Beauty and the Beast

Question: Does Chip really have as many siblings as there are cups in the kitchen? Seems a bit too many, and also they aren't seen as real children at the end of the movie.

Answer: The servants in the castle are transformed into enchanted objects because of the spell, but there are still plenty of other objects in the castle which were not originally people.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: In the prologue, it states that the Beast must find true love by his 21st birthday, and that he had been cursed for ten years, so since his relationship with Belle takes place as the deadline approaches, he must have been 10 when he was cursed.

Answer: He must have been in his teens at least, his portrait that he shreds was not of a 11 year old.

Answer: I think the prince was 11 when he was cursed.

Answer: He is 11. 21 by first love '10 years we've been rusting'. (Be Our Guest). So, he was 11 due to the flower above to lose all petals.

Question: The timing of the Beast's curse has always confused me. The movie states he has until the rose wilts completely to break the spell, and that said rose will bloom until his twenty first year. So was the Beast's deadline his 21st birthday or would the rose begin to wilt on his 21st birthday and he would then have only a little under a year (judging from how much time appears to pass in the film) till all the petals fell off?

Answer: The Rose started wilting at The Beast's 21st birthday and could have presumably started wilting years before the first time we saw a petal fall off. Given the fact that Lumiere stated that they were living with the curse for 10 years, prince Adam could be 23-24 years old at the time of the original movie,13-14 at the time of the curse, and the Rose could have been wilting for two to three years. This is my best guess given the approximate age of Prince Adam in the ripped up portrait before he was the Beast.

Answer: I would assume it would be until his 21st birthday, as that is really the 21st year since his birth. After his 21st birthday he'd be older than 21.

Android Kaeli

Question: What is that castle seen in the beginning? It can't be the beast's castle before it's cursed, because it has stained glass decorations of the night the prince became a beast. It can't be the castle during or after the curse, because it looks nothing like it.

Answer: It is the beast's castle before the curse. The stained glass windows were added as foreshadowing.

Phixius

Answer: The whole story is supposed to have already happened when we are seeing it, hence the "Once upon a time" intro, so these stained glass windows might be telling the prince's story. The ending, in fact, has a stained glass window of Belle and the Prince living happily ever after.

Question: At the beginning of the film, Belle shows her new book to the sheep at the fountain, and you can see the writing is all in French (because the film is set in France). That being the case, why is it in the extended version of the film, when Belle is teaching the Beast to read, they're reading Romeo and Juliet in English?

Answer: The book is from the Beast's library. The library may very well have books in all different languages including English.

Question: When Gaston is rounding up townspeople to attack the castle, he says, "We'll rid the village of this Beast." The castle is on mountains and apparently far away from town, so why would he say that (besides the way to scare the women into wanting the beast gone)?

Answer: He hates the Beast because Belle likes the Beast. Therefore, even though Gaston knows the Beast is no threat, he wants him destroyed anyway. The townspeople will do anything Gaston says.

angi

Question: Why does everyone love Gaston? I can kinda see why from his looks/biceps but is there another reason why they love him so much?

Answer: I would say he was admired rather than loved and for very superficial reasons. He is young, handsome, manly, and extroverted. People often admire and wish for those traits. They project other non-existent qualities onto such a person while blind to their flaws. In Gaston's case, he is arrogant and self-absorbed. It is very typical of our society to celebrate people for their physical attributes, even though they may lack integrity in other areas of their lives.

raywest

I'd have to disagree. The film takes place in the 1790s to early 1800s if you ignore the Eiffel tower in Be Our Guest. So not long after the revolution at all. The peasantry was suffering quite a bit of food insecurity, which we see reflected in the opening song, (the eggs are too expensive, the bread is stale, etc.) Gaston is a hunter, and he's able to provide for his village which might otherwise have suffered a bit. I'd argue that his super-inflated ego may be a result of the praise he rightly earned.

The original story of Beauty and the Beast was published in 1740 and a lengthier version in 1756. So it takes place way before the revolution during the reign of Louis XV.

lionhead

Answer: I get the impression that Gaston comes from a family with some amount of wealth and social status - maybe not royalty, but perhaps more wealth and status than most people in the town have. Also, despite being vain and arrogant, he is bold and somewhat cunning. Many people like to latch on to a "leader" type.

Question: When Philippe is taking Belle to where her father is, he seemingly knows where the castle is. But earlier in the movie, Philippe ran away without Maurice and left him at the cliff. How did Philippe know where the castle was, even though he didn't see it before that point?

Answer: Because Philippe is a trained horse. He knows to stay on the roads and he remembers roughly where he last saw his master and owner. It's a simply matter of continuing to follow the road from there.

Phixius

Question: Why do Gaston and his mob proceed to enter the castle, when it is clear from the looks on their faces that they are a little confused and suspicious as to why a bunch of objects just happen to be lining the entrance hall?

Answer: Because they're there for the beast. They aren't just going to turn back simply because some stuff was out of place.

Phixius

Question: In the West Wing, the Beast covers the rose and says "Do you realize what you could have done?" to Belle. What would have happened if she had touched the rose?

Answer: She could have inadvertently knocked more petals off, giving the beast less time to break his curse.

Phixius

Answer: Though it isn't mentioned, another part of the curse could be "if you touch it, it dies." Perhaps that's why it's covered by the bell jar.

Question: Why doesn't Gaston go off with one of the three blond women who fancy him instead of chasing after Belle, who he can see is not interested in his advances?

