Friday, October 15, 2010

Érase Una Vez



So, its been a while since I posted anything onto this blog but I've decided to take advantage of my Friday night and get some blogging done. I knew for sure that I wanted to blog about my all time favorite Disney movie.


Beauty and The Beast.


Or.


As I like to call it:


La Bella Y La Bestia.


I watched this movie SO MANY TIMES when I was kid and I NEVER got tired of it.


If there is one thing that many Hispanic's (who are around my age) can say is that (And I don't mean this as a stereo type, I know MANY Hispanics who are part of this) they have seen at least ONE Disney movie in Spanish. Some of the popular ones are The Little Mermaid or The Lion King.


For me, it's Beauty and The Beast.


It is the only Disney movie that I own in Spanish (VHS). For some strange reason (And I still don't fully understand why) my Dad decided to buy me the movie in Spanish. From what I can make out from a few conversations that we've had about this, is that he wanted me to learn more Spanish. I can definitely say that watching Beauty and The Beast in Spanish helped me understand Spanish A LOT.  


The movie in general is one of my all time favorites. It's also my all time favorite Fairy Tale.


Everything about the movie is captivating and magical.


Belle is the BEST Disney Princess EVER!


She's smart, independent, and caring. She loves to read and get lost within her Imagination (Sounds a bit like me ^_^)


The animation is STUNNING! The moment the movie begins and you see the opening credits, you get goosebumps!


The music is BEAUTIFUL!  (Oh how I LOVE Alan Menken and Howard Ashman) The songs are wonderful and catchy. The instrumental compositions of the soundtrack are brilliant! The Prologue is a Haunting and Enchanting piece. It's as if that piece of music is the very sound of the mystery and magic of the Rose that the Enchantress gave to the Beast.


I LOVE the prologue of the movie. The narration/story makes the opening of the movie brilliant.


Here is the prologue in Spanish <3 and the song "Belle" in spanish it's "Bella"






Érase una vez en una tierra lejana, un joven príncipe vivía en un hermoso castillo. Aunque tenía todo lo que pudiese desear, el príncipe era malcriado, egoísta, poco amable. Una noche de frío invierno, una vieja mendiga llegó al castillo y le ofreció una sola rosa a cambio de refugio contra el cruel frío. Repugnado por su aspecto andrajoso, el príncipe se burló del obsequio y echó a la anciana a la calle. Ella le advirtió que no se dejara engañar por las apariencias, porque la belleza estaba en el interior. Cuando la volvió a rechazar, la fealdad de la anciana desapareció y reveló a una hermosa hechizera. El príncipe intentó disculparse, pero ya era tarde, porque ella había visto que en su corazón no había amor. Como castigo, lo convirtió en una espantosa bestia y encantó el castillo con un poderoso hechizo y a todos los que moraban ahí. 
Avergonzado de su monstruoso aspecto,(La bestia rasgo su foto en donde era un principe apuesto) la bestia se escondió dentro de su castillo, siendo un espejo mágico su único contacto con el mundo (El espejo aparecio magicamente junto a la rosa). La rosa que ella le había ofrecido era en realidad una rosa encantada que duraría hasta los veintiún años del príncipe. Si llegaba amar a una doncella y ella lo amaba también antes de que cayera el último petálo, se rompería el hechizo. Si no, quedaría encantado y sería una bestia por toda la eternidad. 


Al pasar los años, él cayó en la desesperación y perdió toda esperanza. Porque, ¿quién podría algún día amar a una bestia?







Something There (Algo Ahi)









Watching the movie so many times in Spanish resulted in me loving the movie in Spanish. I don't really like it English. I actually prefer to watch the movie in Spanish then in English. I know the movie by heart in Spanish. I mean it. All the songs and dialogue= I KNOW IT!


















Here's another fun fact. My cousins used to borrow my VHS of Beauty and The Beast when we were kids and my Aunt (who is not Hispanic) watched the movie with them. She's actually African American and she LOVES the movie in Spanish even though she doesn't really understand it.

We have this belief that the movie is more funnier, emotional, and captivating in Spanish. I personally believe that the ones who do the dub over of the characters put MORE feeling into the character.


Be Our Guest (Nuestro Huésped) I just Love Lumiere's voice <3




















It wasn't until the summer of 2004 where I truly fell in love with the movie. I went through this strange phase where I could not stop watching the movie. I felt like a little kid again during that time. I watched it almost every weekend with my Grandma (Guess what's her favorite Disney movie?)

Watching the movie so many times also made me scared. The movie was on VHS and I felt that one day the tape would not work or it would get damaged. At that time I wasn't aware on how Disney released their movies. I knew in 2002 that Beauty and The Beast was released on DVD but I have no idea why I never bothered to ask my Dad to buy it on DVD.

During that summer, I started to regret not asking my Dad to buy the DVD because the movie had went back into the vault. So I was stuck with the movie on VHS. Of course we could have ordered it online but the prices on Ebay and Amazon were INSANE! Over $100 for the DVD and a USED copy! In the end I realized that I would have to wait for the day that Disney would re-release the movie from the vault.



As for watching the movie in English...


I only watched it in English one time and I didn't like it. Don't get me wrong though. There came a time where I got anxious to watch the movie in English, just to see it the way that many other kids got to watch it. I was lucky to meet a girl in my High School who owned the VHS in English and she was nice enough to let me borrow it. When I watched it, I felt so STRANGE. It was EXTREMELY awkward watching it in English because I wasn't enjoying it. The whole time I was watching it, I kept hearing the Spanish version in my head. It got very frustrating.


What I did like though were the songs but only a certain few. I liked Beauty and The Beast and Something There.


I find the voices of the characters a bit strange in English. Especially the voice of Gaston. He sounds very... strange.


I LOVE the way Gaston sounds in Spanish. It fits his character! It really does! You can FEEL it through his tone!


Gaston (Spanish)





A few years after watching the movie in English, a new format of movies was being released. Blu Ray! Pretty soon I learned that Disney would be re-releasing all of their movies in Blu-Ray! You guys have no idea just how HAPPY I got when I learned this! I didn't know when they would re-release Beauty and The Beast but I knew they would do it!


Fast forward another few years and Disney sets a release date for Beauty and The Beast!!




Beauty and The Beast (Bella Y La Bestia)



October 5th, 2010!!! And guys I am THRILLED to say that my Dad bought 2 copies of the movie 2 weeks ago! One for me and one for my cousins ^_^






It looks BEAUTIFUL on DVD! Although they released it in a Blu-Ray+DVD combo pack, I haven't watched it on Blu-Ray because I don't own a Blu-Ray player. But I REALLY want one because I want to watch the movie in Blu-Ray and I want to see all of the special features!


Now I can watch my favorite Disney movie on my DVD player! All I have to do is just go to the menu and change the language to Spanish <3 <3 Beautiful Latino Spanish


Mob Song (Que Muera Ya)





And I can put this scene on repeat. The most emotional scene of the movie. EVERYTHING about this scene is PERFECT.  I cried so many times watching this scene. Please tell me that the Spanish Belle does not sound more emotional then Paige O' Hara!!! Man!!! She sounds so heart broken! Paige O'Hara sounds great as Belle, don't get me wrong but I think she lacks emotion in certain parts throughout the movie.


Latina Belle is AMAZING. 


And so is Prince Adam *sigh* <3


The Transformation (Transformación)





So do any of you have a favorite Disney movie? :)