Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Disney's live-action Beauty And The Beast is a gorgeous reimagining of the beloved 1991

  • animated classic and it's loaded with callbacks and easter eggs to the animated movie that

  • many even casual viewers will notice.

  • But the new movie also includes many delicious details that only super-fans might spot the

  • first time around!

  • Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here, and in this video, I'm going to reveal 17

  • easter eggs and details that only real fans will notice in the new Beauty And The Beast.

  • And by the way, I'll be including some fascinating facts from my interviews with Beauty And The

  • Beast director Bill Condon and composer Alan Menken about how they used deleted scenes,

  • characters, lyrics and dialogue from the original animation in the new movie.

  • Just before I start, I'm giving away this amazing Disney hardback book from DK, which

  • is loaded with behind-the-scenes artwork, photos, and information about Disney's live-action

  • and animated movies over the years.

  • For a chance to win, all you have to do is subscribe and leave a comment about the new

  • Beauty And The Beast movie or your favourite easter egg from the film.

  • And for bonus ways to enter, check out the Gleam link in the video description below.

  • Ok, quick warning: there are spoilers ahead, so if you've not seen the movie yet, why not

  • check out my spoiler-free review, then come back here after you've seen the film!

  • When Beast suggests Belle use the enchanted map to 'travel to the one place [she's] always

  • wanted to see', the destination she chooses is a lovely nod to a Beauty And The Beast

  • cameo in another Disney animated movie!

  • Can you guess where I'm going with this?

  • Yes, Belle and Beast travel to Paris, where Beast suggests they visit Notre Dame, all

  • of which is very exciting because Belle popped up in Disney's animated feature The Hunchback

  • of Notre Dame, where, in typical Belle style, she walked along the street while reading

  • a book.

  • There's an interesting moment during the opening song "Belle" where Belle enquires if Monsieur

  • Jean has lost something again, and he replies that he believes he has, but he can't remember

  • what.

  • Given that Emma Watson's best known role before Beauty And The Beast was as Hermione Grainger

  • in the Harry Potter series, this feels like a homage to the scene in the first film, The

  • Philosopher's Stone, where after Neville gets his Remembrall, he says to Hermione that he

  • can't remember what he'd forgotten.

  • Although Harry Potter fans may well love this line, Beauty And The Beast director Bill Condon

  • has said that it's a happy coincidence because the reason Monsieur Jean can't remember what

  • he's forgotten is because of the Enchantress's spell and how it's made the townspeople forget

  • that the castle and the enchanted objects ever existed.

  • So, what Jean can't remember here is that he's actually Mr Potts, and his conversation

  • with Belle is some clever foreshadowing for the reveal later on that he's married to Mrs

  • Potts.

  • Perhaps a somewhat unfortunate consequence of the changed dialogue is that we never got

  • that brilliant line from the original where the baker rudely interrupts Belle with the

  • line, "Marie!

  • The baguettes!" - because he's bored of listening to her talk about the book she's been reading.

  • In the new movie, Belle's conversation with Monsieur Jean replaces that conversation with

  • the baker, but there's a nod with a twist to that moment as Belle still gets

  • brushed off, but this time it's by Monsieur Jean when he says the book she's returning

  • to Pere Robert sounds boring.

  • His line is also a joke at the expense of the story of Romeo and Juliet which is the

  • book Belle's just been reading in this film and also the one she taught the Beast to read

  • in the original animation.

  • In the new movie, the Beast also pokes fun at Romeo and Juliet when he introduces Belle

  • to his library saying there are so many things that are better to read than that Shakespearian

  • tragedy about heartache and pining.

  • Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et late is one of director Bill Condon's favourite

  • movies and he found it a source of inspiration for his own 21st-century remake of the Beauty

  • And The Beast story.

  • For instance, there's a different set-up to the 1991 movie for Belle's father.

  • In this version, Maurice is taken prisoner by Beast for picking a white rose.

  • Given Condon's love for the French film, his use of the white rose is a hat-tip to Cocteau's

  • film where Belle's father is caught by the Beast when he takes a rose from Beast's garden,

  • the idea for which itself came from the original mid-18th-century French story.

