"Beauty and the Beast 1991" movie was not that good

[Maxmillian 89]

Its not engaging or interesting. The only thing good was the "Gaston song".

But it just was so cliched, boring and not interesting to me.

It sorta takes place in the Enlightenment era. In the movie case 1800s.

 

The synopsis is.

Gaston is (Every slur you can say about a guy you dont like)

Belle is (Reading books. Which is not a crime, gotta have hobbies which is chill)

Beast is (The redeemable Stockholm Syndrome character)

 

I dont see how this is that liked? Its not that great of a movie. I rather prefer "Hercules 1997" movie. Or i even will take "Little Mermaid 1989" movie over this.  I mean sure it has flawed story (Over the original source material) but it atleast left a better impression.

Edited February 20 by Maxmillian

[Otaku-sempai 527]

5 hours ago, Maxmillian said:

Its not engaging or interesting. The only thing good was the "Gaston song".

But it just was so cliched, boring and not interesting to me.

It sorta takes place in the Enlightenment era. In the movie case 1800s.

 

The synopsis is.

Gaston is (Every slur you can say about a guy you dont like)

Belle is (Reading books. Which is not a crime, gotta have hobbies which is chill)

Beast is (The redeemable Stockholm Syndrome character)

 

I dont see how this is that liked? Its not that great of a movie. I rather prefer "Hercules 1997" movie. Or i even will take "Little Mermaid 1989" movie over this.  I mean sure it has flawed story (Over the original source material) but it atleast left a better impression.

So the immensely popular, wildly successful, Oscar-winning movie was "not that good". Well, it obviously wasn't your cup of tea. Thanks for sharing. 

[Ice Princess Silky <3 14,717]

There are so many different versions of Beauty and The Beast. In fact, if the Disney one was not much to your liking, perhaps this one may be more successful at striking your fancy. 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

the best character there was not even given a name because he was just too amazing to have one!

[abronymouse 5,814]

the title in my made the 90s kid through its walkman at the wall  

Beauty and the Beast was a classic, I tell you!

how can the OP not like it!

*read read*

hmmf! hmmf I say!

*read read*

oh, you like the little mermaid!  

me too!

 

Gaston Song is good though  

 

anyway, I do like Beauty and the Beast, but a healthy slab of that is because I loved it as a child. And I totally can't be objective about it  it's clearly a bit flawed. I can see why you find it a bit dull, especially relative to the other excellent greats... but I do like the other songs, and I friggin love the Belle character, she's a freakin' classic!  

[Maxmillian 89]

7 hours ago, Otaku-sempai said:

So the immensely popular, wildly successful, Oscar-winning movie was "not that good". Well, it obviously wasn't your cup of tea. Thanks for sharing. 

Winning an Oscar doesnt mean good though. But if you like it then its cool.
Besides you have this awesome song in Hercules 1997 movie. (Even if the movie dont have many good songs)

But the one by Michael Bolton is peak!

 

Edited February 21 by Maxmillian

[Ice Princess Silky <3 14,717]

To offer a proper answer to this...

One has to bear in mind that this was, quite literally, the 90s. A time when people had predetermined concepts of things and certain ideologies. 

18 hours ago, Maxmillian said:

Its not engaging or interesting. The only thing good was the "Gaston song".

But it just was so cliched, boring and not interesting to me.

It sorta takes place in the Enlightenment era. In the movie case 1800s.

 

The synopsis is.

Gaston is (Every slur you can say about a guy you dont like)

Belle is (Reading books. Which is not a crime, gotta have hobbies which is chill)

Beast is (The redeemable Stockholm Syndrome character)

The Gaston song is so freakin pretentiously over the top that you have GOT to love it. It is so ridiculous. And yet... when you know so many people.. you can recognize the "Gastons" in a group and it is not so exaggerated as you would think. 

So, piece by piece! Here we go.

Quote

Gaston is (Every slur you can say about a guy you dont like)

Yes, this is the basic premise. But it is also important to note that you are being shown the story through Belle's point of view. It is interesting to me how society once glorified this concept in such a clueless manner that the target of interest could see how pretentious and obnoxious it is and yet due to how strongly an ideology was pushed... no one commented or cared and simply sided with "the most popular opinion" without thinking.

Quote

Belle is (Reading books. Which is not a crime, gotta have hobbies which is chill)

Something I can relate to. I was moved from a big city into a tiny town where people only wanted to gossip and date "the football jock" who was so shallow that he got offended when I turned him down simply because I was the new girl who did not know him. He spent a good chunk of his time trying to stalk and harass me due to his ego being bruised, so it is not too far from believable a thing to those who have been through it. And I did enjoy running away into books because there was so much depths to the storylines and rich characters (which is probably what you are craving in this 1990s children film).

