Beauty and the Beast! New Trailer, Classic Style

This morning was an occasion I was eagerly anticipating all weekend: The first teaser trailer for the live action Beauty and the Beast movie debuted on Good Morning America.

Since this is a new blog, you all might not know yet, but Beauty and the Beast is both my favorite Disney movie, and my favorite movie of all time. The movie was released on November 22, 1991, and I remember I first saw it when my class went on a field trip to the theater to watch it. I was 11 years old, and the perfect formative age to be completely enraptured by it.

It remained on every list of my top ten favorite movies until a few years ago, when we went to Disney World for the first time in 2013. Every time we came across something Beauty and the Beast related, it made me cry and swell up with emotion. My husband was surprised by the extent of my reaction, and so was I. From then on, I had to admit to myself that this was my favorite movie, and one that meant far more to me than I had even realized.

I've read many versions of the story, many retelling and interpretations written for both children and adults. I've seen all the major versions of the film, the classic Cocteau, the Disney cartoon, the newest French Christophe Gans film that isn't easy to track down...and I love them all. 

So in case you haven't seen it, here's the teaser trailer:

I am quite quite pleased. Of course I think everyone would have liked to have seen a glimpse of the characters...Lumiere and Cogsworth and Beast and Belle and Gaston...or any of them or anyone else, but the atmosphere of this trailer is very exciting to me.

The dark, cobwebbed halls, parquet floor covered in leaves, and icicles hanging from the chandeliers are all very evocative of the dramatic fantasy inherent in both the Cocteau and the Gans films. The visual of the ballroom filled with leaves especially reminds me of the Gans version.

This is by no means a bad thing, as the Gans film is visually stunning.

I love the detail in the trailer of the icicles hanging from the chandeliers

We even get the most taunting glimpse of Belle!

My favorite detail from the trailer, however, has to be

Beast's portrait! One of the recurring criticisms of the Disney classic is that his portrait makes him look like he's in his 20s, but if you add together the age he's turning during the film (21) and the amount of time the curse has been going on (10 years) you discover that he would be 11 when the Enchantress cursed him. This is much better reflected by the portrait torn by the Beast in the trailer. Ahh, the details!!!

And now that I've squealed a bit about the trailer, let me share a couple of my favorite recent Beauty and the Beast purchases that I would recommend!

First there's the skater dress I wore the first day of our most recent trip to Disney World. I got this dress from Amazon, and I have to emphasize that it is a "one size fits some" situation, as are so many of the clothes available inexpensively online from Asia. It's currently available on Amazon here, though I don't think this is the seller I got it from. Amazon is pretty trustworthy though.

Then there's this absolutely fun skirt, also from Amazon. It's super cute and I love it, but at least on my body type it's *super* short. I'd likely never wear this without opaque tights or leggings underneath it.

Both pieces are a sort of stretchy almost bathing suit-like material, so is some give to the sizing. However, I am a dress size 6, and they barely fit me, so I'd definitely say they are only for 6 or under. If that describes you though, I highly recommend both pieces! The dress is even reversible, if you prefer a higher neckline.