Photo Copyright Getty ImagesIt’s hard to believe it’s been a full 25 years since the release of Disney’s landmark animated feature “Beauty and the Beast,” but fortunately the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences remembered far enough in advance to arrange a special anniversary screening of the film in glorious 70mm.
The movie was preceded by a Q&A with some of the many talented people responsible for one of the most popular movies of all time.
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The panel (held at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills) reunited a huge assemblage of contributors to the film, including cast members Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Potts), Richard White (Gaston), David Ogden Stiers (Cogsworth), Robby Benson (Beast), and Paige O’Hara (Belle), plus animators Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, Mark Henn, story artist Brenda Chapman, story supervisor Roger Allers, director Gary Trousdale, and producer Don Hahn.
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It was great to see and hear the team reminisce about the process of putting together “Beauty and the Beast,” though bittersweet to memorialize the members who were lost to the AIDS epidemic around the time the movie was released. On a happier note, the film print was near-pristine and gorgeous, despite being 25 years old.
Truly “Beauty and the Beast” will be forever remembered as one of the many high points in the history of Disney animation.