up for the high definition media doesn't hurt either. There is something special about hand-drawn animation, and every time I see a hand-drawn Disney film brought into HD, it just makes the film feel that much more alive, and Beauty and the Beast is no exception. The Beauty and the Beast: Diamond Edition is simply a must-buy, and it is jam-packed full of more extras than any other Diamond Edition release I've seen so far. It has so much in fact, it spills over onto a second Blu-ray disc.