Quote

Beast is (The redeemable Stockholm Syndrome character)

I have seen this oversimplification before. Many times. It is an edgy take but ultimately, this is literally just a simplistic, classical story preserving the golden lesson of not "judging a book by its cover" (hah book pun!) and Disney did a very good job doing the animation and plot lines rather smoothly despite having to work with such a simple premise.

(Don't believe me? You gotta check out the Bevenfield Beauty and the Beast, oh my gosh, the beast literally died because he scared off Belle's sister who got confused and then he was "Too lonely" when he saw it was not her, so... he died. -- like. What?! I died, too, from laughing. But again, it was the 90s. People saw children as half-wits who would not notice or care).

I believe this is also what made MLP-FiM so revoluntary for its time. Adding depths to seemingly simplistic characters rather than just being all "mindless sparks and magic floof left and right!" But I digress.

In Disney's version, you can carefully observe their facial expressions and immerse yourself in the story -- like when Beast turns into a human, she pauses and has a moment of doubt until she looks into his eyes and realizes "Oh! It is you!" They really did do their best with what they had.

For such a basic, simple story that is quite dated of its time... I would say Disney did quite a good job in trying to do it justice. I like Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 

Now, does that mean I would agree to some ANGRY dude kidnapping a girl in exchange for not imprisoning her father? Absolutely not.

Awareness of that toxic trope - in spoiler

Spoiler

There was always this toxic trope/notion that an abusive man can be "fixed" if only "a beautiful angel" can take care of him properly. It is a very dangerous premise because it seems to rob the female character of her autonomy whilst placing the male character in the "main character" syndrome or what have you. Gives the viewer a false sense of how things should be rather than just teach the dude to go into therapy to learn emotional regulation and intelligence. It is essentially is just "blegh" all around. 

But for me - Beauty and the Beast can mean that even in such simplistic and seemingly mundane towns... there can be magic hidden. A character like Belle who did not feel like she fit into her village, who felt the need to escape into another world in her books, etc is quite fitting for the adventure that would befall her. It would be something else if she were in love with Gaston and was planning her wedding and then suddenly The BEAST took her away!

Sometimes, stories are just stories. And sometimes, irl, people have a real story to share that we can sneer at and dismiss with snark because it was not to our taste but it does not take away from the fact that the story was meaningful and intricately tailored to the people involved.

With that said, sorry it was not to your taste. Have you tried other movies that you might have preferred? And do you notice a contrast to the style that you do like ? 

[Snoopy Fan 1,508]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I agree with what @Ice Princess Silky <3 said.

[Clawdeen 15,482]

While I enjoyed 1991 Beauty and the Beast I do agree with you on 1997 Hercules being better. Megara is great as well as Hades.

[Dawnshine Wonder 330]

4 hours ago, Ice Princess Silky &lt;3 said:

To offer a proper answer to this...

One has to bear in mind that this was, quite literally, the 90s. A time when people had predetermined concepts of things and certain ideologies. 

The Gaston song is so freakin pretentiously over the top that you have GOT to love it. It is so ridiculous. And yet... when you know so many people.. you can recognize the "Gastons" in a group and it is not so exaggerated as you would think. 

So, piece by piece! Here we go.

Yes, this is the basic premise. But it is also important to note that you are being shown the story through Belle's point of view. It is interesting to me how society once glorified this concept in such a clueless manner that the target of interest could see how pretentious and obnoxious it is and yet due to how strongly an ideology was pushed... no one commented or cared and simply sided with "the most popular opinion" without thinking.

Something I can relate to. I was moved from a big city into a tiny town where people only wanted to gossip and date "the football jock" who was so shallow that he got offended when I turned him down simply because I was the new girl who did not know him. He spent a good chunk of his time trying to stalk and harass me due to his ego being bruised, so it is not too far from believable a thing to those who have been through it. And I did enjoy running away into books because there was so much depths to the storylines and rich characters (which is probably what you are craving in this 1990s children film).

I have seen this oversimplification before. Many times. It is an edgy take but ultimately, this is literally just a simplistic, classical story preserving the golden lesson of not "judging a book by its cover" (hah book pun!) and Disney did a very good job doing the animation and plot lines rather smoothly despite having to work with such a simple premise.

