Beauty and the Beast (Disney song) Beauty and the Beast (Disney song) "Beauty and the Beast" is a song written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken for the Disney animated feature film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). The film's theme song, the Broadway-inspired ballad was first recorded by British-American actress Angela Lansbury in her role as the voice of the character Mrs. Potts, and essentially describes the relationship between its two main characters Belle and the Beast, specifically how the couple has learned to accept their differences and in turn change each other for the better. Additionally, the song's lyrics imply that the feeling
Beauty and the Beast (Disney song) "TV Guide" compared "Beauty and the Beast" to "Shall We Dance?" from the musical "The King and I". R.L. Shaffer of IGN identified "Beauty and the Beast" as a "tear-jerking poetic ballad." "Film Genre 2000: New Critical Essays" author Wheeler W. Dixon believes that the song's lyrics are about the couple's "implicit promise of regeneration through love." 29 lines in length, all of which are exactly five syllables, "Beauty and the Beast" is a love song about a couple's transformation from friends into "something more". The film's theme song, its lyrics "capture the essence of the film" by describing the