  • And Beauty And The Beast's filmmakers included a nice easter egg and homage to the author

  • of that very first Beauty And The Beast story, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, when

  • they named Belle's hometown Villeneuve.

  • Shortly after Maurice enters the Beast's castle, seeking shelter, Cadenza the harpsichord starts

  • playing 'Be Our Guest', but suddenly stops when Maurice goes into the room.

  • This is a delightful easter egg to the fact that, in the animated movie, 'Be Our Guest'

  • was initially actually going to be performed by the enchanted objects for Maurice, rather

  • than for Belle.

  • Maestro Cadenza, who's married to the Italian opera singer Madame de Garderobe and becomes

  • a harpsichord under the curse, is a new character created for the live-action adaptation.

  • But Cadenza's inclusion in this film is still a hat-tip to Villeneuve's original story as

  • well as to LePrince de Beaumont's adaptation a few years later, which feature Beauty playing

  • the harpsichord in her own home, and also reveal that Beast has a harpsichord in his

  • castle.

  • On top of that, Maestro Cadenza is also a little musical homage to the 1997 direct-to-video

  • midquel, Beauty And The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, in which the main villain was the

  • music conductor and composer Maestro Forte, who became a pipe organ during the curse.

  • The live-action film makes this connection when, just before 'Be Our Guest', Cogsworth

  • asks Cadenza to 'play quietly', and Candeza replies, 'Sotto voce, of course.'

  • Sotto voce and Forte are musical terms which are basically opposites of each other, which

  • is fitting because Cadenza is a good character and Forte was villain.

  • The songs in the new Beauty And The Beast also include homages to a variety of classic

  • musicals.

  • For "Be Our Guest", director Bill Condon has confirmed the new musical number includes

  • over a dozen references including West Side Story, Singin' In The Rain, Cabaret, and Chicago,

  • which Condon wrote the screenplay for, as well as nods to Esther Williams and Busby

  • Berkeley, both of which also influenced the 1991 version.

  • Plus, there's also a little reference to Moulin Rouge, which starred Ewan McGregor, who plays

  • Lumiere in Beauty And The Beast.

  • When Disney were going through the music archives of the animated film, they came across some

  • original lyrics by the late Howard Ashman which didn't make it into the final film back

  • in 1991.

  • So, director Bill Condon decided to put them to good use in his live-action version.

  • And when I interviewed Bill Condon recently, I asked him what those new lyrics were, and

  • he told me that they're the last lines that Emma Thompson sings as Mrs Potts when she

  • reprises the Beauty And The Beast song at the end of the movie, which are: "Winter turns

  • to spring, famine turns to feast, nature points the way, nothing left to say, Beauty and the

  • Beast."

  • But that's not all, folks!

  • When I interviewed Alan Menken, he told me that some of Howard Ashman's unused lyrics

  • from the 1991 movie also made it into the live-action version of the song Gaston!

  • The lyrics in question begin with Gaston singing: 'When I hunt, I sneak up with my quiver, and

  • beasts of the field say a prayer; first, I carefully aim for the liver, then I shoot

  • from behind.'

  • By the way, Menken told me that those lyrics didn't make it into the original film as 'sneaking

  • up and shooting an animal in the liver was probably a bit much for a younger audience'.

  • Music boxes play an important part in the new film as Belle's father, Maurice, is an

  • artist who makes them.

  • But they're also a call-back to the animated feature.

  • In early drafts of the 1991 script, Mrs Potts' son Chip only had one sentence of dialogue,

  • and the other scenes where he appears in the film as we know it today were going to feature

  • in his place a Music Box character which spoke only by making little chiming noises.

  • But when the producers realised the movie would benefit from a child's perspective,

  • they increased Chip's role and got rid of the music box character.

  • After Chip says his famous line from the original animation, 'Momma, there's a girl in the castle',

  • he follows it up by asking Mrs Potts what kind of tea the girl likes and then lists

  • a few different types including chamomile, which is a delicious easter egg to the original

  • name the filmmakers were going to give the talking teapot in their animated movie.

  • Yes, back in 1991, Mrs Potts was very nearly named Mrs Chamomile, after the soothing herbal

  • tea, but the filmmakers decided to go with the name we know and love today as they thought

  • 'chamomile' might be difficult for young children to say.

