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While not the first film of the Disney Renaissance era, Beauty and the Beast really changed things for the world of animation. Hitting theaters 34 years ago today on November 22, 1991, Beauty and the Beast was Disney’s most critically and commercially successful animated film to date. Not only doing very well in the box office, it was such a hit that it was the very first animated film to ever be nominated for the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Which ultimately carved out a whole new slice for animation going forward.
The Disney Renaissance Just Hit Different
The Disney Renaissance Era is generally agreed on by fans to range from about 1989 to right around 2000, depending on who you ask. It was an initiative by Disney to shake things up by returning more to their grandiose, Broadway style of music for their animated efforts and resulted with the immediate success enjoyed by the first effort of this new era, The Little Mermaid. But then it was followed up by the less successful The Rescuers Down Under, which had its fans by just didn’t hit that same level of recognition of its predecessor. But things were different with Beauty and the Beast.
The third film of the Disney Renaissance, Beauty and the Beast was a very loose adaptation of the fairy tale of the same name. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, with a screenplay from Linda Woolverton, this film was also the thirtieth entry in Disney’s animated history overall. All signs were good moving forward, and fans were treated with one of the best Disney animated films ever. Introducing the world to a young girl named Belle (who was more interested in books than finding love), she ended up being trapped within a dark and dreary castle together with a mysterious and aggressive Beast.
This “beast” was actually a young prince who had denied help to a woman, and was cursed to be a monster reminiscent of his monstrous personality. But as Belle was a prisoner within his castle, she slowly began to realize that the “beast” was much less monstrous than the village below had painted him as. There was a sensitive person underneath it all, and that back and forth between them is something that Disney just kind of nailed to the point where it was the most success the company had in a long time.
