Jerry Orbach

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Great Movie Re-Watch

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Directors:

Gary Trousale

Kirk Wise

Writers:

Linda Woolverton

Brenda Chapman

Chris Sanders

Burny Mattison

Kevin Harkey

Brian Pimental

Bruce Woodside

Joe Ranft

Tom Ellery

Kelly Asbury

Robert Lence

Starring:

Robby Benson

Jesse Corti

Rex Everhart

Angela Lansbury

Paige O’Hara

Jerry Orbach

Bradley Pierce

David Ogden Stiers

Richard White

Blurb:

A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman’s love.

Thoughts:

Beauty and the Beast is the best Disney 2D animated movie. Fight me.

It was always my favorite, but the remaster done to it is phenomenal. The colors pop, especially in the opening story. It’s visually beautiful and has some of the best songs Disney has ever produced.

Yes, Belle is a bit of a bitch. She’s all I’m better than these country folk. I want adventure. Then complains during her entire adventure and in a massive castle only wants to go to the one place she’s not supposed to. The Beast basically buys her love with the library that I judge all libraries against. I’m not aware of many women who wouldn’t love him after that gift.

Gaston and the blond triplets are a bit of a yikes too. Gaston makes an excellent villain because he wants to control Belle completely and has no concept of people having their own wants and desires. The triplets are, well, let’s be honest, they’re heaving bosoms in a kid’s movie. Personally, I enjoy looking at them, but it doesn’t teach our children anything good about women.

The ending where the Beast turns back into a human is a bit of a letdown since the man isn’t as attractive as the Beast. Why is he so smooth?? Gaston has chest hair. Why can’t the Beast???? Come on, please, he was a beast, surely in human form he’d be closer to a lumberjack than a pretty boy.

There’s lots to love about Beauty and the Beast. It’s one of my favorite movies and currently sits in the top ten of my favorite movies in the list I’ve been making through my re-watch. I should probably share that list at some point…

Advertisement

Dirty Dancing (1987)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Director:

Emile Adrolino

Writers:

Eleanor Bergstein

Starring:

Jennifer Grey

Patrick Swayze

Jerry Orbach

Cynthia Rhodes

Blurb:

Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances “Baby” Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle.

Thoughts:

I noticed on my most recent viewing that Dirty Dancing doesn’t have the best acting. I never know what Jennifer Grey’s character is thinking or feeling. Once they start having sex, it’s obvious, but before that, her stare is a bit dead. Patrick Swayze is, of course, very emotive, and I know what he’s thinking.

There’s also the whole she’s supposed to be eighteen, and he’s supposed to be a few years older than that. They’re clearly in their late twenties and early thirties. I end up missing out on the whole forbidden love because they’re adults. Her parents shouldn’t be able to hold her back. I get the class thing, but Baby clearly doesn’t care about that. So the only thing holding them back is her parents. I missed all of that until I read Wikipedia.

I don’t watch Dirty Dancing for the acting so much as I watch it for the music, though. The dancing is also nice, but it’s the music that I love. It’s been a while since I listened to the soundtrack, but there was a time when I was sixteen when I listened to it nonstop for an entire week.

Honestly, I’m not sure if this is a movie I need to own. I have the soundtrack. Do I really need the “story?” I do like the depiction of abortion in the film. It’s realistic, and the woman isn’t shamed. So that’s a big positive in the movies column. I don’t know. I’ll probably keep it. Sometimes I just want to watch Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey crawl across a floor toward each other while lip-syncing.