  • Toward to the start of the movie, we see Belle teaching a young girl to read and pointing

  • to a page with a Blue Bird on it.

  • The page says "The Blue Bird that flies over the dark wood", which is a nod to the blue-birds

  • that fly over the wood at the start of the animated movie, and also to the blue-coloured

  • bird that appears during the song "Something There".

  • When we hear that song in the original film, Belle is trying to bring out the Beast's gentler

  • side by encouraging him to feed the birds in his garden.

  • At first, they're all scared away with the exception of a little blue bird who jumps

  • into his hand.

  • By the way, look closely at what Belle's wearing as she teaches the young girl and you'll see

  • that her cardigan has blue birds embroidered into the pattern.

  • After Gaston and LeFou finish their big song-and-dance number at the tavern, Gaston compliments his

  • loyal side-kick on how great he is and asks, 'How is it that no girl has snatched you up

  • yet?', and LeFou replies with a nice easter egg to Frozen, saying that, 'I've been told

  • I'm clingy, but I really don't get it.'

  • Josh Gad, of course, plays both LeFou and Frozen's Olaf, an adorable snowman who just

  • loves introducing himself to the movie's human characters with the line, 'Hi, I'm Olaf, and

  • I like warm hugs', and who's also happy to melt for the right person.

  • As well as being a Frozen easter egg, LeFou's reply also foreshadows what the movie's director

  • has called the character's "gay moment" at the end of the movie.

  • Just outside the tavern's doors, there are two wooden carvings of wild boar heads, and

  • one is used by the angry mob to try to ram down the door to the Beast's castle.

  • Although this is a change from the animated film, where the villagers chop down a tree

  • to batter the Beast's door, it's actually a really nice hint to the design of the Beast.

  • Wild boars were one of the animals that Disney artist Glen Keane took inspiration from when

  • he was creating the animated Beast's lookin fact, if you look at the Beast in the

  • 1991 movie, you'll see he has the tusks of a wild boar.

  • But long before Disney's much-loved classic, the Beast was already associated with boars.

  • Back in the late nineteenth century, for example, the English artist Walter Crane portrayed

  • the Beast as a wild boar in his illustrations for children's picture books.

  • Speaking of boars, the coat of arms in the Beast's castle consists of a lion, a boar,

  • and letters WD.

  • Just as boars influenced the Beast's design in the animated movie, so too did lionswith

  • the Beast having a lion's mane.

  • As for the WD monogram, that's a nod to Walt Disney!

  • When Belle is surprised that Beast is able to complete a quote she reads from Shakespeare's

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream, he explains that he had 'an expensive education.'

  • This is a change from the animation where the Beast has trouble reading, but it's also

  • a reference to the role that made actor Dan Stevens, who plays the Beast, famous.

  • In the popular period drama Downton Abbey, Stevens's character Matthew Crawley also enjoyed

  • an expensive education, which included a private boys-only boarding-school followed by Oxford

  • University.

  • And interestingly enough, that's mirrored in Stevens' own life as he too attended a

  • private boarding school before going on to study at Cambridge University.

  • At the end of this movie, Belle looks at the Prince and asks, 'How would you feel about

  • growing a beard?', which director Bill Condon told me is an unused line of dialogue that

  • lyricist Howard Ashman came up with for the animated classic.

  • Interestingly enough, Glen Keane, who designed the animated Beast for that film, didn't want

  • the Beast to turn back into the Prince at the end of the movie so had Paige O'Hara who

  • played Belle record that line about the beard, though, of course, they didn't end up using

  • it back then.

  • Now, I'd love to hear if you spotted any other easter eggs or interesting references in the

  • new Beauty And The Beast movie.

  • And how do you think it compared to the original animated classic?

  • Don't forget to comment and subscribe for your chance to win this awesome hardback Disney

  • book!

  • Coming very shortly, I've got more detailed breakdowns of Beauty And The Beast, so be

  • sure to turn on your notifications for Flicks And The City and you'll get those as soon

  • as I post them.

  • And in the meantime, tap or click anywhere here for some more videos you might like!

  • Thanks for watching and see ya next time!

  • Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers.

Disney's live-action Beauty And The Beast is a gorgeous reimagining of the beloved 1991

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it