True as it may be,Beauty and the Beastofficially hit the quarter-century mark on Tuesday.
Have you been thinking at all about the legacy of this film, now that its been 25 years?
He took such trouble and care with it.
Credit: Rob Kim/FilmMagic; Disney
It was his baby, and I was so glad it worked.
It had all the elements of the original works.
And this is the finest that Disney ever made, I think.
So Im very proud to be part of it.
Beauty and the Beastwas so memorable for so many children, many of whom are grown-ups now.
It is, it was, and it will remain so.
Because they dont make them like that anymore.
They dont do that anymore.
So its a very rich, extraordinary piece of work in every respect, from that point of view.
A legendary treasure as far as cartoon work is concerned.
And the music, too.
It was a huge experience for us.
Suddenly, instead of a piano accompaniment we had this big orchestra behind us.
It was just really thrilling and exciting, and original and wonderful.
Ill never forget it.
We were so thrilled to be doing itthatway, with such care and excitement.
And it has been, and it was, and it will always be all over the world.
Youve had such an amazing career.
Where does this movie sit with you, personally?
It has brought me into the lives of so many young kids, children, babies.
They know my voice.
They recognize the timbre of my voice.
And theyve watched the movie so many times, because kids dont just watch movies once.
They watch them over, and over, and over again, because they can never get enough.
When I didBedknobs and Broomsticks,kids used to watch over and over and over.
They know my voice, so… And they dont connect me with the voice.
But when they see me in the flesh…
I was a bit taken aback, naturally.
I thought, Why?
Why are we doing this over again?
But I guess, I dont know why theyre doing it.
But they are, and it will be interesting to see what they do with it.
I dont quite know why theyre doing it.
I cant understand what theyre going to do with it that will be better than what weve already done.
And how theyre doing it live it may turn out to be very entertaining and wonderful.
Therefore, why not?
I dont blame them for doing it.
But, Im sorry, theyre not really on our territory.
We did it as cartoon characters, and that is quite different from live actors.
Its really such an incredible legacy.
Yes, that is lovely.
To be connected with something that is so memorable and was made with such quality.
Those drawings, those cartoon drawings were so perfect and so lovely.
Each character was lovingly represented by the artists who drew us.
We were drawn by men and women and we werent in any way copying something else.
This was all original work.
And for that reason, it will never be seen again.
It was all hand drawn.
There was nothing mechanical about it.
When cartoon drawing became mechanical, it lost its humanity, I think.
Thats where we will always be years ahead of everything else.
And will remain so.
