Beauty and the Beast The Movie in Chengdu, China

• Info
• Cast & Crew

• Genre: Animated,Fantasy
  
  Synopsis:
  A French maiden takes the place of her captured father in the enchanted castle of an accursed prince, and her love is his only chance to resume human form, in the Disney version of a French fairy-tale .
  
  Release Date: 11/13/1991
  Running Time: 84
  
  Rating: G - General Audiences
  
  http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/beautyandthebeast/intro.html
  
• Cast:
  Voice of Belle: Paige O'Hara,Voice of Beast: Robby Benson,Voice of Gaston: Richard White,Voice of Lumiere: Jerry Orbach,Voice of Cogsworth/Narrator: David Stiers Ogden,Voice of Mrs. Potts: Angela Lansbury,Voice of Chip: Bradley Pierce,Voice of Maurice: Rex Everhart,Voice of Lefou: Jesse Corti,Voice of Philippe: Hal Smith,Voice of Wardrobe: Jo Anne Worley,Voice of Bimbette: Mary Bergman Kay,Voice of Stove: Brian Cummings,Voice of Bookseller: Alvin Epstein,Voice of Monsieur D'Arque: Tony Jay
  
  Crew:
  Director: Gary Trousdale,Director: Kirk Wise,Executive Producer: Howard Ashman,Producer: Don Hahn,Original Music: Alan Menken,Film Editor: John Carnochan,Art Direction: Brian McEntee
  
  Production Companies:
  Walt Disney Pictures
  
  Distributors:
  Buena Vista Pictures,BV International Pictures [no]
  
