What's the Difference between Beauty and the Beast (1756) the Book and Beauty & the Beast the Movie?
| In the Book |
In the Movie |
Beauty
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Belle
Portrayed by: Paige O'Hara
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The father
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Maurice
Portrayed by: Rex Everhart
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Beast
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Beast
Portrayed by: Robby Benson
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This Character does not appear.
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Gaston
Portrayed by: Richard White
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Beauty's sisters
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This Character does not appear.
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Beauty's brothers
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This Character does not appear.
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This Character does not appear.
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Lumiere
Portrayed by: Jerry Orbach
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This Character does not appear.
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Cogsworth
Portrayed by: David Ogden Stiers
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This Character does not appear.
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Mrs. Potts
Portrayed by: Angela Lansbury
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This Character does not appear.
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Chip
Portrayed by: Bradley Pierce
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The Fairy
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This Character does not appear.
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Beauty & the Beast Book vs Movie
| In the Book |
In the Movie |
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The source of the spell on the Beast is not revealed until the end of the book. The prince is the innocent victim of a wicked fairy. |
A prince denies an enchantress disguised as an old beggar shelter in the castle from the cold. For this she transforms him into a beast. She gives him a magic mirror and a rose. To break the spell he must love another and earn her love before the last petal falls on his 21st birthday or remain a beast forever. |
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The beast is shaped like a man but with the head of a wild boar. |
The beast has the head of a bison, the mane of a lion, the body of a bear and the tail of a wolf.
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The antagonists of the book are Beauty's older sisters. The resent her beauty and virtue. They scheme to delay her return to the Beast so that he will kill her. The Beast is never threatened in the book other than by the enchantress during his youth. |
Gaston is the bad guy. He conspires to imprison Belle's father if she refuses his proposal. He also tries to kill the Beast. Belle is never threatened in the movie. |
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Beauty’s father is a wealthy merchant with three sons and three daughters. Beauty’s sisters are proud and vain. They laugh at Beauty because she prefers to read books. They refuse offers of marriage to eminent merchants preferring to marry royalty. Belle was courted but respectfully said she was too young to marry and preferred to stay with her father for a while longer.
Gaston is not in the book |
Belle is an only child. She is non-conformist bookworm and ridiculed by everyone but her father. Belle’s father is an eccentric inventor.
Gaston mocks her bookish behavior, but still wishes to marry her. Gaston is a muscle bound jerk. She rejects his advances.
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The father suddenly loses his entire fortune and has to re-locate to a small country house. The two older daughters thought they could be taken in by their lovers and stay in town, but were forsaken due to their poverty. |
This does not happen in the movie. |