Disney's Oscar-winning animation Beauty And The Beast is often considered one of the studio's
best.
Still, over the years, fans have analysed the film and uncovered numerous movie mistakes,
goofs and plot holes.
Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers, it's Jan here and in this video, I'll be explaining how
Disney's live-action remake of Beauty And The Beast fixes many of those mistakes.
And just before I get stuck in, be warned there are spoilers ahead for both movies.
To avoid them, you can tap or click here to watch my spoiler-free review of Beauty And
The Beast and come back when you've seen the films.
Now, I invite you to relax and pull up a chair, as I proudly present 10 movie mistakes, goofs
and plot holes fixed by the new Beauty And The Beast movie.
Bookworm Belle seemed to have a curious arrangement with the bookseller in her village as she
didn't appear to actually buy any books from him, instead she borrowed books freely whenever
she wanted something to read, making his bookshop more of a library than an actual business.
The new movie cleverly fixes this by having Belle borrow her books from the local priest
Père Robert and acknowledges the original movie mistake by having her thank him with
the words: "your library makes our small corner of the world feel big."
In fact, it's odd that there's a bookshop at all in the original film given how much
all the townspeople hate reading.
And it's a call-back to this inconsistency, when Père Robert refers to Belle as "the
only bookworm in town."
You might have enjoyed watching Gaston fall into a muddy pond after Belle fended off his
advances in the animated movie, however, the way it happened really doesn't make sense.
What I mean is that he falls out of Belle's door straight into the muddy pond, however,
the pond isn't anywhere near Belle's house so that couldn't actually happen.
This time around Gaston doesn't fall into a pond, but he does step into a muddy puddle
just after Belle rebuffs him outside her home.
And notice that the filmmakers located that muddy puddle a little way down the street
from Belle's house, very likely in recognition of that funny incongruous moment in the original
movie.
The time period for the original Beauty And The Beast was never officially confirmed by
Disney, but the clothes, the type of gun Gaston uses, and the use of steam-powered machinery
by Maurice suggests the likely time period is the 1790s or early 1800s.
Now, that means that the Eiffel Tower which appears during "Be Our Guest" is an anachronism
because construction only began on it in 1887.
The new movie makes a very funny correction to this original movie mistake as it replaces
the Eiffel Tower in "Be Our Guest" with a guillotine joke when Lumiere chops a baguette
in two.
The guillotine would have been historically accurate for the animated movie because this
form of execution was introduced in France during the French Revolution in 1792, which
fits into the likely time period when the animation was set.
Curiously though, Lumiere's use of a guillotine joke may have introduced a new movie mistake
into the live-action version, because as I just mentioned the guillotine wasn't common
in France until the late 18th century, whereas Disney has stated that the remake is actually
set in the mid-18th century.
By the way, chopping the baguette may also be a little knowing joke by the filmmakers
about how they cut the line, 'Marie!
The baguettes', from the new movie!
Talking of timelines, there's a significant plot hole heavily implied in the animated
movie.
In that film, Lumiere revealed that the castle has been under the Enchantress's spell for
ten years.
And the narration at the beginning of the film explained that the prince had until his
21st birthday to break the spell or the curse would become permanent.
If we do the maths and subtract ten years from 21, this suggests that the prince would
have been around eleven at the time of the curse.
But the painting we see the Beast slash is one of him as an adult man which doesn't make
sense if he was cursed as a child.
The new movie neatly fixes this issue in a couple of ways.
Firstly, we see that the prince is already an adult when the Enchantress curses him,
and secondly, Lumiere's line in "Be Our Guest" changes from "Ten years we've been rusting"
to "Too long, we've been rusting".
The ages of Chip and Mrs Potts in the animated movie have also been questioned by fans.
In that movie, Chip's voice sounds younger than 10 years old and he also looks very young
when he transforms into human form, which implies he was born a teacup, rather than
a human child.
This crazy thought has spawned theories about whether Mrs Potts the teapot could actually
have given birth to a teacup while enchanted!
Also, when she's in her human form, Mrs Potts looks somewhat old to be Chip's mother.
These age problems are fixed in the remake as the filmmakers made a point of including
a scene where Mrs Potts and Chip run in to the ballroom as the prince is being cursed,
meaning that we know they both existed in their human form/s before the curse was enacted.
The new movie also makes a joke about the idea that Mrs Potts was perhaps rather old
to be Chip's mother in the original movie.
This happens when LeFou asks Mrs Potts if she's Chip's grandmother, which infuriates
her so she kicks off the attack by the enchanted objects on the villagers invading the castle.
And there's another Mrs Potts goof fixed from the animation during "Be Our Guest".
You'll need to look carefully, but notice that when Mrs Potts utters her iconic line,
"Heaven sakes, is that a spot?"
this time she cleans off a dirty spot on Chip.
Well, in the original movie, the spot she finds and cleans is on herself.
But watch the animation carefully just before this moment and you'll see that even though
Mrs Potts hops around all over the place and we get to see her all over, there was never
a spot on her at any point until she says that line in the film.
The new movie gives proper time on screen to the Enchantress, with new details and clarification
of how the curse works helping to explain away other plot holes in the animated version.
For example, in the original movie, it seemed silly that the local town was totally unaware
of the nearby castle.
This is fixed in the Enchantress's new narration as she explains that her curse made everyone
in the town forget that the castle and the servants who lived there ever existed.
When Maurice can't figure out which way to go in the original film, it seems like an
overwhelmingly foolish choice to take the fork in the road that leads down a dark and
misty foreboding path.
Maurice's horse Phillipe really doesn't want to go that way either, but the animation uses
his master's poor choice to set up an accident where Maurice gets separated from Phillipe
and ends up later at the Beast's castle.
The new movie has a much better take on this in keeping with its story, as a lightning
strike causes a tree to block Maurice's usual path, which then forces him to take the alternate,
more ominous-looking path.
When Phillipe returns home to Belle in the animation, he appears to know how to take
her to Beast's hidden castle.
This makes no sense because Phillipe had never been to the castle before, having bolted before
Maurice ever got to the Beast's enchanted home.
In the new film, Maurice ends up at the castle with Phillipe, so it now makes more sense
that the horse would be able to direct Belle there.
In both movies, Beast comes to Belle's rescue when she's attacked by wolves after trying
to flee the castle and, in both cases, he gets badly injured.
The animation, however, skips over how Belle managed to lift the unconscious and enormously
heavy Beast on to her horse.
The new movie has a nice subtle remedy to this problem when Belle goes to the injured
Beast and says to him, "You have to help me, you have to stand", because it's clear that
there's no way Belle would be able to lift the huge Beast by herself without his help.
So, what do you think of Disney's Beauty And The Beast remake, and how well do you think
it fixed any problems with the original?
Also, did you spot any new movie mistakes, goofs or plot holes in the new movie?!
Do let me know in the comments below.
And if you enjoyed this, I'd really appreciate it if you'd hit that like button!
And while you're here, check out my full Beauty And The Beast playlist with easter egg videos,
secrets about the making of the movie, and my breakdown of the differences between the
1991 and 2017 movies.
Tap or click here to check those out and subscribe to get notified about all my upcoming new
Disney and Beauty And The Beast videos.
Thanks for watching and see you next time.
Yippee ki-yay movie lovers!