  Notes:
  Production Notes -Notes provided by Walt Disney Pictures- BEAUTY AND THE BEAST LARGE FORMAT CINEMA SPECIAL EDITION PRODUCTION NOTES In celebration of its tenth anniversary, Walt Disney Pictures' timeless animated classic, "Beauty and the Beast" makes its Giant Screen debut at theaters around the world with a large format cinema special edition. Adding to the excitement of this release is the introduction of a newly animated six-minute musical sequence that features the song "Human Again," written for the original film by Academy Award®-winning songwriters Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Working from the film's original digitally stored files, "Beauty and the Beast" has been meticulously and painstakingly reformatted one frame at a time to take full advantage of the Giant Screen. Led by the original filmmaking team producer Don Hahn and directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale - a group of Disney's top artists and technicians launched a major effort to remove dust and dirt, add detail and effects, and create new animation for this occasion. Nearly all of the original animators created the character animation for the new sequence and all of the film's stellar voice cast - including Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers and Jo Anne Worley - reprised their roles. The film's Oscar®-nominated team of sound re-recording experts also lent their talents to this special release by remixing the original tracks to utilize the full range of acoustic dynamics offered by the large format venues. New film stocks and technological advances also contributed to making this release look better than ever. "Beauty and the Beast" was only the second Disney animated film to be produced digitally. All of the film's original artwork and production elements were stored digitally on 8mm magnetic tape and subsequently transferred and archived on 9000 CD-ROMs. The latter became the source material for creating three different large format versions of the film that could play in IMAX® and other Giant Screen venues. Special camera heads and film printers worked around the clock to reformat the original film for the Giant Screen and to create new prints (in 8 and 15 perf formats) that would provide an unprecedented level of clarity, dimension and superior sound quality. Originally released in 1991, "Beauty and the Beast" proved to be a major success at the box office (the first animated feature to cross the $100 million plateau in its initial release), a favorite with moviegoers all over the world and an important milestone for the art of animation. The film became the first and only animated feature to ever receive a Best Picture Nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy/Musical. In all, the film received six Oscar® nominations and took home trophies in 1992 for Best Song ("Beauty and the Beast's and Best Original Score (composed by Alan Menken). Additional kudos came from the music industry as the film garnered two Grammy Awards. At the time of its initial release, "Beauty and the Beast" enchanted critics and played a major role in resurrecting interest in movie musicals. Additionally, the film also helped revive Broadway musicals and was launched as a stage musical itself in 1994. That production, which included new songs by composer Alan Menken (with additional lyrics by Tim Rice), is still playing on Broadway after more than 3,000 performances and has become the tenth-longest running musical in Broadway history. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards (and won in the Costume category). Touring versions of the show have played across the U.S. and in such countries as England, Germany Spain and Japan. No less than New York's most influential and powerful theater critic Frank Rich (of The New York Times) observed, "What is the best Broadway musical comedy score of 19917 Make no mistake about it, it is the score that Alan Menken and Howard Ashman wrote for `Beauty and the Beast,' the animated Walt Disney movie that opened this week." He went on to note "Their goosebump-inducing accomplishment in `Beauty and the Beast' ...accentuates what is missing from the Broadway musical scene." The late film critic Gene Siskel gave the film a "thumbs up," proclaiming, "The musical has been basically dead for the last 20 years in American film; this one brings it back alive with a great score. And they've even got the details right" The New York Post's Jami Bernard noted, "The most wondrous thing about this movie is the character animation and the sophisticated use of `camera angles' - like the complicated shot where we swirl from the chandelier on down to two figures dancing in an empty ballroom." Most importantly; the success of "Beauty and the Beast" gave Walt Disney Feature Animation a tremendous boost and further fueled the creative resurgence that had begun two years earlier with the release of "The Little Mermaid" (which also included songs by Ashman and Menken). Animated features began to be seen as serious filmmaking efforts and new attention was focused on the art form. Disney followed this success with the release of such other animated musicals as "Aladdin," "The Lion King;" "Pocahontas," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Hercules," "Mulan," and "Tartan." Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation and Buena Vista Theatrical Group, views the film's enduring popularity in this way: "There's something deep at the core of `Beauty and the Beast'; something about the relationship between Belle and the Beast; and something about what the music says to people. Not only is it inviting and inclusive with songs like `Be Our Guest,' but it also has a lot to say about the transforming power of love. Love is a healing force, and every single person who has seen the film or the stage play is profoundly moved by that. No matter what time we live in or what language you hear it in, that's an affirming message." Roy E, Disney, vice chairman of The Walt Disney Company, admits, "`Beauty and the Beast' is my favorite movie of the past decade. It's just a wonderful piece of work. And there is this great family feel about it for everyone who worked on it. It was bigger than anything we had done before and the Oscaro nomination made it very special for all of us. The film played at The New York Film Festival and in Cannes and got standing ovations all over