25 years ago today, Beauty and
the Beast opened in theaters! The movie
was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture (the first
animated film to ever be nominated!) and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion
Picture – Musical or Comedy. Alan Menken
and Howard Ashman wrote the music, which won two Oscars for Best Original Score
and Best Original Song. It went on
become a very successful Broadway musical a few years later, and a live action adaptation
will come to the big screen in a few months.
I love Beauty and the
Beast and I have a lot of Beauty and the
Beast art in our house. I remember going to see it with C on its opening
weekend with a sense of skepticism because I couldn't even imagine how any
animated movie could top The Little Mermaid that had come out two years earlier
(cut me some slack…I was only 18 at the time!).
I was mesmerized the entire time and left the theater feeling that at
long last, there was a Disney Princess that was more than just a damsel in distress. I listened to the soundtrack incessantly for months
and quoted the movie at every turn and when we got married a few years later,
the string quartet played this song. How I longed to have a library like the one depicted in the film!
Belle was finally a heroine
who thought for herself, who loved to read, who wanted adventure, who
was different. I love when my students
tell me she is their favorite Disney Princess because they feel they can relate
to her. I asked some of them recently
how they would describe Belle, and the most common answers were
"smart" and "kind" – none of them mentioned her looks! – and
one said she was "brave" because she stands up to Gaston, she stands
up for her father, and she stands up for herself. I think those are very insightful responses
from ten and eleven year olds!
This is a beautiful song that
stands out on a soundtrack that is completely magical, from the very first
notes of the opening scene.
Beauty and the Beast
from Beauty and the Beast
Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast
Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
Music by Alan Menken
Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Happy Tails to you!
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