Come Into the Light...

Before Beauty and the Beast no Disney characters had ever fallen in love gradually. They were always just instantaneously in perfect fairy tale love. Even in Beauty's immediate precursor, the undeniably great The Little Mermaid, Ariel fell for Prince Eric in a matter of seconds, making goo-goo eyes at him like the teeny-bopper she was. Eric, for his part, fell for her while in a daze, immediately after his brain was deprived of oxygen for several minutes. Sure they got to know each other later, but they were hardly discussing art and politics over a game of chess. Mostly they grinned at each other while the crab slapped his forehead in frustration.

Charm, maybe, but not exactly depth

And Eric was a step up from the usual Disney prince - two dimensions instead of the standard issue one. Before him the chief qualifications for leading man status was a nice set of shoulders and a horse. This doesn’t necessarily qualify as a flaw in those movies where the prince was deployed more for iconography and myth than for drama. It’s only that I get the feeling that if those guys were in Beauty and the Beast you would find them down the pub singing back up for “Gaston” if you catch my drift.

Beauty and the Beast had and emotional complexity Disney animation hadn't seen before. Belle is a character that could have walked out of the pages of Jane Austen. Beast is raging ball of conflicting emotions, a big furry James Gandolfini. The main obstacle to their romance is internal, not a witch or a curse, although outside forces inevitably play a part. They grapple with things like empathy, self-control, forgiveness, and selflessness. The big breakthrough of Beauty and the Beast was that for the first time, amidst all the magic and adventure, the romance had some psychological truth to it. You could imagine those two characters going on to have a life together after Happily Ever After. What are Cinderella and Prince Charming going to be chatting about after a few years of marriage?

"So...Still into mice?"

My favorite shot of Beauty and the Beast, which doubles as my favorite moment in the film, is a great example of the depth the Disney artists got out of these characters. I've discussed before my love of Robby Benson's performance as Beast, but this moment belongs entirely to the animators, particularly lead animator for Beast, Glen Keane:

As a young animation nerd I remember reading about the way Keane and his team of animators agonized over getting the expression on Beast's face just right for the first time Belle, and the audience, get a clear look at him. I see a complex mixture of emotions at play here. Embarrassment at his appearance, anger stemming from self-loathing, an attempt to cling to some sort of dignity and a curiosity about this unexpectedly bold girl, what she will do next, and, above all, how she will react to him. It's an impressive achievement. 

There are many such beautifully executed character moments in this movie. Another favorite is the breathtaking way Beast's face gradually softens when he decides to spare Gaston's life. But this one is my favorite because of how static it is. The filmmakers trusted that they could leave the focus on Beast and load all the ambiguity and emotion into those eyes.

Perfect.