Finally, a princess who doesn't make me cringe

"Beauty and the Beast" was part of the Disney Animation Revolution of the late 80s-late 90s. "The Little Mermaid" was the first movie of this group, in 1988. Disney had gone through a dry spell since the 70s, when sketchy-style animated movies like "Robin Hood" and "The Aristocats" were the norm for the studio. After a few years of downtime and regrouping, animation was reborn, and "Beauty and the Beast" was one of the most anticipated animated movies ever to be released. It was also the first animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. In short, it was a good flick. And I LOVED it.

I was a freshman in high school, and despite the fact that this movie was a "cartoon," I paid to see it in the theaters seven times. That's right, SEVEN. I have not since duplicated that level of devotion to a movie. I dragged my friends to it, I dragged my cousin to it, and each and every one of them loved it. It was a surprising movie with outstanding animation and gorgeous music. It was a crowd-pleaser, and just like that, Disney was back on the map for coolness. And the soundtrack was in a lot of CD players, including mine. This song won the Oscar that year, I believe, even though the movie didn't win Best Picture.

To this day, what I love most about this movie is that the heroine, Belle, is someone I can actually appreciate. She doesn't simper, she doesn't take orders from a snarling stepmother, and she doesn't expect a prince to bail her out of trouble. She stands up for herself, reads books (gasp!), sees the beauty inside others, and does the saving in the end. She's pretty AND likable. If my daughter ever wants to dress up like a princess (which is pretty unlikely given her tomboy tendencies thus far), I'll encourage her to be Belle. It's something to be proud of.

I haven't listened to this soundtrack in a while, but I'll probably listen tonight, now that I've jogged my own memory. This movie, and the related music, were a big part of my life that year, and for a lot of my teen years. "Aladdin" was good, "The Lion King" was good, but for me, it's always about "Beauty and the Beast."