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Also in theaters
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 3, 2002
With 'Beauty and the Beast,' bigger is better
The greatest animated feature of all time is Disney's Beauty and the Beast, now celebrating its 10th anniversary with special engagements at IMAX and other large-screen venues worldwide. The film is playing locally at Channelside Cinemas and the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa and shouldn't be missed.
Beauty and the Beast needs no introduction to anyone who loves movies. The romance, humor and musical score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman are timeless, reaching levels of melodic exposition that Broadway hadn't matched in years. No other animated film has ever been nominated for a best picture Academy Award or deserved it.
Bigger is better in the case of this revival, with an enlarged image enabling viewers to study each detail of the soft-focus backgrounds. Even the comically hairy chest of Gaston the town bully is funnier by sheer magnification. The digitally enhanced soundtrack sounds gorgeous through elaborate audio systems offered by IMAX venues.
The IMAX process also serves to amplify some shortcuts taken by animators before digital technology was perfected. Crowd shots are exposed as mostly immobile blobs rather than the individually animated characters introduced in 1996 in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The range of camera motion so common today is evident only in Belle and the Beast's ballroom dancing scene, an expensive novelty at the time.
Disney added another bonus to the reissue, a six-minute musical sequence deleted from the original release for running time considerations. The segment features the enchanted furnishings of the beast's castle singing Human Again, spelling out what they'll do when Belle's kiss lifts their curse. It's a spirited companion piece to Be Our Guest, occurring after Mrs. Potts sings Something That Wasn't There Before and segueing into the Beast's bath in preparation for dinner with Belle. Just one more reason not to miss this movie.
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