AICN Reader Wallace Wells Sees The 3D Conversion Of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!!

Merrick here...
Interestingly, Disney's re-release of 1991's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (with 3D now added!) hasn't gotten much notice or play on the Geek circuit. Original plans called for the film's 3D issuance to happen this year in the United States, but word is this re-release was pushed back domestically...until next year...to coincide with the picture's 20th anniversary. Despite this domestic postponement, BEAUTY 3D is now playing in some theaters overseas - Australia and New Zealand are among places that have the film. Wallace Wells, an AICN reader from Down Under, took a look at the the movie's 3Dimensionalization, and sent in some thoughts. Is it a travesty and desecration? Or, did The Powers That Be get this particular conversion right? Read on...
Here's Wallace Wells...

I'm sure you'll get plenty of people writing in about this, but just in case... this morning I got a chance to see 'Beauty and the Beast' in 3D. For some reason, it has been given a special engagement release in Australia from today onwards, so only at a few cinemas. Why we have it first, I'm not sure. Anyway, I was there at 10am for the first session to part with my hard earned cash and see what they had done. 'Beauty and the Beast' has been one of my favourite films for pretty much my entire life. I was 4 or 5 when I first saw it (I was so determined to see it that I went regardless of the fact that I was so sick I vomited all over the steps of the cinema). I even saw the stage version with Hugh Jackman playing Gaston! I'd missed the IMAX version, so I wasn't going to miss this 3D rendering. I could wax lyrical for hours on how amazing a film I think it is, one that puts most live action films to shame, but that's not what you're most interested to hear! The question is: how does the thing look? To be blunt: incredible. The level of care and detail that has gone into this version is probably the most impressive and moving thing about it. Nothing of the original film has been changed to accommodate for the change to 3D - in fact, this version is more accurate than the 2001 Special Edition. They have chosen to render the original theatrical version, including all the sound and animation mistakes that had been fixed for the DVD. As such, 'Human Again' isn't included. Rather than using the 3D as a gimmick, they have used the format to give the film an incredible depth of field, with great use of distance and perspective. This is most obvious in the landscape shots, such as Maurice heading to the Fair. Think of it like the next step in the multiplane camera process Disney invented in the 30's. It also allows the incredible detail in the background art to come out, and gives greater shadow and detail to the castle in particular. At times, this background detail is so startling that the foreground animation seems very cartoonish, but that is never a problem once you get used to it. Some sequences stood out in particular. Obviously 'Belle' and 'Be Our Guest' were fantastic, and the ballroom sequence was staggering (particularly the 'helicopter' shot from the roof). I actually burst into tears! The opening is beautiful, as is the final shot of the stained glass window. Probably the biggest surprise though, was the jail scene, where Belle finds Maurice and she takes his place. The shaft of light that Belle and the Beast move in and out of is so well rendered that you can see the moving dust particles in the air. It actually made me and my friend gasp. It looked incredible, and that might be the great triumph of this version - that every little detail has been looked at to make sure the film looks as good as possible. In terms of how the picture looks in general, I hope this is what we get for the Blu-Ray release. I was a bit funny with the Platinum Edition restoration. It got rid of a lot of the great shadow textures in the original film, and made it look too clean in general. While the animation is still as sharp, it seems the shadow detail is mostly retained, such as in the Beast's first appearance to Maurice. This may be because they have gone back to the theatrical version, I'm not sure. The other great advantage of seeing it in a cinema again is the excellent sound, which in particular brought out Alan Menken's score more so than I've ever heard before. It really showed just what amazing work it is, and how well it works with the film. Overall, I can't praise this 3D version enough. It does help that the original film is practically perfect to begin with, but rather than a simple money-making gimmicky exercise, Disney have put a lot of care into making sure this masterpiece is given the respect it deserves. For a film nearly 20 years old, it really hasn't aged a day, and this version brings it to life for a whole new generation to enjoy. In fact, most of the audience were young children who wouldn't even be old enough to have seen the Platinum DVD release, and they didn't make a peep! It would be great to see other 90's classics like 'The Little Mermaid' 'Aladdin' and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' rendered in 3D, but because of the small scale of this release, I doubt it would happen. I do hope you guys in the States get to see this, because it is seriously worth the time, far more successful an enterprise than this old 'Beauty and the Beast' fan could have hoped for! If you decide to use my review, you can call me Wallace Wells. Is that a dorky nick name? Probably!