1.) At the 1992 Oscars, "Beauty and the Beast" became the first animated feature to get a best picture nom. Alas, the Academy went with a picture with a decidedly scarier beast: "Silence of the Lambs." However, the Beaut did take home some hardware that evening, as Alan Menken won for best original score. Menken also shared the best original song Oscar with his lyricist, Howard Ashman, for the song "Beauty and the Beast." Unfortunately, Ashman died of complications from AIDS, and his award was presented posthumously.
Ashman and Menken were longtime collaborators, originally getting together to pen the off-Broadway classic "Little Shop of Horrors." "Beauty and the Beast" was the duo's second best song Oscar. They won in 1989 for the song "Under the Sea," which is featured in another Disney classic slated for 3D re-release, "The Little Mermaid."
2.) While 3D enhancement creates an entirely updated look, with its own revolutionary technological aspects, the original animation for "Beauty and the Beast" was also quite groundbreaking. This was only Disney's second film to employ its in-house Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), which, among other highly advanced concepts, went beyond normal animation to allow for the use of CGI. The technology was developed with help from Pixar, and it wouldn't be the last time the two companies worked together.
Perhaps nowhere is the technology of CAPS more prominent than in the ballroom-dance sequence, where Belle and the Beast waltz their fannies off. The camera appears to be moving around them as a computer-generated background bursts to life behind them. According to CGI artistic supervisor Jim Hillin, "The ballroom sequence features the first computer-generated color background to be both animated and fully dimensional."
3.) Supervising animator Glen Keane, who was charged with designing and drawing the Beast, spent a lot of time at the zoo figuring out how to best bring the character to life. Ultimately, the Beast became a hodgepodge of physical characteristics from many animals, including the mane of a lion, the horns and head of a buffalo, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the tusks of a wild boar, the upper body of a bear, and the legs and tail of a wolf. Oh, my! There's also one physical attribute you don't see: the posterior of a mandrill. According to Keane, "Beast actually has a rainbow bum, but nobody knows that but Belle."
To further add to the Beast's savage ways, Robby Benson's voice was enhanced by the growls of actual lions and panthers. Yet in order for Belle to fall for the Beast, his human side had to be readily apparent. Because of this, animators made sure to keep the Beast's eyes deep blue and full of soul.
4.) It turns out that the third time was the charm for this charming tale. That's how many efforts it took for Disney to get the production off the ground. Walt Disney first tried to develop the story in the '30s, hoping to build upon the success of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." However, Walt was uninspired by the treatment which his development team had come up with. The second attempt came in the 50's, with the same result. Even the third attempt is more like the third-and-a-half attempt, as the original director, Richard Purdum, had to be replaced after his darker, nonmusical version failed to impress Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. Only after Purdum's departure did the actual parts fall into place.
Linda Woolverton got the screenwriting job, even though her previous experience had been in prose, stage and television, including writing some scripts for Disney's "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers." She would go on to receive screenwriting credits for "The Lion King" and "Alice in Wonderland."
If you're like me, you'll find these facts pretty interesting. I pretty much grew up on the disney princess movies, and beauty and the beast happened to be my all time favorite.
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