Beauty and the Beast (Movie)

The story began, "Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold..."

This is a timeless tale! (It's probably as old as Europe.) You probably already know the story, maybe even have seen the movie a time or two, but since I did watch this movie lately for a film class that Nate and I are involved in, (one where we have to watch movies, and this movie was one of them,) I thought I would give it a review.

We watched the Disney version... the one made in 1991. You might remember that the film was nominated for best picture, which was a "Hollywood first" since it was animated. You can get a bit of a refresher here on you tube if you need a bit of one. Also, if you remember, the film was nominated for Best Picture, which was a Hollywood "first," this because it was animated. It also won two Oscars as well as other awards, so it's a movie with a lot of mass appeal. It was rated G, for general audiences so you can bet a lot of kids have seen it, but it did have some rather scary parts which I thought should make it quite frightful for young kids.

It was fun discussing this film with a group, talking about it's elements and the message it presents to the viewers. It was decided that this film has a bit of a Christian worldview portrayed to the audience as well as some positive elements and here are some of the things I found particularly interesting.

First of all it's a very artistic and entertaining film with a Phillipeans 4:8 type of goodness to it. There are indeed some lovely, praiseworthy, virtuous things to consider as one watches this film. A humble, yet beautiful young girl who is charming and witty, loves learning and loves books, loves her daddy, and doesn't buy into the lies of conceited men like Gustav and knows how to put them in their place politely is to say the least, quite admirable.

The overriding theme is a message of the transforming power of love which I relate it to the verse about how love covers a multitude of sin (1 Peter 4:8) I think we see this played out mainly as the Beast is transformed back into a human being, and not a beast anylonger, because of love's power and his submission to it. Another theme, a quite obvious one at that is that you cannot tell a book by it's cover.. seen in handsome Gustav and of course the Beast who really is a young man, caught in his sin of refusing to respond kindly to what he thought was nothing but an old hag.

There are other examples of love's power too, as Belle loves her father so much that would sacrifice herself, take his place in the punishment doled out by the Beast for trespassing on the Beast's turf. Belle stays in the dreadful castle, so he can return home as he is very ill. I also enjoyed the faithfulness of the Beast's servants to their master and found their apparent love for him to be quite notable in this regard too, although my son said that he thought they couldn't help themselves for they were under the enchanter's spell like the Beast was .


Some other things of note are:
How the Beast comes into the light so Belle can see him, before she agrees to stay...

How a rose is used to determine a set time...

The love of Belles father for his daughter... although he is portrayed as a rather foolish man... and yet she loves him.

When discussing the various elements of the film as a group, we discussed how (true to the Christian understanding of the world) Belle, in her seeming perfect life, (yet monotonous) yearned for something more than her world alone could offer... (but little did she know it would happen in such a way as this!) We also talked about and how the transformation that took place with the beast could be contrued as a type of "resurrection."

In simply discussing the movie at home, we kinda like the fact that in this movie the woods were not portrayed as the perfect place to live, (as they are in many cartoons and animations.) They are protrayed as dark and scary, quite scary in fact for little children as I mentioned. The wolves appear surprisingly out of nowhere and after our heros in their savage aggression.

We wondered about the very likable character, Lumiere's sexual obsession with women. We noted that one character gets jabbed in the behind, ( is this base humor?) and there was also the male character who falls into the drawers of a dresser and comes out of the wardrobe dressed in a skirt... (What exactly would be the point of that in a movie for kids?...Was it humor, and good to laugh at this? Was it simply just the reality of life? or Was it just plain wrong? )

This film certainly had a lot of subtle, "Christian" concepts... (or what can be construed as Christian concepts") in it. It even portrayed in many ways had a bit of what one might consider to be a "Christian worldview." However, it's subtlety can be construed in different ways. Our film group's discussion on this topic left me wondering what it was that did or did not make a "Christian" movie, or make a movie Christian. Could it be that what "makes a person a Christian" is quite possibly the same thing that makes a movie a "Christian" movie.

I have to admit, I am not big on spending a lot of time watching movies, however, I do enjoy a good movie now and then. I have to say too that I enjoyed this particular movie especially as an artistic endeavor. It was very creative that's for sure. And yet, I would not recommend it for little kids because it's scary, I think that's a bummer since it is a "G" rated film. Like Bambi, it has some elements to deal with emotionally, and particularly in this case, fear of dogs and wolves.

I do think there are some very good lessons in the presentation, (Philipeans 4:8 kinda things) and think that as far as movies go it has some good messages we could all stand to consider, particularly how we should not be so quick to judge something by the way it first appears to our sense of sight, and most certainly the redemptive power of this thing called "love."