REVIEW
This book is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to talk about inner beauty, first and foremost, and other virtues such as kindness, forgiveness, and selflessness in an easy-to-understand format for kids.
The quality of the illustrations is fantastic and is true to the style that Disney have established and mastered over the years. The illustrations span across two pages to fully capture the attention of children.
Notably, the texts blend perfectly with the images, instead of being rendered over white backgrounds, to allow the children to fully immerse themselves in the images.
This lovely book is excellent for bedtime stories. Neither too long nor too short, it is perfectly designed to generate wonderful memories for children.
Reading aloud to children has been shown to improve reading, writing and communication skills, logical thinking and concentration, and general academic aptitude, as well as inspire a lifelong love of reading.
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TRIVIA
Prince Adam – Although never mentioned, the real name of the Beast is Prince Adam.
Blue – Belle is the only person in her town who wears blue. This is symbolic of how different she is from everyone else around her.
Inner Beauty –The curse on Beast requires him to be worthy of pure love, without any emphasis on exterior beauty.
The Beast – The beast has the head structure and horns of an American bison, the arms and body of a bear, the ears of a deer, the eyebrows of a gorilla, the jaws, teeth, and mane of a lion, the tusks of a wild boar, and the legs and tail of a wolf.
PLOT
One winter's night, an enchantress disguised as a beggar offers a cold-hearted prince a rose in exchange for shelter. When he refuses, she transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects. She bestows the Beast with a magic mirror before hexing the rose and warning him that, unless he learns to love another and earns their love in return by the time the last petal falls, he and his servants will lose their humanity forever.
Ten years later, a beautiful girl named Belle dreams of adventure and brushes off advances from Gaston, an arrogant hunter. Lost in the forest while traveling to a fair to present his latest invention, Belle's father Maurice seeks refuge in the Beast's castle. After Maurice befriends the castle's servants, however, the Beast discovers and imprisons him. Belle ventures out in search for him and finds him locked in the castle's dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place.
Befriending the castle's servants, Belle is treated to a spectacular dinner ("Be Our Guest"). When she wanders into the forbidden West Wing (where the rose is kept), the Beast flies into a rage, causing Belle to flee the castle and into the woods. She is attacked by wolves, but the Beast rescues Belle and gets injured in the process. He begins to develop feelings for her ("Something There") while she nurses his wounds and he delights her by showing his extensive library.
Returning to the village, Maurice tells the townsfolk of Belle's predicament, but Gaston convinces the townsfolk to send Maurice to an insane asylum if Belle refuses to marry Gaston.
After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast ("Beauty and the Beast"), Belle discovers her father's predicament using the magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror to remember him with. Back at the village, Belle proves Maurice's sanity by revealing the Beast in the mirror to the townsfolk. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, Gaston has her thrown into the basement with her father and rallies the villagers to follow him to the castle to kill the Beast ("The Mob Song"). With Chip's aid, Maurice and Belle escape and rush back to the castle.
During the battle, the servants fend off the villagers, including Gaston's companion LeFou. Gaston attacks the Beast in his tower, who is too depressed to fight back, but regains his will upon seeing Belle return. He spares Gaston's life before reuniting with Belle. However, Gaston stabs the Beast, but he loses his footing and falls to his death.[a] The Beast dies before the last petal falls. When Belle tearfully professes her love to him, the curse is broken, repairing the castle and restoring the Beast's and servants' human forms. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily.
