I was surprised the dead mums weren't both named Martha! Also, though it's easy to miss, the kindly "library" owner was also a church leader (Pere - Father - Robert). Given how ignorant most of the town is in this version, it was kind of nice that they didn't lump him in with the mob, so to speak.

It is in the case of a melodrama like this one, though. She's bloodless.

Not necessarily. It would allow the filmmakers to play more to their strengths, to the new medium.

I did sing along a bit to "Gaston"….

He does deliver one of the film's best performances. It's too bad that he doesn't get much screen time.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was offered this, but doing a "Beauty and the Beast" remake at this point in his career would have been too hackneyed even for him. Besides, he already directed a more than fine beauty-and-the-beast romance in "Edward Scissorhands", if nothing else. Sad to say, even if he's past his…

Yeah, though as someone commented elsewhere (can't recall where) it's a shame her character and solos have the shtick of "wacky opera singers are wacky!" going for them.

There is one nice nod to the stage version — a snippet of "Home" turns up in the underscore when Belle is shown into her bedroom in the castle.

Arguably it's worse in this version because the main action unfolds only over a week or so.

"Fun" isn't a word I'd use to describe most of this "Beauty and the Beast", which is odd since the original was fun on a bun.

Everyone at my half-full 10am screening besides me seemed to love it.

I don't think so. The theatre was half-full for the 10am showing I was at and everyone around me — mostly women my age — loved it.

Yeah, with all the hype the new songs were getting I expected more. They don't add something there that wasn't there before, is what I'm saying. Also, during the Beast's big ballad, as he's watching Belle leave the castle on horseback, from what the editing and sound effects suggest it sounds like it takes a while…

Yeah. Sadly, this movie isn't even as enjoyable as the "Phantom" film. So bloodless!

Just came back.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh yessssssssss. Anti-climax of all time. The servants being transformed back was much more affecting. For one thing, finally some nice bright colors! And the actors were so much more appealing in the flesh.

What's funny is that, infamously, no one at Disney saw "Lion King" as the A-project at the time — it was the B-project compared to "Pocahontas", the movie that would get all the awards that "Beauty and the Beast" couldn't quite manage, a serious epic love story with a big important message! Disney higher-ups actually…

Even his voice actor Richard White joked at the time that Gaston would NOT be an attractive man once he reached middle-age given his lifestyle — he'd be fat, with heart problems.

The wide release was a very brief one a few months after the IMAX engagements ended. Roy Disney, who had been a big booster of "Fantasia/2000", thought the release strategy was an awful idea but couldn't convince Eisner and co. otherwise.

I agree — I enjoy it more outside the film than within it, as the recording with all the original voice actors IS pretty glorious.