the world. `Beauty' was clearly a story we needed to do and Howard Ashman and Alan Menken brought this enormous sense of Broadway theatrical comedy to the process. It was in the canon of fairy tales and the tradition of what we had done before, but it had a freshness and originality to it that really engaged audiences the world over." Commenting on the film's large format debut, Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, says, "The tenth anniversary of `Beauty and the Beast' is really exciting because it gives us an opportunity to bring the film back for a whole new generation. Many of the moviegoers who saw it ten years ago now have children of their own that they can share the film with. This special edition presents the film bigger and better than ever and with a new sequence that was originally planned for the 1991 release. It's always been a magical film and seeing it on the big screen is exciting, fun, and a great emotional experience. "`Beauty and the Beast' is the first full-length narrative feature to really be shown in the large format," adds Cook. "Instead ofjust taking a 35mm version and blowing it up for the Giant Screen, our team went back to the original digital source material and spent more than a year reformatting each frame, adding detail and effects, and fixing mistakes that were never noticeable before. Seeing this special anniversary edition is like seeing it for the first time. You'll see nuances they you've never seen before. The colors are more vivid and richly saturated than ever before. Kirk and Gary have gone through every scene of the original film to make sure that everything is exactly right. The Giant Screen presentation envelops you and makes you feel like you're a part of the film. From the opening scenes, you'll be convinced that the film was done in 3D because you're moving through the woods in that large format and walking through the village with Belle. The audience becomes observers watching what is happening all around them and that's something you don't get in any other format" Producer Don Hahn adds, "This film was made for the big screen. You want to be able to see the Beast's castle and the ballroom with Belle in her beautiful ball gown six stories tall. What better way to exhibit the film than on these Giant Screens. It not only puts you in the presence of these characters but it actually puts you in the presence of the movie. You feel like you're not only watching it but you're there in the movie." "Beauty and the Beast" remains one of the most popular and enduring romantic adventures the world has ever known and provided a rich source of material for Walt Disney's 30th full-length animated feature. This classic fairy tale about a beautiful young girl and her encounter with an enchanted beast has long fascinated and intrigued storytellers, filmmakers and their audiences. With the artistry and imagination of the Disney creative team, an inspired song score by two Academy Award®-winning songwriters and the contributions of an enormously talented vocal ensemble, this age old fantasy took on exciting new dimensions that were only possible through the magic of animation. Set in and around a small French village during the late 18th century, "Beauty and the Beast" follows the fantastic adventures of Belle, a bright and beautiful young woman who finds escape from her ordinary provincial life - and the relentless advances of a handsome but boorish suitor, Gaston - by reading books. When her inventor father stumbles onto the castle of a hideous beast and is taken prisoner, Belle comes to the rescue and agrees to take her father's place. With the assistance of the castle's enchanted staffa teapot, a candelabra and a mantel clock, among others -she soon learns to see beneath the Beast's exterior to discover the heart and soul of a human prince. Meanwhile, consumed by rejection and jealously; Gaston reveals that he has the heart of a beast and leads a mob to the castle for a climactic confrontation. "Beauty and the Beast" was only the fifth classic fairy tale to be adapted as a Disney animated feature. The tradition began in 1937 with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which was based on the famous story by the Brothers Grimm. In the 1950s, Walt Disney and his animators successfully tackled two classic folk tales by French author Charles Perrault - "Cinderella" (1950) and "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). Another famous purveyor of fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen, was the source of "The Little Mermaid," Disney's 1989 release. Transforming "Beauty and the Beast" into a Disney animated feature was a challenging assignment that took over 3 1/2 years to accomplish and required the talents of nearly 600 animators, artists and technicians, not to mention over a million drawings and 226,000 individually painted eels. Heading up the team was producer Don Hahn, a 25-year Disney veteran, and two talented young directors, Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who made their debut in that capacity on this film. This same filmmaking trio relearned to create "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996) and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001). Ten supervising animators were assigned to specific characters and took on the task of bringing them to life with the assistance of an impressive group of character animators, clean-up artists, and other key supporting players. Animators at Disney's satellite facility at the Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida also contributed to the production. Using the timeless themes and basic elements of the classic fairy tale as a starting point, writer Linda Woolverton created a fresh and stylish screenplay which became the structural and emotional blueprint for the visual development and storyboarding phases that accompanied it. Executive producer/lyricist Howard Ashman also contributed greatly to the development and structure of the story from the earliest stages on. Roger Alters was in charge of story supervision while Brian McEntee and Ed Ghertner handled the art direction and layout duties, respectively. Lisa Keene supervised a team of 14 artists who created 1,300 backgrounds for the film. Sarah McArthur was the associate producer and John Camochan ("The Little Mermaid") served as the film's editor. Overseeing the creation of the new "Human Again" animated segment for the large format cinema special edition were art director Ed Ghertner and artistic coordinator Dave Bossert. The segment's artistic supervisors were John Sanford (Story), Mitchell Bernal (Layout), Alex Topete (Clean-up), Dean Gordon (Background) and Steve Moore (Special Effects). Marshall Toomey was the layout supervisor for the large format edition, with Lisa Keene overseeing backgrounds and Tom Baker guiding scene planning. Ellen Keneshea served as the editor for this special edition. Woven into the fabric of the story are seven outstanding songs by the Academy Award®winning team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, the songwriters responsible for Disney's 1989 animated musical blockbuster "The Little Mermaid" and the 1992 hit comedy; "Aladdin." Here again, Ashman's sophisticated lyrics combine with Menken's memorable melodies to provide songs that are not only enjoyable musical interludes but also serve as important story elements that advance the plot and contribute to the development of the characters. Menken, an eight-time Oscar® winner, also provides an inspired underscore for this latest project as well. The untimely death of Howard Ashman in March 1991 (eight months before "Beauty" opened) deprived the world of one of the preeminent creative talents of our time, but his genius lives on in his beloved films for Disney and the musical theater. Contributing to the creation of the characters from a vocal standpoint are a talented group of actors and actresses who provided the speaking and singing voices. Veteran stage actress and singer Paige O'Hara was selected to play the female lead, Belle, from among hundreds of top Broadway talents who auditioned for the part. Her sincerity as an actress combined with her fine singing skills made her the perfect voice choice for the independent, adventure-loving, romantic-minded heroine. Equally impressive in his ability to give the kind of well-rounded performance the filmmakers were looking for was actor Robby Benson, who was cast as the Beast on the basis of his winning audition. The actor brings a sense of humor and humanity to this hideous looking creature who must learn to love and be loved in return in order to break the spell he is under. Stage actor Richard White is the macho voice behind Gaston, a handsome and comically conceited character who is intent on marrying Belle. When things don't go quite according to plan, he reveals the heart of a beast beneath his handsome exterior. Through good times or bad, Gaston can always count on his faithful sidekick Le Fou, hilariously brought to life through the vocal performance of actor Jesse Corti. The late Rex Everhart, another fine stage actor, gave an inventive turn as Maurice, Belle's inventor father whose unconventional Rube Goldberg-like creations are ahead of their time. Providing voices for the principal enchanted objects -the maids and servants of the castle who were transformed at the same time that an Enchantress's spell turned the selfish Prince into a hideous beast - are a first rate cast of performers. Angela Lansbury, a four-time Tony Award winner, acclaimed screen star and a television favorite, gives a bubbly performance as a perky teapot named Mrs. Pons who likes to spout motherly advice to her son Chip (voice of Bradley Pierce) and Belle. Veteran stage, screen and television star Jerry Orbach shines as the voice behind a hotblooded candelabra named Lumiere, the former maitre d' whose charm and boulevardier personality turn an ordinary meal into a major event. Actor David Ogden Stiers is superb as the voice of Cogsworth, a tightly-wound mantel clock who functions as the head of the household and attempts to run things like clockwork. Rounding out the vocal cast is comedienne Jo Anne Worley, who lends her vocal talents to a wacky wardrobe. The "Beauty and the Beast" story is indeed a "tale as old as time" with variations on the central theme dating as far back as Greek mythology. In 1550, Italian author Giovan Straparalo wrote the first account of the story as it is generally known. The tale grew in popularity during the 18th century with books by French authors Madam Le Prince De Beaumont and Madame Gabrielle di Villeneuve. In 1946, acclaimed French director Jean Cocteau used cinematic imagery and lyrical expression to bring this story imaginatively to the big screen ("La Belle et la Bete"). Other film interpretations have followed as well as a popular television show in 1987 which shifted the setting to contemporary New York. "Doing your own version of `Beauty and the Beast' is as much a tradition as is the story itself," says producer Don Hahn. "Part of the fun is that each generation and culture adapts this story to be its own. The themes, you can't judge a book by its cover and beauty is only skin deep, are as relevant today as ever." Screenwriter Linda Woolverton agrees, "The lessons of this story are truly timeless. It tells viewers to look beyond the surface and beyond materialism and that what is in their hearts and souls are the things that really matter." "HUMAN AGAIN": ADDING NEW ANIMATION AND A NEW SONG TO THE MUSICAL PROGRAM Among the original songs that Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote for the animated version of "Beauty and the Beast" was a melodic and "sweeping" waltz called "Human Again." The song was intended to be sung by Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Pons and the other objects in the Beast's castle as time passes and their master becomes closer to his reluctant house guest, Belle. Although it remained a favorite with both the songwriters and the filmmakers, the song posed story problems which couldn't be solved in a timely manner. Originally conceived as an 11-minute musical number, the song was ultimately replaced with the shorter and more direct "Something There." Subsequently; in 1994, "Human Again" found a place in "Beauty and the Beast: The Broadway Musical" and emerged as a showstopper in that Tony Award-winning hit. Heartened by that response, Hahn and the directors began exploring ways to add the number back into the film years later when the opportunity presented itself. Hahn recalls, "About four years ago, Kirk and Gary and I were sitting around talking about the `Star Wars Special Edition' that had just come out and Kirkjokingly suggested, `wouldn't it be fun to do a special edition of `Beauty' with `Human Again' or new material in it' When the head of Feature Animation said he thought it was a great idea, we stopped joking and began thinking about how we could actually do it. We had storyboarded the sequence for the original production, but completely reworked it for this special edition of the film. We discovered that there was a perfect place for the song following `Something There' and it added a greater emotional depth to the story. A new scene with Cogsworth instructing the staff to create the most romantic atmosphere known to man or beast sets up the song beautifully" Director Gary Trousdale adds, "`Human Again' was written for the original film but for a variety of reasons we couldn't make it work. The song was taking the audience away from the plight of Belle and the Beast and it was getting longer and longer. Finally after eight years of perspective, 20/20 hindsight and seeing how well it worked in the Broadway stage version, we were able to make it work for the film." Kirk Wise observes, "I like to think that the addition of `Human Again' deepens the story a bit. You get to know the objects in a more personal way and really learn what their hopes and aspirations are when the spell is finally broken. You also get new insights into Belle and Beast's relationship. We discover a secret about the Beast that he hasn't shared with anyone and that is that he's been a beast so long that he's completely forgotten how to read. That was Howard's idea. He thought that it would be very touching if Belle imparted this gift of helping him learn to read. This was another way for him to regain his humanity and it was really effective. The song has Howard's trademark wit, fun and humor." Menken adds, "`Human Again' was probably the most ambitious number that Howard and I wrote for the film. It was this exuberant waltz where the objects sing about how their fate is about to change and how they'll be human again. The song contained a motif about time passing. The lyrics included `Tick-tock, the time goes.' It was a very sweet motif that said time is passing and they're getting closer to achieving their desire. But we had a problem because Maurice is lost in the woods this entire time and Belle is out there trying to rescue him. We knew he couldn't be lost in the woods for nine months and we never could figure out how to make this work. This passage of time really stymied us and so we wrote the `Something There' to take its place." "`Human Again' was sort of our great lost song," adds Menken. "One of the wonderful things about this special anniversary release is that it gave us an opportunity to revisit the material and change things that we didn't have time to deal with ten years ago. Audiences are going to have a completely new experience now that `Human Again' has been incorporated back into the film. For Paige O'Hara, who provided the voice of Belle, the recording and addition of "Human Again" was a dream come true. She notes, "I'm very emotional about `Human Again.' It was Howard's favorite song and I was really disappointed when it didn't end up in the film. Now that its back, I know Howard is watching somewhere and is so happy that this is happening. It really is a wonderful song because it shows another dimension and a vulnerability to the other characters in the castle. We get to hear about their hopes and ambitions to get their lives back." "Working with Howard and Alan was one of those life changing experiences. There are those rare geniuses that come around every now and again, like Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and I think Ashman and Menken are in that category There was real magic between the two of them and just watching them and being around them was so exciting and intimidating. They had that indefinable thing. Their music is so charismatic." Hahn adds, "`Human Again' is a great song and we always loved it and certainly the audiences did on Broadway, which I think gave us an extra level of courage to do it. Putting it back in the film is a tribute to Howard. Here's one of the last great songs that Howard Ashman wrote and it's a real treat for the audience." For the animators, the addition of the "Human Again" sequence gave them a chance to revisit their old friends. The original team was called upon to contribute new animation for this new musical number. Animation began in 1998 and took almost a year to complete. Nik Ranieri, the supervising animator for Lumiere, recalls, "I was really excited to be song working on this character again and `Human Again' had a good role in it for Lumiere. My first thought was, `Can I handle this character? It's been ten years and I don't know if I can still draw him.' I got out the old model sheet and started drawing and it just started to come back. It was like visiting an old friend. I really enjoyed getting to work with him again. It was nice to know I could still draw him." "When I think about it, it feels like its been a long time since I worked on the film," observes Will Finn, supervising animator for Cogsworth, "but when I feel it, it feels like only yesterday. It was such a vivid, exciting experience and to see it come together and transform into this jewel of a movie is amazing. It is still the movie that I most enjoy having worked on. I can still watch it and experience it as a story instead of flashing back to where I was when I was making it. It was very satisfying. Cogsworth was a wonderful character to work on and David Ogden Stiers is as rich and funny and versatile a voice as you could ever hope to work with." Background supervisor Lisa Keene recalls, "It's interesting to watch the film ten years later because you think you're going to be very removed from it and be able to watch it as an audience member. But it didn't work that way. I actually got to go through the experience again. I had the rare opportunity to be able to go through the film one more time and address some of the issues that we didn't get to the first time. It was very rewarding. Technology has changed and improved so we were able to do things that we couldn't do before. Dust on the original images looked like tennis balls on the screen. At the time, we weren't able to do a digital touch-up and remove all the imperfections. For this release, we looked at the entire film and decided what was charming and what really needed to be fixed. Today it's a very simple matter to correct