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clearly shows that the newschool of Disney craftsmen and women are every bit as accomplished at their specialities as the creators of the past."

This tale as old as time' follows the adventures of Belle, a bright young woman who finds herself imprisoned in the castle of a mysterious beast. With the assistance of the castle's enchanted staff, a beautiful and tender romance develops between the unlikely couple and Belle soon learns a very important lesson: that true beauty comes from inside.

The original video box release describes the film as being "hailed as the greatest animated film of all time" and describes it as "an enchanting movie masterpiece." Finishing with "Beauty and the Beast captivates both young and old with Oscar-winning music, stunning animation and a host of the most memorable Disney characters the screen has ever seen." The commercial tie-in added at the end states "soundtrack available on cassette and CD from Pickwick Records" thus saying you have already bought the video now buy the music'.

There was also a mass of other merchandise available at the time, especially in the Disney Store, including dolls, dress-up outfits, jewellery, stationary sets, trinket boxes, collectable figures, and so forth, as there was for previous release The Little Mermaid. Even more merchandise was produced with the next Disney release Aladdin including alarm clocks, radios and duvet covers. A sequel was also made a few years later called Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, which was set during the story of the first film, when Belle was living in the castle and the prince was still the Beast.

Hugh Kenner (1994) describes Walt Disney Enterprises as looking for the "look of expensive perfection." He also talks about the Disney films of the 1990s when "feature-scale animation actually got cheaper than live action. Get a sure fire story like Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, decorate the likes of the latter with a star like Robin Williams, and you've still lots of cash left over for promotion." Therefore Kenner is saying that promotion is the most important aspect of a film's success, the more promotion you have, the more successful your film will be, and if you spend less on making the film you can therefore spend more on promoting it, making sure everyone knows the new Disney film is out' and it is the best Disney film ever made'.

Belle is of a new breed of Disney leading ladies. The other villagers look her at as strange, odd and different because she

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