Last night about 75 students chose to concentrate on a pretty girl and a monster rather than their school work. These students attended a Walt Disney Company presentation on the soon-to-be-released movie, "Beauty and the Beast." Disney Public Relations Representative Tricia Miller told the audience a brief history of Disney animation and showed them a short highlight film. The preview covered the different stages of the animation process and included three songs from the movie. "Beauty and the Beast," which will be released Thanksgiving weekend, will be Disney's 30th full-length animated feature and the fifth classic fairy tale to be animated by the company. It took nearly three years and a staff of 600 animators to complete. The movie features the voices of Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orvach and includes over 1100 individual hand-painted backgrounds and computer graphics. The score of "Beauty and the Beast" was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, the men responsible for the music of "The Little Mermaid" and the musical "Little Shop of Horrors." The last animated Disney tale was the Academy Award winning "The Little Mermaid" which, according to Miller, "signaled the rebirth of animation." Miller said the reason Disney is targeting college campuses for "Beauty and the Beast" promotions is due in part to the popularity of "The Little Mermaid." "Adults like fairy tales just like children do," she said. Miller also presented a history of the company through movie clips from various Disney classics. The clips included "Steamboat Willie," the first movie to feature Mickey Mouse and "Snow White," which to this day is the movie most people have seen. Abraham explained that Disney movies work like Shakespeare in that the audience can enjoy them solely for the story, although there are also "deeper meanings and perverse jokes." Students said they found the presentation amusing and enjoyable, as most left the auditorium singing songs from "Beauty and the Beast," and wearing buttons from the movie distributed by Miller. "I thought it was great," said Wharton senior Brian Fan. "I have more appreciation for the animation process and I'd definitely see this movie."
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