Walt Disney Posters - Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas

The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules by
John Grant

Walt Disney Character Description of Cinderella from "Cinderella" (1950)

The character of Cinderella was posed in live action by Helene Stanley who, to jugde by stills of her performance, was even more beautiful than the screen Cinderella - although she was brunette rather than blonde. In a 1982 interview with Kur Wiley, Marc Davis, largely responsible for animating Cinderella, compared the character with another of his "creations", Cruella De Vil:

"I think that Cinderella would have to be the more...

Seventeen years after its first release, “The Lion King” is again No. 1 at the box office, wildly exceeding pre-release projections by pulling in an estimated $29.3 million.

A 3D re-release propelled the G-rated animated feature far beyond its expected $15 million take and well past the weekend’s three debuts -- all of which had disappointing starts.

The No. 2 movie of the weekend was a holdover from last week. The Warner Bros. PG-13 “Contagion" grossed a surprisingly strong $14.5 million -- almost $2 million more than expected.

FilmDistrict's R-rated "Drive," which grossed an estimated...

Roger Ebert: **** (4 Stars)

Was there ever a scarier, more exciting animated feature than "Pinocchio"? I doubt it - at least not if you were between the ages of 5 and 10 when you saw it, and could identify with its blockheaded little hero. Pinocchio, who is not the brightest char acter in the history of cartoons, wants only to be a good little boy, but he's trapped by scoundrels who want to use him as a sideshow attraction, and then he's kidnapped and sent to an island where he will be turned into a donkey and put to work in the salt mines all day long.

I remember seeing "Pinocchio" for the first...

The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules by
John Grant

Walt Disney Character Description of Princess Jasmine from "Aladdin" (1992)

Mark Henn, who created the look of Jasmine for the movie, had various inspirations. One was a theme-park guest at Disney World in Florida, whose long thick mane of black hair sparked off an idea. The most important, however, was his sister Beth - although an actress called Robina Ritchie did live-action modeling to help the animation. Linda Larkin, who gave Jasmine her speaking voice, and Lea Salonga, who sang for her, looks...

The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules by
John Grant

Character Description of Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)

It was decided early that the movie's heroine should display a lot more spirit than the somewhat passive virtue of the character in the original fairy tale. The liveaction performance for the animators' reference was supplied by Sherri Stoner, the actress who had not long before served the same funtion so very excellently for The Little Mermaid's Ariel, another feisty female part. Belle's part was spoken and sung by Paige O'Hara, a...

The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules by
John Grant

Character Description of Ursula from "The Little Mermaid" (1989)

The Emmy-winning Pat Carroll, who voiced the part of the sea-witch (spelt with a b), is a very experienced actress on both stage and screen. Carroll envisioned the role as "part Shakespearean actress, with all the flair, flamboyance and theatricality, and part used-car salesman with a touch of con artist". She deliberately deepend her own voice, especially for the singing (she's naturally a contralto); in an interview with Lou Cedrone...