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Released in 1991, Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast was a raging popular, critical, and commercial success for the studio.  It remains a watershed moment in the combination of traditional celluloid animation and computer animation (the ballroom dance scene, in particular), while simultaneously forecasting the elimination of traditional cel work.  The film won the Golden Globe award for Best Picture, and is to date the only animated feature nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award.  Beauty and the Beast was also acclaimed as a musical, featuring the songs of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.  The pair won a Best Song Oscar in 1991 for the title song, "Beauty and the Beast," sung by the matronly Mrs. Potts (Murder, She Wrote's Angela Lansbury).  The animated characters eventually found their way into the real world, spinning off a successful live-action version on Broadway.

The gem of this DVD release is a new animated segment for the song "Human Again," a popular addition to the Broadway show which was cut from the original theatrical production.  Sung from the perspective of the enchanted objects of the Beast's castle home, the segment features all of the original voice actors from the film.  The creation of this segment alone spanned two years of work in Disney's animation studio.

This is two-disc limited edition contains three versions of the film: a Special Edition version with the new musical sequence, the original theatrical version, and a work-in-progress edition shown at the 1991 New York Film Festival.  Also included are hours of bonus features such as filmmaker commentary, karaoke tracks for musical segments, 3-D interactive segments, games, design galleries and documentaries.

Jeff Elbel 1/10/2003