Acting Review:
What will be interesting for me to consider this week is that the acting I am reviewing from Beauty and the Beast (1991) focuses solely on voice. There is no live body language or facial expressions that these voice actors can use to project the personalities of their characters; they rely heavily on their own vocal abilities to emote and perfect their characterisation.
Voice acting in general intrigues me, as often when you see pictures of the people behind these characters, there is an uncanny resemblance that they usually harbour. I attribute this to more than an intentional modelling on the graphic designer’s part. I theorise that the voice bleeds into our perception of the characters, something we can see reflected in the face of the actor.
Anyway, that got too conceptual, so I'll move onto speaking about the voice actors in Beauty and the Beast, specifically. Of course, being one of the best Disney films of all time, this cast is more than capable of delivering the goods. To best get a sense of this, I closed my eyes for portions of the film. From listening, it became clear that the characters are well distinguished and exceptionally believable. The commitment involved in curating and staying consistent with the voice of the character is an admirable feat. And of course, on top of all of that, I can't forget to mention the singing. Singing that, equally as impressive, stays in the tone of the character.
The voice acting, I can conclude, is top notch. And what a lovely close it is to my time here reviewing these films for you. I think its obvious enough that Beauty and the Beast and Hairspray are my top picks after these five weeks, with The Notebook on my "Never To Watch Again" List. Anyways, thank you for reading my ramblings, and be sure to stick around for the rest of the gals' thoughts on Beauty and the Beast. Until the next time...
Signed, Vanii x
