Just when we thought nothing could top last year's deluxe edition of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, Disney have outdone themselves. This sparkling new 2-disc of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST has been well worth the wait, and features an impressive print.The first disc features three (count 'em) three versions of the film; the original theatrical release, the new IMAX version (featuring the restored "Human Again" musical sequence) and the work-in-progress version that was shown to standing ovations at the New York Film Festival in 1991.
The story is well-known by now; A selfish Prince has been put under a dreadful curse after angering an Enchantress disguised as an old crone. The Enchantress changes the selfish Prince into a Beast for until he learns how to love and be loved in return .Belle (voiced by Broadway veteran Paige O'Hara) is the odd girl in her small French provincial town. She is unwittingly being romanced by the boorish, self-absorbed Gaston (Richard White), when her father gets lost in the woods on his way to the invention fair. Discovering that he has been held a captive by an evil Beast (Robby Benson), she offers herself in his place. Slowly but surely, Belle and the Beast fall in love, and the enchanted objects (Mrs Potts, Cogsworth, Lumiere, Wardrobe and Chip) hope that the spell will soon be broken...
Other stand-outs in the voice cast are Angela Lansbury (Mrs Potts), David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth), Jerry Orbach (Lumiere) and JoAnne Worley (Wardrobe).
The now-classic score by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman includes three Oscar-nominated songs ("Belle", "Be Our Guest" and "Beauty and the Beast") as well as "Gaston", "Something There" and "The Mob Song".
Extra features are plentiful and include making-of featurettes, extensive galleries and interviews as well as info and footage on the Broadway musical "Beauty and the Beast" which opened in 1994. There are some galleries of posters and stills from the show. However, most posters only feature later Belles's like Andrea McArdle and Toni Braxton. I would have liked more stills of Susan Egan and Deborah Gibson.
There is also the "Break the Spell" game which actually starts on Disc 1 but comes over onto Disc 2.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is a true Disney classic that everyone should have in their collection.