(Don't believe me? You gotta check out the Bevenfield Beauty and the Beast, oh my gosh, the beast literally died because he scared off Belle's sister who got confused and then he was "Too lonely" when he saw it was not her, so... he died. -- like. What?! I died, too, from laughing. But again, it was the 90s. People saw children as half-wits who would not notice or care).

I believe this is also what made MLP-FiM so revoluntary for its time. Adding depths to seemingly simplistic characters rather than just being all "mindless sparks and magic floof left and right!" But I digress.

In Disney's version, you can carefully observe their facial expressions and immerse yourself in the story -- like when Beast turns into a human, she pauses and has a moment of doubt until she looks into his eyes and realizes "Oh! It is you!" They really did do their best with what they had.

For such a basic, simple story that is quite dated of its time... I would say Disney did quite a good job in trying to do it justice. I like Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 

Now, does that mean I would agree to some ANGRY dude kidnapping a girl in exchange for not imprisoning her father? Absolutely not.

Awareness of that toxic trope - in spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

There was always this toxic trope/notion that an abusive man can be "fixed" if only "a beautiful angel" can take care of him properly. It is a very dangerous premise because it seems to rob the female character of her autonomy whilst placing the male character in the "main character" syndrome or what have you. Gives the viewer a false sense of how things should be rather than just teach the dude to go into therapy to learn emotional regulation and intelligence. It is essentially is just "blegh" all around. 

But for me - Beauty and the Beast can mean that even in such simplistic and seemingly mundane towns... there can be magic hidden. A character like Belle who did not feel like she fit into her village, who felt the need to escape into another world in her books, etc is quite fitting for the adventure that would befall her. It would be something else if she were in love with Gaston and was planning her wedding and then suddenly The BEAST took her away!

Sometimes, stories are just stories. And sometimes, irl, people have a real story to share that we can sneer at and dismiss with snark because it was not to our taste but it does not take away from the fact that the story was meaningful and intricately tailored to the people involved.

With that said, sorry it was not to your taste. Have you tried other movies that you might have preferred? And do you notice a contrast to the style that you do like ? 

While I don't condone anything horrible Beast, known as Prince Adam, did, I do think the point of the story is that it takes kindness to rehabilitate troubled souls, Beast learned to accept that life wasn't all about him, and he even risked his life to save Belle from somebody who was even more selfish than Beast was, Gaston was more of the macho stereotype and treated women as if they were lesser, clearly sexist, and he hunted animals for fun with his own firearm, not just for survival, he kept trophies of his kills, and when he imprisoned Belle and her father in their own basement and called them both "crazy", it was clear no amount of kindness would have changed him, Gaston's behaviour did not even improve as the story progressed, instead, he got much worse.

Beast almost killed Gaston, but after looking into Gaston's eyes, seeing his expression of cowardly fear, Beast was reminded of the kind of person he used to be, and that was enough for him to show mercy and spare Gaston's life, instead, Beast dropped Gaston down on the rooftop and told him to go away. I think part of the reason Beast spared Gaston's life was out of respect for Belle as well, knowing how much she appalled violence. There was a genuine change of heart, and unfortunately critics of this movie just don't seem to get that, they focus on what Beast used to be, instead of his potential for love.

Whether people like to admit it or not, sometimes abusers become ex abusers. It may not happen very often, but when it does, it is important to recognize it.

 

Beauty and the Beast 1991 is a story of a tragic history of a man who due to being spoiled as a Prince, in a selfish act toward an enchantress and insulting her looks, he ended up cursed, and it's clear he had serious anger management problems after that. If he never learned to love, he would have remained cursed. Sorry but I am not a fan of eternal torment, however flawed a person is, if it were possible to reform them, I would much rather a story take that route, than writing them off immediately because of how they used to behave. This is why I find redemption stories so compelling, one dimensional villains are far less interesting to watch, because their motives don't seem to go much beyond sadism and greed of the stereotypical mastermind/evil genius.

[Fluttershutter 2,536]

I love the movie and I even kind of liked the live acion remake. 

I read the original book and it was pretty boring. Disney really made it more entertaining. I recently read the Witcher book The Last Wish that has a version of it. It was...different.

 

12 hours ago, Ice Princess Silky &lt;3 said:

Something I can relate to. I was moved from a big city into a tiny town where people only wanted to gossip and date "the football jock" who was so shallow that he got offended when I turned him down simply because I was the new girl who did not know him. He spent a good chunk of his time trying to stalk and harass me due to his ego being bruised, so it is not too far from believable a thing to those who have been through it. And I did enjoy running away into books because there was so much depths to the storylines and rich characters (which is probably what you are craving in this 1990s children film).

