Noticeable Oddities
These are small oddities I have noticed in or about Beauty and the Beast. They are not necessarily trivia, as that will be located in the Trivia section, but they are fun to think about. If you notice anything, please do submit it with the submission form located in the Miscellaneous section.
The Bimbettes in Beauty and the Beast all wear the hairstyle of three of the Disney Princesses. The girl with the red dress has Belle's hairstyle, the girl with the gold dress has Jasmine's hairstyle, and the girl with the green dress has Ariel's hairstyle.
The Bimbette theme repeats in Walt Disney's animated masterpiece, Aladdin.
The book Belle is looking at when sitting at the fountain has a picture where the girl "meets Prince Charming, but she won't discover that it's him, till chapter 3." This story line reminds me very much of Sleeping Beauty, where Aurora does not know her love is Prince Phillip. The image that Belle is pointing to also reminds me of an image of Sleeping Beauty, where Aurora is sitting. The images remind me very much of each other, so much so that I knew I had to have seen the image Belle is pointing to somewhere, and I remembered this Sleeping Beauty image I had once saved. The images are not exact, but similar, and are placed here side by side. The Sleeping Beauty image can be enlarged by clicking on it.
Submitted by Rachel: The "prince" in the photo from Belle's book seems to be walking on all fours. I was thinking this could possibly be foreshadowing especially with Belle's comment about a "prince in disguise" and the fact that "she won't discover that it's him til chapter three."
Speaking of Belle's Books, there are various books that Belle mentions and describes in Beauty and the Beast. We can deduce that she has read all of the books in the bookseller's shoppe because when she returns the book at the beginning of the movie, she asks him if he has gotten anything new, and she ultimately chooses a book that the bookseller says she has read twice.
The first book mentioned in the movie is Jack and the Beanstalk. The book title is not given, but Belle describes the book to the baker as being about a beanstalk and an ogre.
When Belle continues on her way after stopping with the baker and arrives at the bookshop to return the book, there are no new books "since yesterday" and she borrows a book that she has read twice before. She describes it as being her favorite, and goes on to say that it contains "far off places, daring swordfights, magic spells, and a prince in disguise". The bookseller allows her to keep the book and she leaves the shoppe and arrives at a fountain, where she tells the sheep that her favorite part is arriving, the part where "she meets Prince Charming, But she won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!" Although the name "Prince Charming" is mentioned, it leads me to believe that Belle is reading Sleeping Beauty, because Aurora does not discover it is Prince Phillip until later on in the movie. Also, Sleeping Beauty contains far off places, daring swordfights (Prince Phillip versus Maleficent as the Dragon), magic spells (both by The Fairies as well as by Maleficent), and not necessarily a prince in disguise, but a prince whose identity is not yet known by Aurora.
Another book mentioned in the movie is Romeo and Juliet, which is read by Belle to Beast in the library during the sequence "Human Again". Belle ends the book with, "never was there a story of more woe, than that of Juliet, and her Romeo." Beast then proceeds to ask her to read it to him again...
Belle has undoubtedly read many more books than these, but these are the main ones mentioned or discussed in the movie. She has grand taste in books! I wonder what her take would be on Great Expectations...
The structure of the Beast's face after he has transformed to the Prince is similar to the early 16th century sculpture David by High Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. The artists also visited works by Michelangelo because of his knowledge of anatomical structures and were influenced in particular by this statue.
The Prince also is similar in appearance to Tarzan, which is understandable because Glen Keane was supervising animator for both.
During the song "Belle," various funny scenes can be seen, including two little boys playing with a turtle and a dog chasing a man with sausages as well as a squirrel hanging on to a woman's fish. Contributed by Nyxity.
These images are reminiscent of the trivia about Jessica Rabbit and her infamous shot. Contributed by Nyxity.
In the following two pictures are villagers that look rather out of place - the first has a couple that aren't even drawn in the same style... they look like they came out of a story book and even more, they are particularly wealthy looking. The second... well, while, he is a painter in France... he just... doesn't look right in that village either. I wonder if he was sort of an odd joke put in as well. Contributed by Nyxity.
This picture is also from the opening "Belle" song scene. Has anyone ever questioned that? A man in a stock,is that cheerful? What is Disney trying to tell us? Contributed by Nyxity.
This is a picture in Maurice's bedroom. I always wondered if that could have been a picture of Belle's mother since it is of a woman with brown hair. Contributed by Nyxity.
In this picture, I always thought that could have been the Wardrobe in human form, despite it is only shows her back. The woman is dressed in similar colors, has a hairstyle that would fit and a build that would make sense for her. Contributed by Nyxity.
This looks to be a possible reference to Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film, "Battleship Potemkin", where a mother is shot to death while her baby in its carriage roll down the stairs out of control during the "Odessa Steps" scene. If you ever saw the movie, the scene or whatever, you might see a similarity considering the chaos going around it. Contributed by Nyxity.
As was posted by Bazooka Jane's Jubilee, Belle's mother bears a striking resemblance to Alice's sister, from Alice in Wonderland. They look exactly they same. The illustrated images are from Once Upon A Princess Volume II: Belle's Story and the screencapture is from Disney's Alice in Wonderland
