Paige O'Hara's musical-theatre assurance gives Belle more than a fine singing voice. We rate the warmth and intelligence she brings to the speaking, too: the heroine remains interesting when the music stops.
Fi1m perspective
Paige O'Hara's Belle sounds intelligent without sounding pleased with herself about it. In Beauty and the Beast (1991), her voice gives an adventurous heroine enough warmth to keep cleverness from becoming a pose. We were moved by the warmth in that voice; it makes Belle someone to care about rather than simply approve of. O'Hara's singing has theatrical assurance, and the speaking deserves equal attention. We recommend the performance readily, along with the film.
The film was her screen debut, following stage work that included Ellie May Chipley in Show Boat (1983). Directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise wanted a musical-theatre sound rather than pop, and that choice pays off. O'Hara sounds comfortable treating a song as acting. Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman supply songs that move the story along, giving that skill something useful to do.
Ashman's guidance helped O'Hara bring warmth and spirit to Belle, and the result suits a film that earns its sentiment through sharply drawn characters. There is a risk of treating the sweetness of a performance like this as the whole achievement. What matters is that O'Hara also makes the heroine sound alert and eager for adventure. Our reservation concerns the film's romantic assumptions, which deserve questioning; liking Belle need not mean accepting everything the romance asks of her.
Much of O'Hara's subsequent screen work has meant returning to Belle, including Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). Enchanted (2007) gave her a live-action cameo as Angela, but Belle remains the central performance to consider. That long association makes it tempting to discuss the character and forget the actor doing the work. Start with Beauty and the Beast, and pay as much attention to the speaking as the singing.
Biography
Paige O'Hara is an American actress, singer and painter. Born Donna Paige Helmintoller on 10 May 1956 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she began her career as a Broadway actress in 1975.
In 1991 she made her motion picture debut voicing the title character Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. She reprised the role in the direct-to-video sequels Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997) and Belle's Magical World (1998), as well as in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) and Once Upon a Studio (2023). O'Hara received a Disney Legend Award in 2011.