So you ARE Belle! 

I think the whole thing of sympathy for the villians has gone too far. Sure eveerybody has there story, everybody has their reason for doing what they're doing, but a lot of people's reasons just make them jerks or criminals.

 

[Dawnshine Wonder 330]

6 hours ago, Fluttershutter said:

I love the movie and I even kind of liked the live acion remake. 

I read the original book and it was pretty boring. Disney really made it more entertaining. I recently read the Witcher book The Last Wish that has a version of it. It was...different.

 

So you ARE Belle! 

I think the whole thing of sympathy for the villians has gone too far. Sure eveerybody has there story, everybody has their reason for doing what they're doing, but a lot of people's reasons just make them jerks or criminals.

 

Doesn't necessarily mean they're incapable of reform, either. And about what OP said, I've seen that oversimplification made about Beast in Beauty and the Beast 1991 many times that it's cliche at this point, one example of this I had been made aware of is by Lily Orchard and we all know the bad takes she has about movies or fiction in general. The only things I agreed with her on is from memory, her anti bigotry statements, possible nuggets of wisdom on other topics here and there, but where she burns the bridge with me in my opinion is when she makes the automatic assumption that abuse victims cannot be abusers, when that is clearly not the case, not all abusers were child abuse victims, not all abuse victims become abusers, but studies have shown that how we are raised does influence our behaviour, and our genetics.

It's as the fictional character Mojo Jojo once said in Powerpuff Girls, evil geniuses are made, not born. Though he is hardly a sympathetic villain in the show and continues to be a problem without any effort to grow, has a vindictive grudge against three superpowered 5 year old children because he sees them as competition, on that note earlier, he does make a good point, children are by definition born innocent.

about Disney's Beauty and the Beast 1991 movie. I would say where Beast did draw sympathy for me, is when he made this statement "What does she want me to do, beg!? show me the girl!" as he looks into the magic mirror he believes "I'm just fooling myself, she won't see me as anything, but a monster, it's hopeless" as he puts the mirror down on the table.

This implies there is a desire to reform and become civilized, but at that moment he was trying to figure out how. And he said these things in his private moments behind Belle's back, there was no threat of punishment other than the never ending curse of his transformation, but at that point it could not have gotten any worse for him. If he failed to reform and find love and be loved in return, his chance at peace is over for him and he knew it. Some might say his motives for imprisoning Belle were for the purposes of ending the curse only and not true redemption therefore purely selfish, but that argument falls apart when we consider that initially Beast wanted to keep Belle's father as prisoner, he didn't believe he had any chance at finding love and remained alone in his castle for who knows how long, accompanied only by his royal subjects who also got cursed. That doesn't excuse Beast's rude and aggressive behaviour toward Belle in robbing her of her freedom, however what that does tell us is Beast motives go deeper than some people might think. That is the conclusion you would come to if you were analytical about it.

And I think in My Little Pony, this is what Fluttershy saw in Discord, Discord used to be a villain, until he learned to respect Fluttershy and her kindness, and although he continued to create problems for Mane Six, in the later seasons his motives were different than causing suffering for his own amusement, he wanted to test them, and while not an ideal outcome, there was a profound change in his behaviour as a result of being friends with Mane Six. I think his redemption arc was poorly written however it was clear Hasbro intended to show him as reformed, and they could have executed this better than forcing Twilight Sparkle and her friends to go along with tests that were a risk to the safety and freedom of Equestria, but I do see potential for Discord's growth. 

I respectfully disagree with people who reduce this to a matter of "Stockholm syndrome", because sometimes a desire to reform someone and possibly become their friend at a later time when their behaviour does improve, is justified. Some abusers may stop, some won't but would regrettably become better at manipulating others, domestic abuse is a nuanced topic and there is no one size fits all solution. What I am saying is, a person who is known to be abusive should get therapy, how they respond to that determines whether or not they are capable of reform, in my opinion.

[Dreambiscuit 10,164]

Not that good? Okay, that’s one opinion which seems to be a pretty simplified run-down of, in my own opinion, one of the greatest movies ever made.

But in simplifying the various elements of this movie, one must cite the simple and clear narrative as part of what makes this movie perfect, without pointlessly convoluted plotlines that fail to serve the story. The characters are immediately understood for what they are; a bookish dreamer out of her element in a provincial town, a handsome but self-centered suitor with the heart of a pig, and the Beast who, despite his outward appearance, has the capability, even under extreme circumstances, of loving another. It’s about redemption, content versus cover, and the meaning of true love, all balanced out with characters that serve the drama of the story while keeping it light and uplifting.