Answer: Either he only wants what he can't have (Belle) or the women who fancy him are not the type he would consider suitable as his wife and the mother of his children.

raywest

The 2017 live-action movie (with Emma Watson) has an interesting description of this. Gaston talks about how Belle is the only woman who doesn't want to impress him. He finds this attractive. He knows that he could have most other women any time he wanted, but Belle is different.

Answer: Gaston wants to marry a girl as beautiful as he is so he doesn't want anyone else but Belle.

Question: To anyone who's seen the Broadway musical: are the Beast and the Prince played by two different people? It seems that it would be difficult to execute the transformation scene that quickly on stage.

Answer: SPOILER ALERT. DO NOT READ THIS ANSWER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW. It is the same actor. Not to spoil the magic, but they figure out a way to have the Beast onstage and in costume, send him into the air and have the transformation done in the blink of an eye. The way they do it, they couldn't change the actor if they wanted to. He never disappears from view. One thing to be aware of, though, is that during the fight with Gaston, you don't get a really good look at the Beast. That's because his makeup is already off. Can't really say more than that, as I do not know the tricks of the trade. The effect is astonishing.

K.C. Sierra

Answer: A castle that size would not go unnoticed by the local populace. In addition, Gaston had the mirror with him. He could have asked it to show him the way to the castle.

Greg Dwyer

Question: Why, at the end, does Cogsworth try to make it out like he was the one who said that Belle was going to be the one to break the spell, when both he and the audience know that Lumiere actually said that?

Answer: Because he a Lumiere have a bit of a "friendly" rivalry. He's either teasing Lumiere or genuinely trying to take credit for it to spite him.

Phixius

Question: When the objects attack the villagers, and the villagers all run away in fear, wouldn't they wonder afterwards what happened to Gaston, since if he 'did' kill the Beast, why did he never come back? Also wouldn't they be surprised to see Belle and Maurice riding towards the castle considering the last time they saw the two of them, they were locked in their cellar?

Answer: The villagers would have learned what happened to Gaston but it isn't traditional in Disney movies to show the 'aftermath' of the villain's death, as the movies always finish on a happier note (Belle and Adam's party.) It may have surprised some of them to see Belle and her father but it is more probable that they are already too distracted by the strange happenings in the castle.

Purple_Girl

Question: Several people have mentioned that the film makes a point of showing how Belle is the only literate person in her village. If that's the case then how does the village bookseller manage to stay in business? He couldn't possibly afford his shop and the collection of books he has if Belle is his only customer.

Answer: There is no definite proof she is the only literate person in her town, but the people we do see are not as interested in books as Belle. There is no information as to how he keeps his book shop open, especially if he is willing to lend books to other people in the town.

kristenlouise3

It's not a "bookshop", it's a library. And it doesn't seem like he only lends books.

Answer: As KristenLouise3 said, there is nothing to indicate that only Belle is literate. Several men, at least, could probably read. The book seller could sell to them, sell at a market somewhere, and the village might have some amount of travelers who pass through.

Question: In the song "Be Our Guest" what do they say after "Course by course, one by one, till you shout" I can never quite understand it.

Answer: From the lyrics this is what it reads "'Til you shout, "Enough! I'm done!. Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest. Tonight you'll prop your feet up. But for now, let's eat up" then it goes into the chorus again.

Lummie

Question: When the Beast lets Belle go and she goes back home with her sick father, and "proves" to the village that there really is a Beast via the magic mirror, and Gaston and his posse invade the Beast's castle - How did the anthropomorphic objects and the Beast know that Belle didn't *send* Gaston to kill the Beast? I mean, we know Belle hates Gaston, but the objects and Beast don't know that. For all they know, Belle could have said to Gaston, "There's this beast, and he was keeping me in his castle, and he thinks I like him but I've been faking it."

Answer: I think the simplest answer is that they trust her. Belle showed what kind of a person she was when she volunteered to take her father's place as a prisoner, and also when she returned to the castle with the wounded Beast instead of running away. Plus, the Beast voluntarily released her, and he did treat her kindly most of the time. I think suspecting her of a hidden hatred that would result in sending people to attack the castle would be kind of a stretch.

Krista

Question: What happened to Belle's mother? And where are the beast's parents, the king and queen?

Answer: It's never explained, but we're to assume they are dead. In the case of Belle the absence of the mother is a typical plot scenario for Disney heroines, i.e. Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White, etc., but is never explained.

raywest

Answer: In the latest movie, it is explained that Belle's mother died from the plague.

And the Prince's mother died from some unknown reason.

Chosen answer: Roaring is the Beast's way of crying in despair. He does the same thing right after he releases Belle from the castle because not only does he know that he'll never become human again but he's had to let go of the one woman he truly loves, therefore he's crying out.

Beauty and the Beast mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Belle is taking her book back in a basket at the start of the film, its colour changes from red to blue, back to red, then purple in the book shop owner's hand, then finally red on the shelf. (00:03:00)

More mistakes in Beauty and the Beast

Beast: I want to do something for her - but what?
Cogsworth: Oh there's the usual things. Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep.

More quotes from Beauty and the Beast

Trivia: When Gaston has his feet on the table at Belle's house, a bit of the mud strongly resembles Mickey Mouse's head. This follows the long standing Disney tradition of having "hidden Mickeys" in their movies.

More trivia for Beauty and the Beast

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