Beauty and the Beast and Shrek (Series)
I have noticed various things that Beauty and the Beast and the Shrek movies have in common. Both are very wonderfully produced and portrayed, and both have the invaluable moral of seeing past appearances and into the heart. Here are some very interesting similarities between these two beautiful movies (actually, four movies, because Shrek has part I, II, and III).
Shrek
In Shrek I, Monsieur Hood "rescues" Fiona from Shrek and says a quote "When a beauty's with a beast it makes me awfully mad."
In both Beauty and the Beast and Shrek I, a person (The Prince and Fiona) transforms, then they and their true love share a beautiful kiss which begins another transformation. If you notice, the transformations are also similar in that shots of the hands and feet are shown.
Both Beauty and the Beast and Shrek I and II have vain villains who believe themselves to be the best. When Lord Farquaad proposes to Princess Fiona, he asks her if she will be "the perfect bride for the perfect groom", and in Shrek II Prince Charming narrates the opening scene and states that he is the most bravest and most handsome in all the land. Gaston from Beauty and the Beast says as a specimen, he is intimidating. All three villains think very highly of themselves, and that is not the only thing they have in common. All three do not mind getting rid of their opponents (Shrek or Beast), even if by death.
Shrek 2
I caught a similar line in the two movies, "He's No Prince Charming". This is said by Belle in the song "Something There" and by Fiona's mother upon the arrival of Shrek and Fiona to the castle. She says, "Well he's no Prince Charming, but they do look..."
When Princess Fiona first meets her Fairy Godmother and the Fairy Godmother begins to dance, she brings the furniture to life and tells Fiona to "Confide in your very own furniture friends", something that is very similar to Beauty and the Beast and the Enchanted Objects/Furniture. (Also, in this same scene, Fiona ends up in a gold gown and there is even a dog, and notice that there are chairs, dressers, and more furniture of the same kind).
There are similar styles of portraits hanging on the castle walls in both Beauty and the Beast and Shrek II. I particularly love when movies show the interior of castles or homes and rooms, and there are beautiful designs in both the Beauty and the Beast Castle and the castle belonging to Fiona's father. Here are two similar (though not exact) portraits from the castles. This is further evidence that these stories take place approximately near the same time.
In Shrek II, after Shrek, Donkey, and Puss take the Happily Ever After potion in the Potion Factory of the Fairy Godmother, they are chased and Shrek tips over a large batch of some potion, and two of the workers turn into a clock and candelabra, a reference to Cogsworth and Lumiere.
When Shrek sneezes after smelling the "ever after" potion, his boogers fall on a mushroom that soon after becomes the enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast.
The three girls that greet Shrek when he wakes up in the barn after having taken the potion remind me very much of the Bimbettes from Beauty and the Beast.
Shrek the Third
When I knew that there were going to be several classic princesses in the Shrek the Third movie, I was hoping that Belle would make an appearance, or at least a parody of her. This is especially because several princesses and characters in general that are known to have been part of Disney movies have appeared, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, The Wicked Queen, and so on. However, Belle did not appear, but I knew I was not alone in thinking that Sleeping Beauty resembled Belle more than Aurora/Briar Rose, and my little nieces actually voiced their opinion about the resemblance first. On Wikipedia's Shrek the Third page, at one point it read that Cheri Oteri voiced Sleeping Beauty/Belle, so I am not alone in thinking that Sleeping Beauty resembled Belle.