And the music, equating to an invisible but important character in its own right, is the best ever written for a Disney film, which is hard for me to say considering the historical contributions of Frank Churchill, Larry Morey, and the Sherman brothers to name just a few. But Howard Ashman and Alan Menken represented a new era that brought freshness to Disney and ushered in the new Golden Age of the studio, not because of Academy Awards but by audience acclaim.

I could drone endlessly about this movie and its countless virtues but I have to accept that belaboring the obvious isn’t always going to change anyone’s opinion. Not that it needs to. But I do think that this movie, whatever anyone’s perception of it may be, warrants more than a cursory glance and dismissal. It’s a work of an array of great artists at the peak of their considerable abilities, and has earned a more thorough appraisal.

[Dawnshine Wonder 330]

50 minutes ago, Dreambiscuit said:

Not that good? Okay, that’s one opinion which seems to be a pretty simplified run-down of, in my own opinion, one of the greatest movies ever made.

But in simplifying the various elements of this movie, one must cite the simple and clear narrative as part of what makes this movie perfect, without pointlessly convoluted plotlines that fail to serve the story. The characters are immediately understood for what they are; a bookish dreamer out of her element in a provincial town, a handsome but self-centered suitor with the heart of a pig, and the Beast who, despite his outward appearance, has the capability, even under extreme circumstances, of loving another. It’s about redemption, content versus cover, and the meaning of true love, all balanced out with characters that serve the drama of the story while keeping it light and uplifting.

And the music, equating to an invisible but important character in its own right, is the best ever written for a Disney film, which is hard for me to say considering the historical contributions of Frank Churchill, Larry Morey, and the Sherman brothers to name just a few. But Howard Ashman and Alan Menken represented a new era that brought freshness to Disney and ushered in the new Golden Age of the studio, not because of Academy Awards but by audience acclaim.

I could drone endlessly about this movie and its countless virtues but I have to accept that belaboring the obvious isn’t always going to change anyone’s opinion. Not that it needs to. But I do think that this movie, whatever anyone’s perception of it may be, warrants more than a cursory glance and dismissal. It’s a work of an array of great artists at the peak of their considerable abilities, and has earned a more thorough appraisal.

I agree, Beauty and the Beast 1991 was better than a lot of other Disney films I've seen. Gaston was far worse than Beast in my opinion. Gaston represented an individual who is a lost cause and became more dangerous as he incited a lynch mob against Beast and all his servants there, while imprisoning Belle and her father in their basement. Gaston's lack of humility caught up with him in the end though, when despite being shown mercy, he attempted to murder Beast again, only to end up falling to his death.

Hercules 1997 is an alright film, but lets be honest, it was mainly the comedy factor of Hades that carried that film, there weren't that many interesting characters in that movie, the Titans? they're brutes, what's there to know about them? while Hercules is a hero, he was also easily tricked, completely unaware of Meg being manipulated until it was too late, which almost resulted in Meg being trapped for eternity in the afterlife. Sometimes the more interesting or better heroes of a story, are individuals who started off bad or being jerks, but worked hard to overcome their personality flaws. in Little Mermaid 1989, King Triton was a racist jerk who hated humans and became abusive toward his own daughter, but he later learned not all of them are selfish or evil and learned to accept that Eric truly loved Ariel, King Triton redeemed himself by allowing Ariel to be with him.

Beast had behavioural problems but I don't believe he would ever resort to sending a mob after the Provincial town, he is not an invader, even with all that aggressive demeanour he expressed at his castle before his redemption, somewhere deep inside, was a man who was struggling with how to manage his emotions. Belle's kindness changed him, and this became evident when he made the choice to let her go, even if it came at the cost of not being able to undo his curse. If people don't see that as a real effort at redemption, then what is? he wasn't doing that for himself, he did that because for the first time, he learned to put others needs before his own desires.

the problem with people is too many people like one dimensional villains who have no real depth to their motivations, they exist purely for the purposes of drama, which is both boring and uninspiring. Scar in Lion King remained malicious all the way up to his death, but even he was written to be a nuanced character, who wanted to overthrow both Mufasa and Simba because he believed he was the rightful king, but his greed and incompetence as a ruler, in allowing Hyenas to overpopulate the pridelands led to the destruction of the ecosystem, which Simba and his friends needed to clean up.

Edited Sunday at 10:10 AM by Dawnshine Wonder