these things digitally. Those small little adjustments really helped." "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST": ONE DECADE LATER A decade has passed since Disney's animated version of "Beauty and the Beast' first cast its spell over audiences. Yet for those filmmakers and voice talents who were involved in creating this classic, the experience is as memorable as ever. Producer Don Hahn observes, "`Beauty and the Beast' was one of those once in a lifetime movies. I really believe that it is the greatest love story ever told and when we were making it we felt that it was the last of the red-hot fairy tales. It was also an occasion where we had some of the greatest artists and storytellers as well as the great Howard Ashman and Alan Menken working together. Looking back on this period, I truly believe we did capture a light beam in a bottle for those two years that we were in production. It was a very special project" Director Kirk Wise adds, "I think `Beauty and the Beast' was special because it had this kind of magic combination of humor and music and artistry that just seemed to come together as the right movie at the right time. When we were working on it, we knew it was pretty special but we had no idea that it would become such a classic. Working with Howard and Alan was amazing. They were so good and to this day have no parallel when it comes to creating songs that not only move the story forward but give you insights into the characters. You never feel like the whole movie is suddenly grinding to a halt just for the sake of the singing. The songs flow so naturally into the story that it just seems like a part of it" "Howard's wit and clever lyrics were a joy to listen to," adds director Gary Trousdale. "They really gave us, as filmmakers, something to work with. Our challenge was always to come up with animation to match the cleverness of the lyrics. According to Alan Menken, "`Beauty and the Beast' has been a huge part of my life. Anything that can appeal to so many people over so many years in an ever-changing world is very special and extraordinary. It has become a very deep part of my life for lots of reasons. It allowed me to work with a lot of talented people - actors, animators, choreographers, etc. This has been an amazing odyssey. The film raised the level of sophistication for an animated musical. I remember when Howard and I first played the songs `Belle' and `Be Our Guest' for the filmmakers, we had a lot of trepidation not knowing whether we were going to get laughed off the project or not. "My reaction to seeing the film the first time and every time since has been to think of Howard, especially at the end where we have this dedication to him. He worked so hard on this picture and yet he died six months before it was finished and never lived to see how well it worked. Because of that, `Beauty' is a very emotional project for me and for the people who knew and loved Howard Ashman. He had an incredible ability to create characters with a lot of comedy and sophistication like Gaston. He gave us a perspective on this character that allowed us to laugh at the same time that he functions as a villain. The idea of telling a serious story without having the comic side is unthinkable for a musical. Howard had so much passion for this film and contributed so much. When we were recording `Human Again' a few years ago, I could really feel that he was there in spirit with us in the studio." Robby Benson, the talented actor who provided the voice of the Beast, notes, "When I heard that the film was going to be released again, I was ecstatic. First of all, it gave me a chance to work together again with some great actors who have become great friends. The idea that the film is going to be seen on the Giant Screen is thrilling. I loved doing the voice of the Beast because there is so much going on inside him. He's a tortured soul and not just some greedy little prince who has turned into a big old shouting animated figure. He wants to do what's right and he's angry at himself a lot. Being able to revisit the part is great. My daughter, who is now 15, watched the whole thing happen ten years ago and now my five-year-old son gets a shot at all this too." Jerry Orbach, the voice of Lumiere, observes, "Its like being Jimmy Cricket. Lumiere is a character who is ageless, timeless and wonderful to be associated with. When I saw the grandeur of the movie and the animation and production values, it reminded me of such great Disney classics as `Pinocchio' and `Cinderella.' I think the reason that people love `Beauty and the Beast' so much is because of the notion that anybody can find love, even the ugliest creature on the planet. This is a beautiful lesson and I think it gives people a lot of hope. This film has a real power to it and a lasting quality that is wonderful." David Ogden Stiers, the versatile voice behind Cogsworth, adds, "It's a Disney classic. When we started working on the film more than ten years ago, we all jumped on board and we've never jumped off. One of the things that made it so great was the way the songs were woven so seamlessly into the story. They were all reflections of character or advanced the plot and that's very rare. Adding `Human Again' back to the body of the film feels like a lovely circle closing and now it has actually been placed where it belongs." For Glen Keane, the acclaimed animator who designed and animated the Beast, the return of the film is cause for celebration. "When I look back on this film and my character, I feel that there is something very genuine about it," says Keane. "There's a sincerity that comes through the animation. I was really striving to make the character real and pure. The Beast is really a unique character, bigger than any of us ever thought he would be. I never anticipated the effect it was going to have on other people. He was just real to me and I got to animate him. I actually got letters from abused children and adults who had been abused who really related to the character. "It's a strange sensation when you're drawing a character," adds Keane. "There's a period where you're searching for the character and seeking to find out who they are. I've had it happen on every character that I've worked on from Beast and Ariel to Tarzan. Suddenly the lines hit the right place and there they are. And you know its them. It's like, `There you are!' And then