Today I would like to talk to you about two movies that possibly everyone in America who grew up in the 90's has seen, and probably even remembers seeing in theaters (I know I do). That is Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
I was four years old when Beauty and the Beast came out. It's actually the very first movie I remember seeing in theaters. It was also the theme for nearly every birthday party I went to for at least two years after that. I guess you could say Beauty and the Beast is the Tangled of my generation. This movie was so enchanting to my four year old eyes (except for the typography they used for the main title....that ribbon and stone deal has always been awful to me; yes, even when I was four, because that's the kind of child I was). So the nostalgic part of me still loves this movie. The artistic side of me..... has a hard time sitting through it.
I know several of you out there are shocked and possibly outraged by this admission. Allow me to explain:
Once upon a time, I was watching the special features for Beauty and the Beast. They have one of those "making of" featurettes in the copy I own and since I watch ALL special features of any animated film when they are available I watched this featurette. It talked about the MANY speed bumps the animation team had in order to get this movie made and how half way through production they were told everything they'd done was junk and had to scrap everything and start over. So the average animated movie takes 3 years to make. Beauty and the Beast was made in a year and a half. Then the producer/director (I forget which) made a comment that went something like this: "I still look at this movie sometimes and think of things I want to change and could do better but as a whole I'm pretty pleased with it."
Artists everywhere please heed my words: If you think there are problems with your finished work DO NOT BRING THEM TO THE ATTENTION OF THE CONSUMER!!!!!
The second those words came out of that guys mouth I immediately thought "What's wrong with this movie that would make him think that?" So I watched the movie again and I started to notice all these flaws in the animation. There are so many things that look sloppy or rushed. There are proportions that fluctuate and sometimes a characters eyes aren't both looking in the same direction. It just comes through as shoddy workmanship. I can't blame the animators too harshly for this since they created a movie in half the time it usually takes. However, I wish they had pushed its release date back instead of insisting that they have a movie come out every year. I'd rather have quality over quantity any day.
Also, kudos to the writers for trying to spruce up an otherwise dull fairy tale, but there are just too many plot holes in this story. First off, the prince is supposed to remain a beast until he's 21 and he's been a beast for 10 years. Now, I'm not that great at math but, wouldn't that mean this prince was 11 when he had his encounter with the enchantress? Does anyone know an 11 year old who isn't a complete doofus? Not to mention, where are this boy's parents during this whole ordeal? AND if your monarch up a disappears, don't you think the townspeople would have noticed? I mean, he's only been MIA for 10 years. I think they'd be a little more panicked than they are....or even be in the throes of a battle for the throne. And will someone please explain to me how in the world Belle gets the Beast onto that horse after he saves her from the wolves?! Does she use a pulley system? Does the horse do it? Come on people! Oh, and when the Beast has his confrontation with Gaston, Gaston stabs the Beast in the side with a dagger and SOMEHOW that's a fatal injury?! I mean the Beast climbs up onto the balcony and is on the verge of death. Did he get stabbed in the liver? Is the anatomy of the Beast different and that's where his heart actually is? WHY IS THE BEAST DYING FROM THAT?! The conditions of his spell aren't that he'd turn 21 and die, it's that he'd turn 21 and remain a beast forever. WTF Disney!
Ok, I've ranted about (most) of the stuff that bothers me about this movie. Now let me point out the things I like about Beauty and the Beast:
I like the expository sequence of this movie, i.e. the stain glass window storytelling. It's pretty fantastic. I also like the little things drawn into the background. Like the fact that Gaston has a bald eagle's head mounted on his wall, or the little things thrown into the town, like the bird's nest built into a chimney, or the bald lady at the wig shop who agrees that Belle is "rather odd." Of course I love the ballroom scene because no one can dislike that scene. I like the Gothic art qualities of the Beast's castle and how everything is painted in green and purple tones to give it a slightly creepy feel. And some of the dialog in the movie is just SO funny to me!
Oh, and I get a little annoyed when people tell me the Beast is ugly when he turns into a human. He doesn't look ugly, he looks French.
Let's move on to Aladdin....
I remember very clearly seeing this movie in theaters. It. Was. AmAzing. I even remember leaving the theater and my dad commenting on how that was a movie that needs to be seen on the big screen. I couldn't agree more. You know how occasionally Disney's been into re-releasing their classics back into theaters for a limited time only? (They've done this with Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.) I REALLY wish they'd do that for Aladdin.
There are a few rather spectacular things that they've done with this movie so allow me to elaborate on a few of them.
First: the character design is fabulous. I love it when you can know the demeanor of a character just by looking at them. The Sultan is essentially a circle with appendages. This translates to a secure, trusting, and happy personality. Jafar is a big upside down triangle with nothing but sharp edges...evil much? If you look at the way Aladdin and Jasmine are drawn, they're basically gender-swapped versions of each other (i.e. if Aladdin were drawn as a woman he'd look like Jasmine and vice versa) this indicates that they belong together; they're a matching set.
I'd also like to point out that frequently, main characters/protagonists have a tendency to have large and detailed eyes. This is because the most expressionate part of the face is the eyes so if you want an emotion to read really well in animation the eyes are drawn larger. Minor characters/antagonists usually have smaller eyes to make them seem less important/more villainous. Jafar not only has small eyes but he's the only character who has no highlight on his iris. This, in my opinion indicates he has no soul....or some such villainous type idea. Not to mention the fact that everything in the movie is very brightly colored with the exception of Jafar who is wearing stark black. Another obvious sign that he's evil.
I find it so amazing too that Aladdin doesn't solve his problems using magic. He doesn't even do it using violence. When he tries both of these things they fail. Ultimately he overcomes his obstacles using his cunning intelligence. And he has a deep abundance of integrity. In the end he has a chance to be with the woman he loves or to do what he promised to do at the beginning of the story, and he chooses to forfeit his own happiness for the sake of someone else's. I also love that his level of character is consistent throughout the movie. He doesn't transform into a good man full of integrity just because he met some girl, he was always a good man and in the end he's rewarded because of that. I get a little annoyed when I watch a movie where the guy's a bit of a douche and then meets this girl and suddenly everything changes and he wants to be a better person (that's right, I'm talking about YOU Princess and the Frog and Tangled!). I just feel like that's giving people a false sense of how relationships work.
Ok, have I ranted enough? I think I have. Well prepare yourself for next time. I'll be talking about The Lion King and color theory. Minds will be blown.
P.S. In case you were wondering, I have also watched Return of Jafar, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and Aladdin the animated series and I was a big fan of all of them.
P.P.S. Welcome to the 90's where the ending credits are run while the movie's love song is sung by a pop sensation/duo. So entertaining.
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